Tag: preseason games

Report: Texans rookie C.J. Stroud will start on Thursday vs Patriots

The Patriots will be the first NFL team that tests Texans’ rookie QB C.J. Stroud.

The New England Patriots will face Houston Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud in the preseason opener on Thursday night, per KPRC 2’s Aaron Wilson.

Stroud was selected with the second overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

He came to Houston after spending his collegiate career at Ohio State. He had a strong final season with the Buckeyes in 2022, when he tallied 3,688 passing yards, 41 touchdowns and six interceptions in 11 games.

The quarterback has been working with the Texans’ first-team offense over the past three days, per Wilson. This will be Stroud’s first in-game opportunity at the NFL level.

At the very least, this news should help the Patriots defense prepare in a real game-like setting. They know who the starter will be, and they can now prepare accordingly to the matchup.

For Patriots fans, it’s an opportunity to see a rookie standout matching wits with one of the league’s top defensive units on the road.

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NFL Network broadcasting two preseason games featuring Patriots

The New England Patriots will appear on NFL Network twice during the preseason.

NFL Network released the complete schedule for the 2023 preseason, and the New England Patriots are slated to have two games on the network.

To kick things off, New England will play in Week 1 of their preseason slate on Thursday, August 10 against the Houston Texans. Then they’ll face the Tennessee Titans on Friday, August 25 in their preseason finale.

The Patriots last faced the Texans in October 2021 and came away with a nail-biting 25-22 road victory. In that same season, New England also faced and beat the Tennessee Titans by a 36-13 margin.

New England will look to fire on all cylinders this preseason with the addition of offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien to the picture. These two games could be important building blocks and help set the table for the regular season.

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NFL owners approve 3 roster cutdowns this summer ahead of season start

The NFL owners have officially approved three roster cutdowns from 90 players this summer to 53 ahead of the start of the regular season.

The NFL owners have officially approved a 90-man roster to begin training camps this summer up from the 80 players teams elected to start with in light of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

But even more interesting, however, is the approval for three separate roster cutdowns ahead of the start of the regular season.

The three cutdown dates will be as follows, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network:

  1. From 90 players to 85 players on Aug. 17
  2. From 85 players to 80 players on Aug. 24
  3. From 80 players to 53 on Aug. 31

All three cutdown dates will take place on Tuesdays following each of the three preseason games. Because of the new structure, the paring down to just 53 players will take place four days earlier than usual.

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NFLPA board of reps calls on NFL to cancel all 2020 preseason games

The NFLPA Board of Representatives has voted unanimously to call on the NFL to cancel all 2020 preseason games in light of the coronavirus.

The NFL Players’ Associations’ Board of Representatives is standing firm on its stance against playing any preseason games this summer. On Thursday, the board voted unanimously to call on the NFL to cancel all preseason games in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s the wording of the passed resolution:

“RESOLVED, that in light of the absence of medical justification for holding any preseason games and the necessity of adhering to the acclimation period in order to reduce the possibility of injuries, the NFLPA Board of Player Representatives recommends that no preseason games be played during the 2020 NFL preseason, and the Board calls upon the NFL to cancel all preseason games due to the on-going COVID pandemic.”

In the July 3 memo, the NFLPA insists the NFL has no medical justification to support the decision to retain two preseason games or for the shortening of the previously agreed-upon acclimation period.

According to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero, the fight over the preseason games is “just getting started.”

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A look at possible NFL training camp schedules with no preseason games

Here’s a look at possible 2020 NFL training camp schedules with no preseason games due to the rise in COVID-19 cases around the nation.

The National Football League is expected to announce the cancellation of half of the preseason games scheduled for this summer in light of the rising COVID-19 breakout across the nation.

Games scheduled for Week 1 and Week 4 are likely to be canceled outright with teams playing one home and one away matchup over Week 2 and Week 3.

However, the NFL Players’s Association remains opposed to playing the exhibition games altogether and has discussed possible alternatives.

NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero has reported a proposed training camp schedule should the preseason games be scratched in 2020.

“3 days: medical/equipment

21 days: strength & conditioning

10 days: unpadded practice

14 days: practice (10 max/8 padded),” Pelissero tweeted.

“Then it’d be straight into Week 1 (of the regular season).”

Pelissero also noted the number of players participating in each phase of the program would be greatly reduced, for instance, only five players at a time for strength and conditioning workouts and up to 40 in unpadded practices.

With camps set to begin on July 28, the NFL and NFLPA now have less than a month to come to any sort of compromise and the clock is ticking.

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