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Buffalo opened its new stadium with a win over Carolina on Saturday, 29-14, the first football game played there. The score itself is preseason noise, but several individual storylines from the night are worth tracking into the regular season.
DJ Moore caught 3 of 4 targets for 61 yards on the first two drives, including an 18 yard third down conversion, before a defender rolled up his ankle late in the game. Buffalo called it a false alarm afterward, and Moore was seen moving well on the sideline, so this looks like a scare rather than a real absence.
Buffalo sent a second round pick to Chicago for Moore back in March.
The move gives Josh Allen a true number one receiver for the first time in two seasons. Allen went 6 of 8 for 111 yards and a touchdown to Keon Coleman in his own short outing, and the rapport with Moore on those opening two drives is the version of this offense the trade was built around.
The deal also reunited Moore with his old offensive coordinator, who was promoted to head coach this offseason and has already talked about using Moore on more downfield routes than his last stop did.
Two backs further down the depth chart scored fourth quarter touchdowns four minutes apart. Ian Wheeler, an undrafted running back out of Howard who joined the roster in June after stops on two other practice squads, punched one in from close range, and Frank Gore Jr., a second-year back on a futures deal who debuted in last year's playoffs, added another. Neither score changes the pecking order behind James Cook, but both backs are fighting for a depth spot rather than a role, and a preseason touchdown is exactly the kind of thing that keeps a bubble back on a 53 man roster.
Bryce Young's night was three series and a three and out, going 3 of 5 for 18 yards behind a Carolina line missing both projected starting tackles. Kenny Pickett was the real story once he took over, going 16 of 19 for 92 yards and a touchdown. Pickett's clean outing behind a line that struggled for Young says as much about the state of that offensive line project as it does about either quarterback.
That backup competition added a new name this week too. Kyle Trask signed on after an injury to Haynes King, who strained his hamstring scoring a walk-off touchdown in a preseason exhibition and will miss time. Trask closed out Saturday's game with a touchdown throw of his own, giving the staff a real look at a third option before final roster cuts.
We flagged Chris Brazzell II's season ending knee surgery a few weeks ago as opening a real depth spot at receiver, and two names are now pushing for it. Ja'seem Reed, an undrafted rookie out of San Diego who was cut in final roster trims last year before catching on with the practice squad, caught a touchdown pass and has scored in each of the last two preseason games. John Metchie III, who signed a one year deal after stops on three other rosters over the past year, caught a touchdown of his own in the final minute. Metchie was Bryce Young's teammate in college at Alabama.
Neither Reed nor Metchie is walking into a starting job behind Tetairoa McMillan and Jalen Coker, but the room behind that pair is no longer an open question. It has two specific names in it now, both of whom scored touchdowns on the same night.
Jonathon Brooks played just 10 snaps in his preseason debut, and the number that mattered was not a stat. It was that he got up on his own after contact every time. Brooks tore his ACL for a second time last season, and Carolina's staff has said the entire point of his limited return was seeing how the knee responded to real hits, not piling up carries. He passed that test.
He is not walking into a workload this month and should not be drafted like one yet, but a running back with his draft pedigree clearing the first physical checkpoint of camp is real information for anyone holding him in a dynasty league.
None of this should move a single best ball rank today, and preseason production this early is never a reason to move a player up your board by itself. But Moore's two drives are the clearest signal yet that Allen finally has a real number one receiver, Pickett's outing further complicates what a Young injury would mean for this offense, and Carolina's receiver room behind McMillan and Coker now has real, specific competition instead of an open question mark.
Check the best ball rankings over the next week to see which of these names actually move, and if you are holding any of Carolina's depth pieces in a dynasty league, the dynasty cheat sheet is the place to see how Brooks' clean debut changes his outlook.
