Tidbits from Week 1 of the preseason.

Thus far, the NFC East is 2-1 in the first official week of preseason games.

On Saturday night, the Redskins scored 14 points in the final 1:14 to knock off the Vince Young-less Titans 14-6 in Nashville. The Titans led 6-0 in the fourth after Rob Bironas and John Vaughn had kicked field goals in the first and fourth. But, with four minutes left, third-string quarterback Todd Collins (he’s still playing, believe it or not) led the ‘Skins on a seven-play, 75-yard drive by going 5 for 5 for 61 yards, and Marcus Mason scored from a yard out to give Washington a 7-6 lead. Less than half a minute after the Titans got it back, the Redskins wrapped it up on a miscue by Tennessee. Center Lenny Harris couldn’t hold on to a bad snap, and Bryan Westbrook recovered the ball in the end zone. Jason Campbell was 6 of 14 for 104 yards for the Redskins, and backup QB Tim Rattay was 13 of 21 for 123 yards in place of Young, who was benched by coach Jeff Fisher for a violation of a team rule (apparently he didn’t quite feel like staying with the team at the hotel, and spent the night before the game at home instead).

Also on Saturday night, the Panthers defeated the Giants 24-21 at the Meadowlands. All of the scoring took place in the first three quarters, and a second-quarter field goal by John Kasay ultimately proved to be the difference. Taye Biddle was the real difference maker, with both of his catches going for touchdowns of 23 and 85 yards. His 85-yard TD catch from third-string QB Brett Basanez put Carolina up 24-14 in the third, and that deficit would be a bit too much for New York. Eli Manning was 3 of 5 for 27 yards and a first-quarter touchdown to Jeremy Shockey.

The action so far has been pretty tight. Ten of the first fourteen games of Week 1 were decided by four points or less, with three being decided by one point.

The performance and game of the week (thus far) has to go to the Detroit Lions and their trio of quarterbacks, who accounted for 497 passing yards in their 27-26 win over the Bengals. Even with second-round pick and likely future starter Drew Stanton shelved for the season due to injury, J.T. O’Sullivan and Dan Orlovsky showed that they aren’t to be forgotten. O’Sullivan threw for 225 yards and a touchdown, and Orlovsky, threw for 220 and two touchdowns, and led the Lions on a huge comeback. Shaun McDonald had 146 yards receiving and an 83-yard TD catch. Detroit was down 26-10 with 10 minutes left, but scored 17 unaswered points in a wild finish to win.

The game appeared over when an Orlovsky pass was picked off and returned 81 yards for a TD, but the third-year QB from Connecticut would redeem himself in a big way. Orlovsky immediately led the Lions down the field and threw his first touchdown with seven minutes left, and then, after a defensive stop, Kyle Larsen’s punt was blocked with four and a half minutes remaining. Orlovsky drove the Lions from the Bengals’ 48 to the 7, for a 24-yard field goal with 2:48 left. Then, after recovering the onside kick, the Lions were in the end zone in only two plays. Orlovsky connected with Kevin Kasper for 30 yards, then again with Kasper for a seven-yard touchdown. The Bengals proceeded to drive down the field, and had a chance to win it, but Shayne Graham’s 48-yard field goal attempt with no time left saild wide left, and that was that.

A lot of people may think the preseason is boring, and they have a point, since it’s mostly backups playing, but there’s still plenty of action and excitement to get us all revved up for when the real action begins.