1. How much Marcus Mariota will we see? Mariota was limited in the first Titans preseason game. It will be interesting to see how much he plays against the Panthers. Derrick Henry will be another interesting Titans name to watch. Demarco Murray almost always has off seasons after a big year like the one he had last year. It will be up to Henry to step up and take charge of that backfield if the Titans want to remain a ground and pound team.
2. Joe Mixon. The star crossed running back had a fantastic preseason opening. Can he continue that with the first team and continue adjusting to a lack luster offensive line? The Chiefs defense is always a good marker for how good a running back you are.
3. Do we see the Packers or Cowboys starters? Neither team pranced out their big guns in week one it will be interesting to see how the play week 2. I want to see if Rodgers and Martellus Bennett have formed that deadly chemistry yet.
4. Is Christian Hackenberg real? The time to play the Hackster is now, give him some first team reps in this uber meaningless game for the Jets. See what he can do, keep it vanilla and see if he has any athleticism or arm strength to show off. On the other side of the ball, the Jets looked promising in week one on defense. Can they continue gaining momentum going into the regular season? Maybe half of the Jets possessions could be fun to watch.
5. How does Desean Watson handle the Patriots defense? I get it they aren’t going to be scheming him but even in base defense the Patriots are good. I want to see Watson get first team reps. This is the game where Watson will either win or lose this week one starting job.
6. Mitch Trubisky. Trubisky should get first team reps in his second performance. It will be tough to out do what he did against Denver but as long as he doesn’t make too many mistakes that may be enough to impress. If Mike Glennon wants to keep this starting job for over a week he needs to have a good showing. Glennon was atrocious against the Broncos and for good reason got a lot of flak for it. Can he bounce back?
7. Denver’s QB situation. The fact of the matter is that neither of these guys got the job done last week. While Siemian looked more in control of the offense he failed to take chances and held the ball too long. For Paxton Lynch, the fact a first rounder can’t throw a perfect or close to perfect spiral is disturbing. Also, the fact that Lynch takes off at the first sign of trouble and has problems reading defenses. Neither of these guys is very good it would appear but one of them needs to step up and create some distance from the other.
8. Will we see Marshawn? I am so on bored with Lynch in Oakland but before I get fully on the skittles train I need to see him play. I need to see if he still can play, it has been a year and a half since we last saw Lynch on the gridiron. He needs to prove he is still the elite back he once was.
9. Goff. The fact Jared Goff was so restricted in week one of the preseason really concerns me. I want to see what Sean Mcvay has done with this guy. Open the playbook a little, let Goff show off the arm. Use read option as well that might help open up holes for Todd Gurley.