The first week of the NFL preseason is officially here. We got a small taste of the action last week with the Hall of Fame Game, but this week, things will be kicking into warp drive with 16 games going down between Thursday and Saturday. 

When it comes to the preseason, you never know what you’re going to see on the field. Some coaches will keep their starters on the bench, but that strategy isn’t for everyone. There are also plenty of coaches who like to see their starters get some action in the preseason. 

With that in mind, we’re going to start off this winners and losers list by naming every coach who plays their starters a winner. Thanks for adding some excitement to the preseason. 

And now, let’s get to our full winners and losers list for Week 1 of the preseason. 

Winners

Broncos WR Courtland Sutton … and anyone who likes great catches

Courtland Sutton set the tone Friday evening, and apparently, the word got around: Let’s make some highlights. Sutton “Mossed” Falcons defensive back Mike Hughes on the opening possession and made a ridiculous one-handed snag on the next drive. Overall, he finished with three catches for 60 yards in very limited action.

Sutton’s size, strength and contested-catch ability are going to be great complements to trade acquisition Jaylen Waddle, whose game is more based on speed, verticality and yards after the catch. Bo Nix (who, like Waddle, didn’t play Friday night) is going to love having both on the field together.

Sutton’s catch was awesome, but let’s also shout out Dolphins rookie Caleb Douglas, who is making waves in training camp …

… and Garrett Wilson.

Steelers GM Omar Khan (For drafting Drew Allar)

With Aaron Rodgers set to retire at the end of the 2026 season, the Steelers need to find their quarterback of the future and they might have already done that. The team drafted former Penn State QB Drew Allar in the third round back in April and he was a one-man highlight show during the Steelers’ 28-9 win over the Packers on Thursday night. Allar didn’t get in the game until the second half, but once he was on the field, he absolutely took over: He finished 10 of 13 for 153 yards and three total touchdowns. 

Will Howard and Mason Rudolph also saw some action on Thursday and they were both good, but Allar was great. Khan’s decision to draft Allar — despite having Rudolph and Howard already on the roster — is looking like a smart one so far. Of course, Allar put up his numbers in the second half against the backend of the Packers’ defensive roster, so we still need to see what he can do against better competition, but this is a promising start. We broke down Allar’s full performance from Thursday and you can read more about that here.

Oh, and Friday, the Steelers and Keeanu Benton agreed to a four-year, $72 million extension, per ESPN. It’s another nice find for Khan: Benton was the 49th overall pick in 2023.

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Packers kicker Trey Smack

The rookie kicker has struggled at times during training camp, but he seems to have put those struggles behind him. Smack had a huge game against the Steelers, scoring all nine of Green Bay’s points in the loss. Smack went 3-for-3 on field goal attempts and that includes hitting a 58-yarder just before halftime. 

Long field goals are notoriously difficult to hit at Heinz Field, so that’s an impressive kick. 

Smack actually Smacked TWO 58-yard field goals in the game, but one of them got taken off the board due to a Steelers penalty. The former Florida star was the ONLY placekicker selected in this year’s draft and the Packers’ decision to take him is starting to look like it might actually pay off. 

Cardinals quarterbacks

Earlier this year, we ranked the 10 worst QB rooms in the NFL and the Cardinals were near the top of the list. And I’m only telling you that because we might need to redo our rankings if the Cardinals quarterbacks keep playing like they did during the team’s 27-14 win over the Raiders on Thursday. Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew and Kedon Slovis combined to go 26 of 30 for 212 yards and three touchdowns. Brissett and Minshew combined to go a perfect 15 of 15 in the first half and Brissett threw what might end up going down as the most impressive touchdown pass of the preseason. 

Brissett was on the field for just one possession, but he made the most of it, going 5 of 5 for 44 yards, including that TD pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. You never want to overreact to anything from the preseason, but if Brissett is going to be making throws like that all year, the Cards’ offense could surprise us this year. 

