Six preseason games are on the docket Thursday. Football is back. We know what to look for. This is good.
Before the action starts, let's kill a little time with an Around the League mailbag. As always, these are actual questions from our Twitter followers:
Good question. "The radar" is debatable. Every quarterback is discussed. Among starting quarterbacks, my choices would be Sam Bradford of the St. Louis Rams and Carson Palmer of the Oakland Raiders. Both should benefit from fresh starts with new coaches. The talent in Oakland is underrated.
The Atlanta Falcons' offense should be improved. Any team with Cam Newton is a playoff contender. But any team with Drew Brees has the best shot in a single-elimination tournament until proven otherwise. The New Orleans Saints' defense just needs to be average.
Among backups, I still expect Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates to wind up playing a big role in the playoff race and the Texans season one way or another.
David Garrard will probably win the Week 1 job, but Moore should get a chance to replace him when things to go that well. And then Ryan Tannehill will replace Moore when things don't go well for him.
They'll do what they did last year: pass more than any team in the league. With Mikel Leshoure hurt and Jahvid Best still in purgatory, things don't look any better for the Detroit Lions. It's expecting too much of Kevin Smith for him to stay healthy and effective all year. For a playoff-caliber team, Detroit has a lot of holes.
Thanks for playing. We answered a lot of your questions in 140 characters on Twitter at @NFLATL.
