Winners and losers from Week 3 of NFL preseason

The NFL is back, and we're here to examine the good and the bad from the third week of preseason action.

Winners

Josh Allen

The Jacksonville Jaguars' first-round draft pick had his coming-out party in front of a national audience on Thursday. While the stat sheet will show that the No. 7 overall selection recorded just three tackles - two of them for a loss - he also provided four quarterback pressures and was a game-wrecker who was constantly in the face of Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Allen did it all while wearing a protective cast on his left wrist. He was the third defensive end taken in this year's draft, and he could end up making the six teams that passed on him regret their decision.

Bears' kicking competition

There was a true winner in Chicago this week when the Bears cut Elliott Fry on Sunday, leaving Eddy Pineiro as the only kicker on the roster.

Pineiro quickly rewarded the team for its faith in him by nailing a 58-yard field goal, a 21-yarder, and all three of his extra points in Saturday's regular-season tune-up.

Damien Williams

The Kansas City Chiefs running back was anointed the starter this offseason, but he'd seemingly been losing his grip on the job due to a training-camp injury and the emergence of rookie runner Darwin Thompson.

On Saturday, Williams put any fears about losing his job to rest. He touched the ball just four times, but caught three passes for 74 yards, including this 62-yard connection with Patrick Mahomes:

Losers

Colts

No team had a worse week than the Colts, who are dealing with the surprise retirement of franchise quarterback Andrew Luck.

Without Luck, a legitimate 2019 NFL MVP contender, the Colts' odds of making the playoffs, winning the AFC South, and reaching Super Bowl LIV all took substantial hits. Backup Jacoby Brissett filled in admirably for an injured Luck in 2017, but Indianapolis still finished that season with a 4-12 record.

NFL fans

Week 3 is generally regarded as the only game of the preseason when starters will see up to a half of football. But for the most part, that was not the case this year. Nine clubs sat their starting quarterbacks and many other superstars watched from the sidelines. Meanwhile, one of the star QBs who did suit, Cam Newton, picked up an ankle ailment that could threaten his availability for Week 1. There was also the debacle in Winnipeg.

The preseason was initially meant to be a necessary part of roster construction - not a source of entertainment - but now that exhibition games are included in season-ticket packages and broadcast nationally on NFL Network, football fans are being done a disservice.

Buccaneers' O-line

The matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' starting offensive line and the Cleveland Browns' starting defensive line wasn't much of a battle at all. Quarterback Jameis Winston was pressured constantly and sacked five times. Overall, the Browns finished the contest with seven sacks and 12 quarterback hits.

Afterward, Bucs head coach Bruce Arians didn't hold back in his assessment of the O-line, saying, "They got their ass kicked, one-on-one. Simple." The lackluster performance doesn't bode well for Winston's prospects in a contract year, and for a Tampa Bay running game that ranked 29th last season.