Fernando Mendoza hype

The Mendoza hype train has been going strong since April 23 when the Raiders selected him with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. We finally got to see Mendoza in action on Thursday and he looked impressive. He wasn’t perfect — he completed 10 of 16 passes for 97 yards and a TD — but he showed flashes of what he could eventually become, and that’s exactly what you want to see if you’re the Raiders. 

Although Mendoza was good, Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said the starting QB job was still Kirk Cousins‘ to lose, so don’t look for the rookie to be starting in Week 1. If you want a deeper dive into Mendoza’s first start, we’ve got that here. 

49ers WR De’Zhaun Stribling

Kyle Shanahan made the decision to bench most of his starters against the Titans on Thursday, which makes sense, because training camp has been a battle of attrition for the 49ers. Everyone is injured. However, Stribling is healthy and he might have been the best offensive player on the field for the 49ers. He caught seven passes for 63 yards against the Titans and he did all of that in just one half of play. 

If you have a fantasy draft coming up, you might want to think about taking Stribling. With Ricky Pearsall out for the season, Stribling could definitely make a name for himself in San Francisco as a rookie. 

Bengals WR Dohnte Meyers

If you need someone to root for this year, make it Dohnte Meyers. Going into training camp, the Bengals receiver looked like a long shot to make the roster, but he’s slowly been proving that he belongs. In Thursday’s game against the Lions, not only did he catch three passes for 29 yards, but the human Swiss Army knife also had one rush for 13 yards and a punt return for 11 yards. 

After the Bengals’ 16-14 win, Joe Burrow revealed that Meyers drove seven hours overnight from Atlanta to Cincinnati just to attend an offseason throwing session with the QB. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his unlikely story. 

The 26-year-old Meyers, who spent some time in the CFL, has never played a down in an NFL regular-season game, but that could soon change because it’s looking more and more likely that he’s going to make the roster.

Losers

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Atlanta Falcons

Last week, the Falcons lost 2025 first-round EDGE Jalon Walker to a torn ACL in practice. It was a crushing, sudden blow.

Friday, Atlanta took another major hit in the pass-rushing department, though this one had been in the works. The NFL handed down an eight-game suspension to edge defender James Pearce Jr., a 2025 first-round pick. The suspension stems from a Feb. 7 incident with ex-girlfriend (and current Chicago Sky standout) Rickea Jackson that originally led to three felony charges against Pearce: aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police and resisting an officer with violence to his or her person. All three were dismissed as part of a pre-trial agreement, but Pearce’s violation of the personal conduct policy means he won’t play until this season is nearly halfway done.

Somehow, things didn’t get any better when the Falcons took the field. Tua Tagovailoa fumbled his second snap of the game, and with Michael Penix Jr. (knee) still unable to play, this isn’t exactly the quarterback competition Kevin Stefanski was hoping for. The Falcons got bulldozed 27-7 by the Broncos, by the way. 

Titans QB Cam Ward

Going into his second year, the Titans were probably hoping to see some progress from Ward in this game, but that definitely didn’t happen against the 49ers. Ward was on the field for three offensive possessions and it was a boom-or-bust performance: He went just 5 of 12 for 57 yards with 46 of those yards coming on just three completions, so he went 2 of 9 for 11 yards on his other throws. His accuracy was off and his decision-making wasn’t great. 

There’s still plenty of time for Ward to improve, but the Titans can’t be thrilled with his performance, which came against a 49ers defense that didn’t really have any starters on the field. 

Patriots kicker Andy Borregales 

The Patriots kicker had an impressive rookie year, but he didn’t look great on Thursday night against the Colts. The game ended in a 13-13 tie, but the Patriots would have won if Borregales had made his kicks. He missed three field goals in the game and that’s something that Mike Vrabel definitely wasn’t happy about following the tie. 

“We’re expected to make them. That’s pro football,” Vrabel said of the wayward kicks. “They’re banging them in from 60 yards. They got two kickers on the roster, so Andy knows that we have to make those field goals.”

