NFL preseason roundup: No 1 pick Caleb Williams ‘outstanding’ in Bears debut

This year’s No. 1 overall pick, Caleb Williams, showed promising results in his preseason debut, leading two drives that ended in field goals in the Chicago Bears’ 33-6 win over the Buffalo Bills on Saturday.

The 22-year-old from USC completed four of seven attempts for 95 yards and also converted a third-and-nine by shooting from the pocket for a gain of 13 yards. While he wasn’t perfect — Williams was late to nearly throw an interception on a play that was wiped out by a Bills defensive penalty when he was off the ball — the quarterback saw the Bears gain a combined 152 yards and seven first downs on 20 plays over two possessions.

Receiver DJ Moore had a simple assessment of his new quarterback’s debut: “excellent.” Bears coach Matt Eberflus was a little more cautious, but said he was pleased with Williams’ play.

“There’s definitely positivity,” Eberflus said. “We’re not going to suppress that. I feel like we’ve got a lot of work to do and a lot of things to accomplish as a football team, not just Caleb. We’ve all got to play well with him. It’s important that we keep improving for that first game.”

For Buffalo, Josh Allen was 2 of 3 for 22 yards and also had a seven-yard run in a short outing before making way for backup Mitchell Trubisky.

Elsewhere, No. 2 Jayden Daniels scored a touchdown after throwing a perfectly placed deep pass, his first NFL pass, which put Washington in New York territory during their 20-17 loss in the season opener.

Daniels and most of the Commanders’ starting offense played only the opening series against the Jets’ reserves. The young quarterback held on for his second pass, hitting Dyami Brown for 42 yards down the right sideline on third-and-six from Washington’s 34-yard line.

Daniels was 2 of 3 for 45 yards with three third-down conversions before being replaced by Marcus Mariota. The Jets, who rested almost all of their starters, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers, sealed the win on Austin Seibert’s 37-yard field goal with 21 seconds left.

JJ McCarthy, another first-round quarterback, had an inconsistent but promising preseason debut as the Minnesota Vikings beat the Las Vegas Raiders 24-23.

Gardner Minshew, who was in a near-competitive battle with Aidan O’Connell for the Raiders’ starting quarterback job, was 6 of 12 for 117 yards and scored a touchdown in the second quarter to DJ Turner.

The Vikings have given rookie Sam Darnold the most rotations with the first team in practice and are poised to open the season with the third overall pick in the 2018 draft, but he’s holding the throne for McCarthy. After Darnold went 4 of 8 for 59 yards on an opening drive that stalled at the 4-yard line with consecutive end-zone incompletions, McCarthy entered the game to an eager roar from the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd. In six possessions, the 10th overall pick in the draft from national champion Michigan went 11 of 17 for 188 yards.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati saw everything they needed to see from Joe Burrow in their first series against Tampa Bay. In his first game in nearly nine months, Cincinnati’s franchise quarterback led a 73-yard drive, threw a touchdown pass to Tee Higgins and then walked off the field.

The Buccaneers scored late to win the game 17-14, but Burrow passed his test, going 5 of 7 for 51 yards, making five first downs and completing passes to four different receivers.

Burrow looked like he was back to his old self after undergoing surgery last year to repair a torn ligament in his throwing hand. He avoided taking hits, throwing the ball into the dirt on one play to avoid hitting safety Kaevon Merriweather.