Several former Louisville football stars take big steps in week two of the preseason

The veterans

Joshua Bellamy – WR, New York Jets

Opponent: Atlanta Falcons

Stats: 1 target, 1 reception, 2 yards

Teddy Bridgewater – QB, New Orleans Saints

Opponent: Los Angeles Chargers

Stats: 5/12, 40 yards, 1 interception

Brandon Dunn – DT, Houston Texans

Opponent: Detroit Lions

Stats: 2 tackles, 1 solo, 1 sack

Senorise Perry – RB/ST Specialist, Buffalo Bills

Opponent: Carolina Panthers

Stats: 1 carry, 3 yards

Bilal Powell – RB, New York Jets

Opponent: Atlanta Falcons

Stats: 5 carries, 20 yards

Eli Rogers – WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Opponent: Kansas City Chiefs

Stats: Eli Rogers, 3 targets, 2 receptions, 31 yards 

Other veterans who suited up but didn’t record statistics:

Jamon Brown – OG, Atlanta Falcons

John Miller – OG, Cincinnati Bengals

Players who did not play

Preston Brown – LB, Cincinnati Bengals (Recovering from knee injury)

DeVante Parker – WR, Miami Dolphins

Sheldon Rankins – DT, New Orleans Saints (Recovering from Achilles injury)

Reaction: It was a relatively quiet week of action for the former Cards who are now veterans in the NFL. Most notably, two players, who suffered rather severe injuries last season returned to the field for their first real-games since their respective injuries.

Bilal Powell, who was thought to have suffered a career-ending neck injury close to the end of the 2018-19 season, made it back to the field as the Jets took on the Atlanta Falcons. No one really knew what to expect from the nine-year veteran after having surgery this offseason and going through a long recovery process.

Neck injuries can be extremely dangerous, especially in a sport where grown men are going head-to-head nearly every single play. The Jets were seemed to be taking things slowly, working Powell back in with just a few snaps. It was great to see Powell back on the field getting five carries for 20 yards.

Also taking the field for the first time this preseason was Steelers receiver Eli Rogers, who has been working hard to overcome a torn ACL back in early 2018 that left him out of action for nearly seven months.

After one of the best training camp entrances of the season, Rogers has been focused on getting back to being the reliable needed for Ben Roethlisberger, especially without Antonio Brown in the fold. In his first game action, Rogers caught two of the three passes thrown his way for 31 yards.

Teddy Bridgewater saw more significant playing time but was rather underwhelming against the Los Angeles Chargers going 5/12 with just 40 yards and an interception. There’s no reason to worry though as Bridgewater was mostly playing with the backups and players vying for roster spots, and also was under the weather according to multiple sources.