Borregales’ misses came from 49, 55 and 56. 

The 49-yard miss came with 13 seconds left to play and would have won the game for the Patriots. New England is working in a new long snapper, so that could possibly be having an impact on their kicking game, but no matter what the issue is, it’s a situation that the Patriots need to get figured out quickly. 

Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa 

As a rookie last year, TeSlaa came up with some big plays for the Lions, but he wasn’t able to do that against the Bengals on Thursday. The Lions receiver was targeted three times in the game and he came away with zero catches. There were two passes he probably should have caught, including one that led to an interception. 

With the Lions driving down the field against Cincinnati’s first-team defense on the opening possession of the game, Detroit QB Luke Altmyer threw a pass to TeSlaa, and that’s when things got ugly. The ball went through TeSlaa’s hands and into the waiting arms of Jordan Battle. 

Later in the first quarter, Altmyer targeted TeSlaa on a fourth-and-3 play in Bengals territory, but the receiver wasn’t able to come down with the ball. TeSlaa caught six touchdown passes last year and the Lions would love if he turns into a consistent playmaker, but if this game was any indication, he still has some work to do before that can happen. 

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Colts QB Riley Leonard 

With Daniel Jones coming off a torn Achilles, the backup QB job is an important one in Indianapolis this year, and if Thursday night was any indication, Leonard might have just fallen behind Anthony Richardson. Leonard played the entire second half, which came against the Patriots defensive backups, and he wasn’t overly impressive. He completed less than 50% of his passes (10 of 21) and he threw an ugly interception in the third quarter on a badly underthrown pass. 

On the other hand, Richardson, who started the game, had a much stronger showing. The former fourth overall pick finished 11 of 14 for 145 yards and although he also threw an interception, it wasn’t his fault (The pass went through the hands of the receiver). Leonard is expected to start Indy’s second preseason game, which will come against the Falcons on Aug. 22, and he’s going to have to play much better if he wants to win the backup job. 

Chargers QB Trey Lance

Lance was the backup QB for the Chargers last season, but he might not be keeping the job for 2026. The former No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft was outplayed on Thursday night by DJ Uiagalelei. Lance was off-target at times, especially in the second quarter, which is when he threw this interception. 

He did throw for 164 yards against the Texans and he did show flashes at times, so there’s still plenty of time for him to battle back and keep his job, but Uiagalelei is certainly doing his best to make things interesting. The former Florida State QB went 6 of 9 for 120 yards and a touchdown in the Chargers’ 27-7 win over Houston. The Chargers backup QB battle will continue into the team’s second preseason game, which will take place on Aug. 20 against the 49ers. 

Kate O’Connor finished day of the Women’s Pentathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham in third place overall.

The Dundalk St Gerard’s AC produced personal bests in the 100m hurdles and the high jump in this morning’s session.

In the opening event of the seven-event competition the Irish woman finished fourth in a time of 13.30 seconds to collect 1,080 points.

She matched her PB of 1.86m in the high jump – clearing it at the third attempt – as she added 1,050 points to her total.

In the shot put in the evening session, the recent Commonwealth Games gold medallist produced a best effort of 13.96m, before running a 23.79 personal best in the final heptathlon event, the 200m.

Heading into day two on Saturday, the Newry, Co Down-born athlete sits in third position.

He lead is currently held by Poland’s Adrianna Sulek-Schumbert on 3,968 points. Sofie Dokter from The Netherlands, who won heat 3 of the 200m this evening, is currently in the silver medal position on 3,944 points, with O’Connor in third on 3,926.

The action in the heptathlon begins again in the morning with the long jump and javelin during the morning session, with the 800m at 7.45pm Saturday evening.

