- Copyright 2025 © CollegeFootballPoll.com
- About CFP / Contact
- Legal Statements
The three-week NFL preseason concluded with a 10-game slate on Saturday, four on Friday and two on Thursday.
The regular season kicks off with an NFC East confrontation on Thursday, September 4 with Dallas at Philadelphia before the Kansas City-L.A. Chargers game in Brazil on Friday.
On Thursday, the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1) were 19-10 victors at the winless Carolina Panthers, and the New York Giants wrapped up a perfect preseason with a 42-10 win at home over the New England Patriots (2-1).
On Friday, the Philadelphia Eagles (2-1) built a 19-3 lead at the New York Jets (1-2), then hung on for the 19-17 victory The Eagles only found the end zone one time with a 15-yard rush by Montrell Johnson, Jr. in the third quarter. Four drives ended in field goals by Jake Elliott of 51, 53, 23, and 45 yards.
Dallas avoided a winless preseason with a 31-13 home victory over the Atlanta Falcons which dropped to 0-3. Brandon Aubrey booted a 64-yard Dallas field goal as time expired in the first half. Joe Milton and Jaydon Blue had a pair of 1-yard rushing TD's in the first quarter for the Cowboys and Milton later connected with Jalen Brooks for a 29-yard TD pass in the 3rd quarter. Phil Mafah closed out the scoring with a 1-yard rush in the 4th. For Atlanta, QB Easton Stick was 20-of-28 for 198 yards, a TD and a pick, and had 18 yards on the ground. The Dallas "D" had 6 tackles for loss while the Atlanta "D" had zero on the stat line for passes defended,
Also on Friday, the Tennessee Titans (2-1) were 23-13 winners at home over the Minnesota Vikings (1-2). Cam Ward played the first two series for the Titans and, after a three-and-out on the first series, led Tennessee on a 13-play, 90-yard touchdown drive (Julius Chestnut 1 -yard run) while going 4-for-4 for 41 yards. It would be Tennessee's only TD of the game as Joey Slye kicked field goals of 63, 30 and 53 yards. Minnesota's only TD came with 8:34 to go in the third when local product Max Brosmer (Minnesota Golden Gophers) had a 21-yard hook-up with Bryson Nesbit. Brosmer also had a 36-yard pass to Dontae Fleming on that same drive that covered 65 yards in 5 pays.
Friday's action ended with some fireworks as Chicago (2-0-1) rallied with a 19-0 fourth quarter on 3 Tyler Bagent TD passes, including a 6-yarder he squeezed into Jahdae Walker's hands on the sideline with 3 ticks left on the clock. Bagent had inked a two-year, $10 million backup deal before going out and completing 20-of-28 for 212 yards in relief of Caleb Williams who was 11-of-15 for 113 yards and a 3-yard TD pass to Rome Odunze on his last drive. For the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes was 8-of-13 for 143 yards with a 4-yard TD pass to Rashee Rice that built a 17-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter, but Kansas City concluded the preseason at 0-3.
On Saturday, The Miami Dolphins (2-0-1) were 14-6 winners at home over the Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2-1) in a listless display by both clubs. Tua Tagovailoa had a TD pass and 2-point conversion connection in limited action. Jacksonville only scoring came off the reliable foot of Cam Little who didn't boot one from 70, but did have kicks of 43 and 59 yards. Trevor Lawrence did not play for the Jags so Seth Henigan, a rookie undrafted free agent out of Memphis, got most of the snaps and was 15-of-21 for just 77 yards with an INT.
The Las Vegas Raiders (0-2-1) were 20-10 losers at the Arizona Cardinals (2-1) in the last preseason game and lost backup QB Aidan O'Connell to a wrist injury that Pete Carroll said could take 6-8 weeks for recovery. Gino Smith only played the opening series and led the Raiders on a 9-play 60-yard drive with a payoff 17-yard TD pass to Dont'e Thornton, Jr. Arizona, gave their 2023 5th-round draft pick Clayton Tune (Houston Cougars) all of the snaps and he went 12-of-20 for 83 yards and a touchdown while adding 47 yards on the ground.
DJ Uiagalelei got most of the snaps for the LA Chargers (2-2) in a game they lost 30-23 loss at San Francisco (2-1). Curtis Robinson scored on a 32-yard pick-six off Uiagalelei with 6:06 left in the game. Former Niner Trey Lance was 5-of-8 for 43 yards for the Chargers. Tanner Mordecai and Conner Bradley were quarterbacks for San Fran. Besides Lance, it was also a homecoming of sorts for Jim Harbaugh who was 49-22-1 as head coach in San Francisco, including a loss to brother John and the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII.
Speaking of the Ravens, they cruised to a 30-3 win at Washington and finished the preseason at 3-0 while the Commanders fell to 0-3. Devin Leary (17-of-23, 71 yards) and Cooper Rush (5-of-5, 59 yards) were the QB's for Baltimore while Sam Hartman (12-of-17, 114 yards) and Josh Johnson (7-of-13, 50-yards) handled duties for Washington with neither throwing a TD pass while Hartman threw 2 picks and Johnson threw one. Lamar Jackson didn't play a single snap in the entire preseason for Baltimore and Jayden Daniels played only one series for Washington in game two.
Josh Allen (Buffalo), Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia), Baker Mayfield (Tampa Bay) and Aaron Rodgers (Pittsburgh) were also among the starting QB's who didn't take a preseason snap.
Other Sunday final games saw Houston (2-1) roll 26-7 at Detroit (1-3), while Indianapolis was a 41-14 winner at Cincinnati as each finished 1-2.
Cleveland finished undefeated (3-0) with a 19-17 win at home that gave the Rams their only loss (1-2). Dresser Winn took all the snaps for L.A. while Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders all saw action for the Browns. But Sanders was shelved in favor of a fourth QB,Tyler Huntley, for the final drive in which he led the team to 37-yard Andre Szmyt 37-yard walk-off field goal. This preseason was the third stint for Winn in Los Angeles after originally signing as a rookie free agent out of UT-Martin in 2023
Elsewhere, New Orleans was a 28-19 loser at home to Denver, the Packers were 20-7 home winners over the Seahawks, and Buffalo took a 23-19 win at Tampa Bay.