Washington Bombers Preseason

[Guest]

Early notes -

Barring surprises/injuries, all of the 2019 starters are returning - great for cohesion, but also shows the weakness of the Bombers' draft.

Two rookies will be given a shot in the first few games, though. 2nd round pick Tony Holmes will start at LT, and Washington will run a 3-4 to give OLB Mack Sevcik a shot at WLB.

1st rounder Hardy Campana will have to wait. JT Eisenbart is the clear starter, as this is far from a re-building team.

AJ McGee will be breathing a sigh of relief, as he will not be the only offense in Washington. Even as well as he did last season (2300 yards, 22 TDs), the team does not plan on running him 400+ times again. Bad for fantasy owners, good for McGee and the overall offensive output.

The reason for that change is simple - Webb-Wooden-Corbett-Rogers. Eisenbart has a ton of weapons at his disposal, and a rock-solid offensive line. The Bombers may be living up to their name a little more this season.

[Guest]

CHICAGO 16, WASHINGTON 6

Not the most auspicious debut for a new offensive gameplan. There were some highlight film catches, but there were far more hurries, sacks, and bad throws - including 3 INTs. The 3 for 9 on long passes isn't nearly as concerning as 2 for 12 on medium. Those are the meat, absolutely essential.

Defense was more successful. The 3-4 seemed to be effective, although there wasn't much pressure from the OLBs. But 6 hurries, a knockdown and a sack from the front 3 is nice. Chicago was 3/14 on 3rd down conversions, so really, the defense did plenty enough to win.

A.J. McGee is not taking a backseat. 24 carries for a tidy 108 yards in a pass-first offense. He'll do just fine.

Penalties were awful. 9 overall, 5 on the offensive line. One of those was in the end zone for a safety.

Rookies - not much to see here. Holmes was 1/4 on KRBs, with a sack allowed. Sevcik barely made the box score with a pair of tackles. Campana dropped the clipboard twice.

[Guest]

Campana dropped the clipboard twice.

The first preseason game always scares me as there's a bazillion penalties. Things usually settle down though. Usually.

[Guest]

WASHINGTON 31, SAN FRANCISCO 6

Wow. It's preseason, so it doesn't count in any way, but Eisenbart throws 4 TDs, 3 to Gino Wooden. In the record books, the games that do count, no Bomber has ever thrown 4 TDs in a game, nor has a receiver had 3 TDs. So that was cool. Especially since it was all in the first half.

Uncool - A.J. McGee hurts his shoulder, fairly seriously.

But an excellent showing overall for the first-team. Time for the backups...

[Guest]

NORTH LIBERTY 24, WASHINGTON 22

This was a very interesting game, from an evaluation perspective. Fairly fun to watch, too. I'm starting to really rest the starters, except for the offensive line. Wanted to see if Campana had much to show, given 1st-team talent. Not too shabby. Still no threat to Eisenbart, but here's hoping he's got some major creeping to do. His stats were inflated by an 87-yard TD by Danny Russell late, 74 of which were YAC. But he didn't pee himself.

The running game was *very* impressive for 2nd & 3rd string backs. Kurt Perez carried it 19 times for 82 yards, with a long of 8. So he was really picking up 3, 4, 5 yards every carry. Nice to see. Nick Mayberry hit a couple long runs. So we're not hurting too bad for depth at RB, it would appear.

The pass rush isn't bad this preseason, but it's not exactly what you'd expect out of a 3-4. The WLB has yet to register a sack, but the overall pressure is good. We will probably stick with it into the regular season.

[BradZ]

WASHINGTON 31, SAN FRANCISCO 6

Wow. It's preseason, so it doesn't count in any way, but Eisenbart throws 4 TDs, 3 to Gino Wooden. In the record books, the games that do count, no Bomber has ever thrown 4 TDs in a game, nor has a receiver had 3 TDs. So that was cool. Especially since it was all in the first half.

Uncool - A.J. McGee hurts his shoulder, fairly seriously.

But an excellent showing overall for the first-team. Time for the backups...

You can take that a step further, "It's preseason . . .and it's San Fran, so it doesn't count in any way . . ."

[Guest]

hey man let me borrow that oxygen chamber you put mcgee in to speed up his healing.

[BradZ]

hey man let me borrow that oxygen chamber you put mcgee in to speed up his healing.

Word is the league is considering unilaterally instituting an HGH testing protocol based on this specific incident.

[Guest]

HIS HEAD JUST GREW NATURALLY! GOSH!

[Guest]

what about the 3rd arm on his back?

[Guest]

PEARL HARBOR 24, WASHINGTON 6

Late in discussing this one, but wasn't much to discuss. Played the scrubs a lot and got destroyed. The running game was the only 'bright' spot, as Perez & Mayberry still piled up some yards in McGee's absence. Oh and no new injuries. :D