“I feel fit, I feel healthy; and I’m leaving day one feeling pretty positive”

Ireland’s Kate O’Connor is in third place with three events left in the heptathlon, and following an excellent 200m race, she spoke to David Gillick #RTESport pic.twitter.com/1zou7vHMRO

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 14, 2026

“I’ve given myself a fighting chance”

Commenting on her opening day in the competition, Kate O’Connor stated:

“I’m happy with that one [the 200m], but in the shot I feel like I let myself down a little. I had a lead on certain people, and I swung the door back open, but it’s really hard to string seven perfect performances together.

“I’ve managed to put together three really strong performances and one that wasn’t quite as strong. I feel fit, I feel healthy and I’m leaving day one feeling positive and in a good position.

“I’ve given myself a fighting chance tomorrow.”

Women’s 10000m Final

Bandon AC’s Fiona Everard finished in 20th place in tonight’s final of the Women’s 10000m, finishing in a time of 33:08.60 at her first major track championship.

Leevale’s Niamh Allen, unfortunately didn’t look comfortable during the race, and was forced to retire from the race.

LiveScores Now Available at IrishScores.com

Vikings Territory Breakdown

The number one question going into the 2026 Minnesota Vikings Training Camp has been answered: the Vikings have named their starting quarterback. On Tuesday, head coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed reports that Kyler Murray beat out J.J. McCarthy in their quarterback competition and will start under center (barring any unforeseen circumstances) in the season opener at home against the Green Bay Packers.

For some (particularly backers of McCarthy in this horse race), the decision comes too soon, without giving McCarthy the full opportunity to win the job throughout the entire training camp. While others feel (not unlike head coach KO who made the decision) that Murray has “shown enough” to win the job, and this timeline allows him to use the full complement of first-team reps to fully prepare for the fast-approaching regular season.

And as a Vikings observer hoping that the Vikings are ready to go against the Packers on Week 1, I agree with O’Connell and the timeline. Murray is new to KO’s complicated offense and needs every rep he can get (not just the lion’s share that he was receiving) to do so.

So, despite the decision, the debate continues. Was it a fair competition? Why make the decision now? What does a KO offense with Murray look like? And what happens to J.J. McCarthy? The fellas at the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast—Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory.com and purplePTSD.com, and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and startribune.com—are on hand to debate it all. Tune in and check it out. Skol!

Joe Oberle is a veteran sportswriter/editor/reporter and has covered the Vikings since 2008. The author of three books, he … More about Joe Oberle

Image credit: Esports World Cup (Image credit: Vineet Ramakrishnan/TimesofIndia.com)

TimesofIndia.com in PARIS: The Esports World Cup was not supposed to be in Paris this year. The 2026 edition was moved from Riyadh to the French capital in May amid the regional security situation, with the Esports Foundation stressing that Riyadh remained the event’s home.What was initially a necessity has now given the organisers something else to think about: whether EWC can actually travel. Faisal Bin Homran, chief product officer of the Esports Foundation, says the Paris move has accelerated a plan to eventually take the tournament to other cities.For Bin Homran, that has provided something more useful than a change of venue: proof that the tournament can travel.“What happened this year is we expedited this move,” Bin Homran told TimesofIndia.com. “It was 2028, 2029, 2030. To rotate, it was 2036. So we expedited this strategy. Was it 2026 planned? No. But this move was expedited. And this tells me that it’s ready to move around.”The Paris edition, therefore, is being viewed inside the Foundation as more than an international stop for an event whose home has been Riyadh.“I think we would see EWC rotating. We don’t know where or when yet. But I think at the end of it, it would be a global IP event in the world,” he said.Riyadh will continue to be the event’s hub, even as EWC looks to take the tournament to other cities.“Adding to that, Riyadh would be the hub and the host of it as a default,” Bin Homran said.Paris had the practical ingredients to make the move possible. Bin Homran pointed to the city’s infrastructure and existing esports audience, as well as its recent experience hosting major esports tournaments.The biggest logistical problem was not the venue. “The visa was a challenge, to be honest,” he said.

