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Denver’s clean preseason win over Atlanta leads the show, along with Washington shutting down Miami and Tampa edging the Jets. Michael also looks ahead to a loaded Saturday NFL slate and explains why preseason is really about roster depth.
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Welcome to The Sports Hangover Daily, I'm Michael Benatar. Today on the show: Denver smacks Atlanta, Washington puts Miami in timeout, Tampa gets past the Jets, and Saturday’s NFL board is full. Let's get into it.
The Broncos beat the Falcons twenty-seven to seven last night, and yeah, it’s preseason. Nobody in Denver needs to start measuring for a parade route. But twenty-seven to seven still says something. One team looked organized. The other looked like it was asking where the bathrooms were.
Denver didn’t just win. Denver looked clean. In August, that usually means your backups know where to stand, your coaches had them ready, and the bottom of the roster didn’t turn the game into a yard sale.
That matters. Everybody wants to talk about stars in August. Fine. Stars sell jerseys. But preseason is where you find the backup tackle who saves your ass in November. It’s where you learn who can cover kicks, who can tackle in space, and who starts blinking when the lights come on.
Atlanta losing by twenty isn’t a crisis. Not even close. But it is annoying. If you’re trying to sell people on a fresh season, getting worked in the first fake game is a lousy first impression.
Denver looked like it had a checklist. Atlanta looked like it opened the syllabus this morning. Again, it’s August. But the Broncos got the cleaner tape, the better score, and a much less miserable coaches’ meeting today.
Around the league, Washington beat Miami twenty to seven, and that score is more about structure than star power.
The Commanders gave up seven points. That’s the part I care about. Preseason defense can get ugly fast. You’re rotating bodies, trimming the calls, and asking young guys to survive weird situations. Washington still kept Miami out of rhythm. That’s the kind of tape coaches love watching with a red pen and a coffee.
For Miami, seven points is gross. I don’t care if half the playbook is locked in a safe. You still want a couple drives that look like adults are involved. Instead, the Dolphins leave with “teaching moments,” which is coach-speak for “we’re about to make your Saturday morning deeply unpleasant.”
The Buccaneers beat the Jets twenty-four to sixteen, and honestly, that feels like the most Jets preseason result possible. Close enough to avoid panic. Messy enough to irritate everyone. Tampa did what normal teams try to do in August: score enough, get through it, and leave with the win.
The Jets losing by eight isn’t some massive problem. But this team never gets a normal August. Every sloppy possession gets treated like a crime scene because Jets fans have already had enough emotional water damage for one lifetime.
Tampa gets the useful part: a win, decent control, and no dramatic team meeting. That’s the preseason dream. Be boring, stay healthy, get on the plane.
Saturday’s NFL slate is loaded. Browns at Bears. Vikings at Giants. Panthers at Bills. Jaguars at Saints. Rams at Chiefs. Eagles at Ravens. Cowboys at Seahawks.
That Rams-Chiefs one jumps out for me, especially sitting here in L.A. The stars may barely touch the field, if they touch it at all. Doesn’t matter. Rams-Chiefs is still Rams-Chiefs. You’re watching the backups. Which receivers can separate. Which edge rushers pop. Which offensive linemen look like they might get someone important killed.
Cowboys-Seahawks has juice too. Dallas preseason always becomes a national argument because the Cowboys could practice punt coverage and somehow it turns into a referendum on society. Seattle at home, Dallas under the microscope, young guys fighting for jobs — that’s good August football.
And Browns-Bears has weird energy. Cleveland always feels like it has twelve storylines stuffed under the carpet. Chicago is still trying to convince everyone the operation is grown-up now. That’s the kind of preseason game where one bad series gets clipped online before the players even shower.
No NBA games last night. No NHL games either. Mid-August is the desert for those leagues. So if you wanted basketball or hockey scores, congrats, you got cardio instead.
The Hangover Take: stop pretending preseason is about the starters.
It’s not. Not anymore.
Preseason is about whether your organization knows its own roster. That’s the whole deal. The good teams know their forty-eighth guy from their fifty-eighth guy. The bad teams are still guessing when cutdown day shows up.
That’s why Denver’s twenty-seven to seven win matters more than people want to admit. Not because the Broncos are suddenly headed to the Super Bowl. Their depth looked ready to play football.
That’s also why ugly August offense should annoy fans. If your backups can’t line up, can’t protect, and can’t finish drives, that says something about your building.
The best teams don’t treat preseason like trash. They treat it like inventory. And by September, inventory becomes survival.
That's your hangover. Go hydrate. I'll see you tomorrow.