To become a quarterback with ‘no limits,' Jayden Daniels put in the work
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Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Titans coach hopes to reap benefits of 10-day preseason road trip later this season
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans are back home following a 10-day road trip and a split of their first two preseason games. How much the time together helps remains to be seen. The Titans are a work in progress, rebuilding after three straight losing seasons and leaning heavily on a rookie quarterback and a lot of other young players. 'At the end of the day, there's not a whole lot of negatives to the whole process," second-year coach Brian Callahan said Saturday. "And it's going to help us down the road.' The Titans wrapped up the road swing by beating Atlanta 23-20 on Friday night. Cameron Ward is 7 of 15 for 109 yards passing over five series through the first two exhibitions. Fellow rookie Gunnar Helm had a nice 25-yard touchdown catch on a pass from backup Brandon Allen. Cedric Gray, a 2024 fourth-round draft pick out of North Carolina, got the start competing for an inside linebacker job with James Williams Sr. Gray had a half-sack, led Tennessee with seven tackles and had an interception wiped out by a penalty. How the Titans improve rests largely on Ward's development, and they've been pleased so far with what the No. 1 overall pick out of Miami has done to this point. One throw against Atlanta — on a deep incompletion on second-and-13 to veteran Van Jefferson — sums up how Ward sees things. Callahan said after the game that Jefferson dropped an 'incredible throw.' Ward took the blame for not putting the ball in a better location. The Titans coach credited the rookie with knowing how to have conversations and having a leadership quality of knowing what tone and how to talk to each person. Ward is very open to coaching and criticism of how he needs to improve. The rookie also never pins blame on someone unless he's 'adamantly sure' somebody made a mistake, according to Callahan. 'It's a conversation, 'Hey, what could I have done better here to help?'' Callahan said of Ward's approach. 'And I think that's what's allowed him to improve at the rate he's improved as he's very much willing to take coaching and take criticism and open himself up to be where do I need to be better.' The clock is ticking for the Titans, who have two padded practices before their home exhibition finale against Minnesota on Friday night. The team went 3-14 last season losing the final six games. That earned it the chance to select Ward, and first-year general manager Mike Borgonzi did some maneuvering to wind up with nine draft picks in April. Callahan's task is getting those first- and second-year players ready for the NFL by Sept. 7 at Denver while also preparing the veterans. He said there's a balance, with the only way young players improve is by playing. 'When you have opportunities to let those guys go grow, they got to go grow,' Callahan said. In the NFL, winning is all that matters. The Titans have fired two general managers and a coach since December 2022. 'We're going to do whatever it takes to put ourselves in position to win on top of it,' Callahan said. 'That's that at the end all be all. That's our job.' ___ AP NFL:
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
With Shedeur Sanders out, Dillon Gabriel has good performance other than a bad pick-6
Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel came into Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles with a good deal of pressure. It was his first preseason action, after sitting last week with a hamstring injury. He got the start with the team resting Joe Flacco and bringing Kenny Pickett back slowly from a hamstring injury. In addition, Gabriel watched fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders play very well in his preseason debut last week. With Sanders sitting out Saturday due to an oblique injury, a poor performance by Gabriel could have affected the depth chart as the regular season gets closer. Gabriel did pretty well with his opportunity. He was 13 of 18 for 143 yards in a half of work. Gabriel had a very good first quarter against the Eagles. He completed eight of his nine passes in the opening quarter. All of the things that made Gabriel a third-round pick — quick processing, accuracy, understanding the offense — were on full display as he strung together completions in his first NFL work. And he made a mistake to start the second quarter that he'd like to have back. The Browns had a bit of a sloppy play and two receivers were in the same area as Gabriel rolled to his left, then he threw a pass in between them that was picked off by Eagles rookie Andrew Mukuba and returned 75 yards for a touchdown. It was a play, on first down, that Gabriel probably should have thrown away. It's a rookie mistake that he can learn from. But it didn't entirely wipe out that Gabriel ran the offense very well before that interception. Sanders did not make any big mistakes