Football is back, baby!

On Thursday afternoon, the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers squared off in the annual Hall of Fame Game, officially kicking off the 2026 preseason. The Cardinals were there to honor Larry Fitzgerald while the Panthers honored Luke Kuechly, and boy were we treated to one heck of a game.

The over/under for this game was set at 34.5, but they were almost there at halftime, with the score 17-17. The third quarter was a bit of a snooze, but in the fourth, both teams combined to score 26 points, which included a tough, game-winning touchdown run by Haynes King as time expired.

Carolina picked up a thrilling victory, but there were players on both sides that shined in this game. Here are my winners and losers from Thursday’s action.

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Winner: Carson Beck

The biggest winner from the Hall of Fame Game absolutely has to be Carson Beck. The Arizona Cardinals caught a lot of flak for selecting Beck in the third round; higher than pretty much any draft analyst had him on their board. Beck needed a strong performance to show the Cardinals they made the right pick, and he balled out.

Beck started the game for Arizona and played about 2.5 quarters on Thursday, completing 15 of his 19 passes for 188 yards and one touchdown while also picking up the first first down of the game with his legs. But the stats aren’t the only impressive thing about his performance. He made some big time throws as well.

Beck showed out in his first NFL game, and all of a sudden, there’s a lot of pressure on…

Loser: Jacoby Brissett

Jacoby Brissett.

While Brissett didn’t play on Thursday, he was one of the biggest losers of the Hall of Fame Game. Everyone assumed Brissett would be Arizona’s starter this year. And while he’s almost certainly going to be the starter for Week 1, he suddenly has a lot of pressure to perform.

Given that Arizona will probably get one of the top-three picks in the NFL Draft next year, which will feature a loaded quarterback class, the Cardinals will want to know what they have in Beck before the end of the year. And after his incredible HOF Game performance, Mike LaFleur is going to be more antsy than ever.

If Brissett comes out flat and doesn’t come close to the impressive numbers he posted last year, the Cardinals will be more ready to throw Beck out there than they would’ve been if he didn’t play well on Thursday.

Winner: Haynes King

Another rookie quarterback that lands on our winners list is Haynes King. The undrafted free agent didn’t start the game, but he played the large majority of it for the Panthers, completing 21 of his 34 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns while adding 39 yards and one score on the ground. I know it’s the HOF Game, but 219 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers in your first NFL start isn’t too shabby.

While King made a ton of great plays throughout the night, he saved his best for last. With two seconds on the clock, Carolina trailed Arizona by three points, but they didn’t want the game to end in a tie, so they went for the walk-off touchdown. King dropped back, couldn’t find a man, and did what he does best.

He found a hole in the middle of the offensive line, lowered a shoulder and found his way into the end zone to win the game.

Is King going to challenge for the starting job like Beck? No. Will he even make the 53-man roster? Probably not. But this performance certainly gives him a fighting chance against Kenny Pickett for the rest of training camp and preseason.

Loser: Nick Rallis

The Arizona Cardinals had one of the worst defenses in the league last year despite being led by a defensive head coach in Jonathan Gannon. When Gannon was let go and LaFleur was fired, LaFleur elected to keep Arizona’s defensive coordinator, Nick Rallis, and give him a chance to prove himself as a play caller. But his debut was not very good.

Despite facing a bunch of third-stringers, Rallis’s defense gave up 33 points to an undrafted free agent quarterback. After Carolina punted twice to start the game, they scored on six of their last seven drives.

You might be wondering why Carolina’s defensive coordinator isn’t also on this list, given they gave up 30 points. That’s because he didn’t call plays. Instead, the Panthers let Defensive Passing Game Coordinator Jonathan Cooley get some experience calling plays in this game.

Nick Rallis has to prove he belongs as an NFL DC this season. But he’s not off to a great start.

Winner: The Fans

You know who the second-biggest winner of the night was? NFL fans.

We have been itching for just a sniff of NFL action ever since the Super Bowl way back in February. Is the Hall of Fame Game usually entertaining? No, but it’s our first taste of competitive football in six months, so it holds a special place in many fans’ hearts.

Luckily for us, this year’s game was actually entertaining, too. How often did we sit on the couch and waste three hours of our lives watching a 13-10 snooze fest between third stringers? Too often. So, to get a 33-30 shootout with some actual good football being played was a blessing.

I hope you all enjoyed it on Thursday, because not many preseason games will be as entertaining as this one was.