Faisal Bin Homran, chief product officer of the Esports Foundation (Image credit: Vineet Ramakrishnan/TimesofIndia.com)

The Foundation had less than six weeks to put the Paris edition together and needed a large number of visas to be issued. Bin Homran credited support from France and Paris for helping the event overcome that hurdle.“So it was tough. But we overcome it with the partnership with them.”The move also appears to have sharpened the Foundation’s thinking about what EWC is supposed to become. Bin Homran does not describe it simply as a tournament. He keeps returning to four principles: the best games, the best clubs and players, and a gaming festival that can attract people beyond the core esports audience.“We have the best games around the world. We have the best clubs and the best players. And we have the best gaming festival. So it is a festival that hosts the best tournaments from all over the world.”In Paris, EWC has also been built around more than the competition, with fan zones and activities running alongside the tournaments. Bin Homran said the idea is to draw people beyond those who follow individual esports titles.“There is something for families to come into it. There is something for esports fans. And there is something for gamers, which is a wider appealing audience than esports fans’ niche who are only watching Fnatic to play Valorant or watching Magnus and just all these.”The ambition is now to take that product to more markets and India is one of them.Bin Homran described India as “one of the most important markets” because of its player base, games and influencer culture. But he also pointed to a problem that has less to do with the size of the country’s gaming audience and more to do with how the global games industry operates.

(Image credit: Vineet Ramakrishnan/TimesofIndia.com)

“We had some challenges of some games that has a different version in India,” he said. “I hope that publishers fix this.”His preference is for games to be more globally aligned so that players from different markets can compete against one another without separate versions creating barriers.“If publishers globalise their games, that would help me,” he said. “I don’t want to have, oh, when I play, I want to talk, I want to talk with one language. Let’s play with the mobile. Let’s play this game. Let’s play this game.”The Foundation is already researching how it can increase its presence in India, including through qualifiers and tournaments. And Bin Homran has a specific idea for what that could look like.“My goal, hopefully one day, to have a qualifier in each of the different main markets. So I want the qualifier to be physical there. So you have road to EWC India.”The idea is straightforward: a physical Indian qualifier focused on Indian players and clubs, with the winners earning a route to the Esports World Cup.“This is to see which Indian club or players qualify to EWC,” he said. “It’s similar to this. But it’s only focusing on the Indian players and Indian clubs. That’s the aim and the goal. And we’re working towards that goal.”

(Image credit: Vineet Ramakrishnan/TimesofIndia.com)

The Foundation is already looking at ways to increase its presence in India, including qualifiers and tournaments. Bin Homran has a specific idea in mind.Bin Homran also rejected the idea that India lacks the ingredients to produce more top-level esports participation. “I don’t think there’s something missing in India,” he said, adding, “I think it’s the alignment of the main stakeholders. Because I own EWC. I don’t own publisher’s license.”He believes that situation is changing as publishers look at how to globalise their games and improve their presence in India. “So as soon as everything is aligned, I think we can do it faster than ever,” he said.The India plans are still being worked on. There is no city, date or tournament format announced in the interview. But Bin Homran said the Foundation is researching how to build a stronger presence in the country and hopes to have more activity there soon.“I hope one day or soon, we will have more stuff there,” he said. “And I will go myself there and see it and check it out.”

(Image credit: Vineet Ramakrishnan/TimesofIndia.com)

For now, Paris is serving a similar purpose for EWC itself. The Foundation has taken a tournament that was built around Riyadh and put it in a different city, with a different audience and a compressed preparation timeline.Bin Homran’s assessment is that the experiment has worked well enough to accelerate an ambition that had been further down the road. The next destination is not decided. But the direction is.“I think we would see EWC rotating,” Bin Homran said. “We don’t know where or when yet.” And somewhere in that future rotation, the Foundation wants India to have its own route in. “Road to EWC India.”

With a wealth of high-quality three-year-olds in his stable, Chris Waller has decided to split his team between Melbourne and Sydney for the current season.

