Closing Out Week 1 of Preseason

Since Week 2 starts tonight, I'm getting my Week 1 thoughts in under the proverbial wire. Hey, it's tough doing this when you have kids!

MIA @ ATL

• The lack of OTAs and the shortened training camp meant that Julio Jones will get fed early and often this pre-season. He put on a one man show, leaving Roddy White in the dust. I think Roddy'll be okay, but Julio get a big bump in the rankings.
• In the "Show, don't tell" department, if the Falcons are serious about running a more high-powered O, this game was a good start. I'm feeling really good about Matt Ryan as a value play.
• Hey, anything that keeps Michael Turner fresh all season is A OK with me.
• I started watching this game with low expectations for the Dolphins, but they still managed to disappoint. Maybe the Falcons' D will be really good this year, but Miami's O-line was not in synch. I really wanted to see what Daniel Thomas brought to the table and, in Week 1, the answer was 'not much'.

PIT @ WAS

• We all know the conventional wisdom about Mike Shanahan and running backs, but a lot of that has been due to recent history. Assuming Tim Hightower plays as well as he did in this game, we could see a true feature back from Shanny this year.
• Rex Grossman played okay but I'm hearing rumblings the Shanahans really want John Beck to start. That makes it hard to rank Santana Moss. Still, you can't deny his getting up there in years.
• Mike Wallace is fast. Big Ben still overthrew him. That is all.

IND @ STL

• It's going to take longer than an abbreviated training camp for Sam Bradford to get all the nuances of Josh McDaniels's O, but it looks like we've already seen Danny Amendola become the new Eddie Royal (from the year he was good) and Lance Kendricks become the new...ummm... Tony Scheffler? The point I'm trying to make is, they both look like safety valves to me and I'm not the one with hungry defenders coming at me. So I can only imagine what they look like to Bradford.

NYG @ CAR

• Based on targets, I think Hakeem Nicks will be picking up where that traitor, Steve Smith, left off. Mario Manningham only had one target from where I sat. Still, if they move him to the slot...
• Since Deangelo Williams re-signed in CAR, we're back to, basically, a 50/50 split between him and Jonathan Stewart. As such, neither is to be trusted.
  
• They're already working in shiny new TE, Greg Olsen. I think there's value here.