- Fred Jackson punished the Chicago Bears' secondary to set up a game-winning field goal in overtime, which gave the Buffalo Bills a 23-20 road victory. *
Here is what we learned:
- EJ Manuellooked better than he did in any of the Bills' five preseason games. He still had accuracy issues and he didn't make any flashy plays. Despite one ill-advised pass on the run that resulted in an interception, Manuel didn't make mistakes either. Playing the Bears' limp defense helped, but this was a positive step in Manuel's game. The Bills will take a game-manager over what he displayed this preseason.
- Jay Cutler is still Jay Cutler. The Bears quarterback diced up the Bills' defense early. However, he reverted to his terrible mechanics and back-foot throws when Buffalo's pass rush started getting to him. His interception to defensive linemen Kyle Williams was classic Bad Jay.
- Cutler missed Alshon Jeffery, who suffered a hamstring injury. The receiver was declared as probable to return but never saw the field. Jeffery started out hot and the Bears' offense is clearly lacking without him.
- The Bears' defense is still not good. They stopped the run early, but were worn down before being abused by Fred Jackson on the game-winning drive. There was next to no pass rush and the secondary is still a mess -- it made Manuel look good.Â
- Jim Schwartz's defense started slow, but Corey Graham and the secondary made plays late. Armed with another fierce pass rush, perhaps Schwartz finally has the playmakers in the secondary that he lacked in Detroit.
- Robert Woodshad the best rapport with Manuel, making his preseason benching highly questionable -- he had a ridiculous hanging grab late on a ball Manuel floated.
- Sammy Watkins made a couple field-stretching catches just when we started complaining Manuel was in uber-check down mode again.
- Matt Forte is still awesome. As a society we should discuss this fact more.
The latest "Around The NFL Podcast" covers the Falcons' impressive offense, RGIII's struggles and recaps all Sunday's Week 1 action.