While Hidrix, Central Europe, and Striking Alibi will represent the stable in The Rosebud at Rosehill on Saturday, Waller has dispatched Confederation south to compete in the Group 3 Vain Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.

Confederation arrived in Melbourne last week and completed a jump-out at Flemington last Friday, finishing at the rear of the five-horse field.

The son of Wootton Bassett had two starts in his first campaign, chasing home his stablemate Hidrix on debut in the Group 3 Canonbury Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill in January before running second last behind Stretan Ruler in the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at the same track three weeks later.

Racing NSW stewards placed a warning on Confederation following that run, which was partly instrumental in Waller deciding to send the colt to Melbourne.

Confederation had one trial, finishing second at Rosehill last month, before heading to the trainer’s Flemington base.

“He doesn’t like the Rosehill 1100 (metres),” Waller said of the decision to send Confederation to Melbourne.

“He had a couple of runs out of the shute and he used to get a bit aggressive and run out to the left, and it cost him a couple of times.”

Waller mentioned he was still assessing his new season three-year-olds, trying to determine which of his team had made the progression from two to three.

However, the trainer has confidence Confederation will make the necessary step.

“We go by feel,” Waller stated.

“He looks like he’s come back well, and Damian Lane rode him on Friday, and he was pretty happy with him.”

While Lane partnered Confederation in the jump-out at Flemington last week, he switches to Hard Kick on Saturday.

Ben Melham will ride Confederation on Saturday.

For punters interested in Confederation’s chances in the Vain Stakes, explore the sports betting options available.

Amidst Venus Williams and Alex Eala’s blossoming relationship, the American’s husband Andrea and the Filipino’s father Michael have become best-buddies. The two men recently shared a sweet interaction on social media, showcasing the depth of their bond.

Williams and Eala met each other on court for the first time earlier this year as opponents. The duo competed against each other at the ASB Classic, with the pairing of Eala and Iva Jovic getting the better of Williams and Elina Svitolina. A few months later, the two WTA stars joined forces at the Bad Homburg Open. Competing alongside each other in Germany, the pair had a start to their campaign as they ousted Catherine Harrison and Alexandra Osborne in straight sets. They eventually went down against Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls in the quarterfinals.

As Venus Williams and Alex Eala’s bond grows stronger on and off the tennis court, Williams’ husband Andrea Preti and Eala’s father Michael recently shared a sweet interaction on social media. The latter took to his Instagram story to share a picture of Williams’ autographed book ‘Strive’, and thanked the tennis star for the gesture. Reposting the story, Preti wrote,

“♥️💪♥️.”

Eala’s father Michael has been an important part of the Filipino tennis star’s journey on the WTA Tour. Meanwhile, Preti has been one of Williams’ loudest cheerleaders as the American returns to competition.

Venus Williams and Alex Eala open up about their relationship

Venus Williams and Alex Eala were most recently seen in action alongside each other at the National Bank Open. The duo partnered up for the women’s doubles event at the tournament, but suffered a disappointing opening round exit in Toronto.

After their loss, the pair opened up about their relationship. Williams heaped praise on the rising star, saying,

“Alex is a world star. She’s just incredible. Besides the fact of her tennis, she’s an incredible person, well spoken, and just an impressive young lady. So I like being around those kinds of things. I think we both lift each other up.”

Meanwhile, Eala emphasised how competing alongside Williams was motivating her to give her all, explaining,

“When I’m on court with Venus there’s a lot I can learn about mentality. When I’m on court with her it also pushes me to kind of match her energy. So of course when you’re on court with someone who plays like her, you want to kind of give it your all.”

After wrapping up their campaign in Toronto, Venus Williams and Alex Eala arrived in Ohio for the Cincinnati Open. Williams made an opening round exit at the event, while Eala is gearing up to compete against Elena Gabriela-Ruse for her round of 64 encounter.