Premium Previews: Week 1 Highlighted by Young (And Old) Quarterbacks

Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco started a trend last season: rookie quarterbacks who started from Week One and led their teams to the playoffs.

So the Detroit Lions and New York Jets are trying it this year with Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez. Although if Stafford gets the Lions from 0-16 to the postseason as a rookie, he probably should go directly to Canton.

In any case, Stafford and Sanchez will start Sunday in New Orleans and Houston as the NFL season finally gets under way after what seems like an eternal offseason.

There are other QB story lines the first week (although folks often forget there are 21 other guys on the field).

They include the return of Tom Brady to New England after a 2008 season that ended with a torn-up knee in the first quarter of the first game.

They include Jay Cutler's first game with the Bears -- in Green Bay against the hated Packers -- after an acrimonious exit from Denver.

And they include the re-return of Brett Favre -- this time to Minnesota -- after what has become an annual Favre Watch in Hattiesburg, Miss.

One more Favre item: Brett's first game will be in Cleveland, where he played his first exhibition game last year after joining the New York Jets. The Browns' coach is Eric Mangini, fired by the Jets after starting 8-3 and finishing out of the playoffs at 9-7, largely because Favre fizzled late with a shoulder problem that required offseason surgery.

Mangini, like the Bill Belichick offspring he is, spent the week trying to hide his QB choice from the Vikings -- Brady Quinn of Derek Anderson. But he told Quinn and Anderson his choice Tuesday night and it leaded out Wednesday -- Quinn's the man. More proof that Eric isn't Bill, who's a lot more feared by his players.

Here are some games of note for Week 1:

Chicago (9-7) at Green Bay (6-10)

The NFC North looks like a three-way contest among the Bears, Packers and Vikings. So the winner gets an early edge over the loser in the tiebreaker scenarios.

Two important new guys: Cutler for the Bears and Dom Capers, the defensive coordinator, for the Packers. Capers, who as Carolina's head coach got the Panthers to the NFC title game in their second year, has installed his 3-4 defense. Aaron Kampman, Al Harris and Charles Woodson seem especially pleased.

It's also obligatory to note that this is the NFL's oldest rivalry, the 177th game in the series. The Bears lead it 90-80-6 and have outscored the Packers 3,008-2,879.

Washington (8-8) at New York Giants (12-4)

A late Sunday game. And another division opener in what could be a four-way battle. Most prognosticators seem to think the Giants and Eagles are better than the Cowboys and Redskins but potential injuries make that subject to change.

This one has the silliest of subplots.

It involves Andre Woodson, a marginal quarterback cut by the Giants last Saturday and signed to the Redskins' practice squad the next day. On Monday, Tom Coughlin laughingly suggested (as had others) that the Skins only signed him to pick his brain about New York's offense.

Folks in Washington didn't hear Coughlin laughing and took him literally, prompting a Jim Zorn speech about Woodson's potential. Actually, the way Woodson played in exhibitions suggests he didn't know much about the Giants' offense and doesn't have much potential.. But Woodson ran the Redskins' scout team this week, presumably with more knowledge of the Giants' plays than, say, Chase Daniel, who the Skins cut. .

Detroit (0-16) at New Orleans (8-8)

With Stafford starting his first NFL game, the Lions will attempt to break a 17-game losing streak and a run of 23 losses in 24 games.

He will face a defense that allowed 28.9 points a game last season, most in the league, negating Drew Brees' near record-breaking year. So Gregg Williams is now the defensive coordinator. Changing coordinators seems to be the new fix-it method of choice in the NFL. Three offensive coordinators were fired in preseason.

Detroit could be heir apparent to New Orleans as the league's worst defense. There just aren't enough good players there even though Jim Schwartz, the new head coach, is a very innovative mind who made the Titans into one of the league's consistently good defenses.

New York Jets (9-7) at Houston (8-8)

If we're going to promote Stafford's first start, we should also promote Sanchez and the debut of Rex Ryan as the Jets' head coach.

But it's also a chance for the Texans to make a statement. They've never been better than 8-8 and now's the time to improve. Matt Schaub is limping, but probably will play. And Andre Johnson, Steve Slaton and Owen Daniels make the offense potent.

The defense has Mario Williams, who has proven more worthy than Reggie Bush and Vince Young after being picked No. 1 over them in the 2006 draft. And it has DeMeco Ryans, one of the NFL's best linebackers. But it was 29th in yardage allowed last season. It won't help that the best DB, Dunta Robinson, won't play after finally signing his franchise tender and reporting Sunday.

Buffalo (7-9) at New England (11-5)
San Diego (8-8) at Oakland (5-11)

In the first Monday night game, Brady returns for the Patriots against a team so punchless in preseason that it fired offensive coordinator Turk Schonert. ESPN has its first string crew there and will clearly play up the names: Randy Moss and, of course, T.O. Heck, they'll probably figure out a way to mention Shaq, Kobe, LeBron, Manny and the rest of their staples -- at least during the pregame hype.

The game? The Pats have beaten the Bills 11 straight times and 16-of-17, including by a combined score of 84-17 two seasons ago. The Bills have no offense and RB Marshawn Lynch is suspended.

But this still figures to be more competitive than the second game. The Chargers are prohibitive favorites in the AFC West and they should do a lot better than last year's 8-8. Ed Hochuli sent them into a spin in Week Two that it took all year to get out of. The Raiders were awful in preseason, and the most notable event in Napa, Calif., was a dust-up between coach Tom Cable and assistant Randy Hanson.