like that last week, and Sanders also had two very nice touchdown passes. Gabriel didn't throw one, though he led a touchdown drive and two field goal drives. Gabriel's first drive started ominously, with Eagles first-round pick Jihaad Campbell sacking him on his first dropback. But Gabriel settled in and completed all four passes for 29 yards, and the drive ended with a rushing touchdown. The best pass of the drive came on third down, when he had a nicely placed pass to a well covered Jamari Thrash for the first down. That drive ended with running back Ahmani Marshall rushing in for a touchdown. Gabriel had a few more accurate, decisive passes on Cleveland's second drive including another third-down conversion to Thrash. After the interception Gabriel had another productive pass to Thrash on a third down, as Thrash ran a shallow crossing route. Gabriel has less-than-ideal size for a quarterback — that was evident as Gabriel played on an NFL field for the first time too — but he is very good at many other aspects of the game. He didn't look like a rookie, though Sanders didn't either last week. The vision and ability to accurately deliver the ball where it needs to go is why the Browns took Gabriel with a valuable third-round pick. Gabriel was drafted in the third round, two rounds ahead of Sanders, but you'd never know it based on how much attention is given to Sanders. All indications from Browns training camp, and the offseason practices before that, are that Gabriel has been ahead of Sanders on the depth chart. Whichever rookie goes into the season atop the other on the depth chart might end up being a big deal; if the Browns struggle and turn to a rookie quarterback later in the season, they have two to choose from. If Gabriel could eliminate one play from Saturday, he had a promising first preseason game. There's probably no reason to move him down the depth chart after that performance.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
NFL preseason live updates: Dillon Gabriel's mixed bag debut, Colts QB battle heats up
[NFL preseason schedule | NFL team feeds | NFL preseason live blog] The second week of NFL preseason action is in full swing, and there are plenty of storyline to follow. Cleveland Browns rookie QB Dillon Gabriel saw his first action of preseason Saturday, and it was an up-and-down day for the third-round pick. He finished 13 of 18 for 143 yards passing but also turned it over twice. He thew a pick-6 and also lost a fumble on a botched handoff exchange, but he was otherwise solid and in control in the passing game. Meanwhile, the Colts QB battle continues to heat up with Daniel Jones looking good early, leading a field goal drive, and Anthony Richardson entering later and leading Indianapolis to a touchdown. Those two appear to be neck-and-neck for the starting job. Later this weekend, Caleb Williams is starting for the Bears on national television Sunday night vs. the Bills, our first glimpse of the 2024 No. 1 overall pick under new head coach Ben Johnson. That game headlines Frank Schwab's top QB situations to watch this week, along with Jaxson Dart's second preseason outing and more developments in the Saints' and Colts' QB battles. Justin Herbert will also play a preseason game for the first time in *checks notes* his entire career on Saturday when the Chargers square off against the SoFi Stadium co-tenant Rams. And Brock Purdy and some 49ers starters are expected to play against the Raiders on Saturday too. You can watch both of Friday's preseason games on NFL Network, and also on NFL+. Here's a full look at this weekend's schedule. NFL preseason Week 2 schedule Saturday, Aug. 16 (times ET) Packers at Colts, 1 p.m. Patriots at Vikings, 1 p.m. Dolphins at Lions, 1 p.m. Browns at Eagles, 1 p.m. (NFL Network)Panthers at Texans, 1 p.m. 49ers at Raiders, 4 p.m. (NFL Network)Chargers at Rams, 7 p.m. Buccaneers at Steelers, 7 p.m. Jets at Giants, 7 p.m. (NFL Network)Ravens at Cowboys, 7 p.m. Cardinals at Broncos, 9:30 p.m. (NFL Network) Sunday, Aug. 17 (times ET) Jaguars at Saints, 1 p.m. (NFL Network)Bills at Bears, 8 p.m. (Fox) Monday, Aug. 18 (time ET) Bengals at Commanders, 8 p.m. (ESPN) Friday, Aug. 15 Titans 23, Falcons 20Seahawks 33, Chiefs 16 NFL team feeds AFC East: Buffalo Bills | Miami Dolphins | New England Patriots | New York Jets AFC North: Baltimore Ravens | Cincinnati Bengals | Cleveland Browns | Pittsburgh Steelers AFC South: Houston Texans | Indianapolis Colts | Jacksonville Jaguars | Tennessee Titans AFC West: Denver Broncos | Kansas City Chiefs Las Vegas Raiders | Los Angeles Chargers NFC East: Dallas Cowboys | New York Giants | Philadelphia Eagles | Washington Commanders NFC North: Chicago Bears | Detroit Lions | Green Bay Packers | Minnesota Vikings NFC South: Atlanta Falcons | Carolina Panthers | New Orleans Saints | Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFC West: Arizona Cardinals | Los Angeles Rams | San Francisco 49ers | Seattle Seahawks NFL preseason live blog Follow along below as Yahoo Sports tracks all the updates from NFL preseason and training camps:
