Week One of the 2002 NFL season featured a lot of exciting and high-scoring games to start the season. Hopefully, this weekend's matchups will provide more of the same. I've looked over the schedule and I want to share some of my thoughts with you on a number of games being played in Week Two.

New England at the New York Jets
I know Jets head coach Herman Edwards wasn't happy with his team after its win at Buffalo. He wasn't satisfied with the Jets' play and their penalties and some of the things that they did. That stuff, though, is kind of typical of all teams for the first game of the regular season.

If the Patriots are going to play like they did on Monday night against Pittsburgh, then they are going to be pretty doggone good again this season. I spent time with them at practice last weekend and I talked to the players and coaches while I was there. They exude as much confidence at this point in the season as any team I can ever remember, and they played with great confidence and control against the Steelers. This should be a heckuva AFC East game on Sunday.

Denver at San Francisco

	The 49ers have to find ways to get more out of Owens.

I did this game in the preseason on Monday Night Football when these two teams played in Denver, and this will be the same type of game. The Broncos and 49ers are an awful lot alike. They both have quarterbacks [Brian Griese and Jeff Garcia] who can be streaky. That is, throw a bunch of incomplete passes and then hit like 15 in a row.

I saw San Francisco in person last week at Giants Stadium and I was impressed with backs Garrison Hearst and Kevan Barlow. If you're looking for a breakout player this season then I think Barlow's a guy you have to look at. Everyone's going to try to take away Terrell Owens when they play the 49ers. However they take him away, though, San Francisco has to be ready to take advantage of that. Either doing things with Owens to get him open -- which is the one I prefer -- or, going to where they have taken the guy away from to help concentrate on Owens, and try to take advantage of that spot against the opposing defense. Having said that, you have to find a way to go to Owens because he's such a big part of your offense.

Oakland at Pittsburgh (ESPN, Sunday, 8:30 p.m. ET)
This game brings back a lot of memories for me from when I coached the Raiders and we had such a great rivalry with the Steelers. Pittsburgh didn't look good on Monday night against New England. They need to get Jerome Bettis going if he's healthy and establish the running game. I've always said that the best friend of a quarterback is a good running game and Kordell Stewart needs that. Keep an eye on Jason Gildon for the home team. He's a complete linebacker who can play both the run and pass very effectively. Another linebacker, Kendrell Bell, is injured and the Steelers need to get him back for their defense. Also, the defense needs to tackle better than they did against the Patriots.

The Raiders are amazing. They have these guys like Rich Gannon, Tim Brown and Jerry Rice who people say are too old, yet they just keep doing it. On one hand they might have some age on 'em, but on the other hand, they have that experience and that experience knows how to play the game. Historically, these teams always play tough games against each other and it will be more of the same this time.

Philadelphia at Washington (ABC, Monday, 9 p.m. ET)
I'm really looking forward to getting on my new Madden Cruiser and heading down for this one. These two teams are very familiar with each other as NFC East rivals and it should be a very interesting game. Steve Spurrier's been really good for the Redskins and good for football in Washington and good for the league. He brings renewed enthusiasm and a certain amount of freshness to the game, and I like that. His defense is pretty darn good too. The Eagles also have a solid defense under coordinator Jim Johnson and they'll blitz a lot against Washington.

Look for my complete preview of this game on Friday.

New York Giants at St. Louis

	Michael Strahan had four sacks in a dominating performance against the Rams last year.

The Giants know how to play the Rams. I did the game last year between these two teams and I felt that New York should've won the game, but they came up short. Defensive end Michael Strahan didn't have a good game against St. Louis; he had a super game against 'em. He was just raising havoc with the Rams' offense. The Giants had a different defensive coordinator then in John Fox and their approach was one that everyone's taking now when they play St. Louis: a physical one. The Rams' receivers are quick and they are hard to cover and everything about their offense is about timing and you have to come up and bump them and hit them and knock them off of their routes and their timing. A year ago, New York was successful in doing that, and New England was successful doing it in the Super Bowl. Denver was also able to do it this past weekend in beating St. Louis.

The Rams have to get back to where they have one of those games where Marshall Faulk runs for a lot of yards. They need to get a little more run into their mix. In pro football you just can't do one thing. You just can't run the ball on every play nor pass the ball on every play (although the Patriots sure looked like they could on Monday night against Pittsburgh), because you have to have balance and mixture with your offense if you want to be good.

Miami at Indianapolis
It will be interesting to see if the Colts have gotten their defense straightened out. On offense, when you have Peyton Manning, you have one of the best quarterbacks in the game along with one of the best running backs in Edgerrin James when he's healthy, and one of the best receivers in Marvin Harrison. Indianapolis has the runner and the catcher and the thrower, but they've had that the last few years and they still haven't been able to get over a lot of humps, because they haven't had a defense that could play like the offense. What happens is that you fall behind by two or three touchdowns and then the offense has to play uphill and they have to force things and then they have turnovers and stuff. In a nutshell, have the Colts improved their defense and can their defense play better together? If not, then it's going to be the same thing for them.

To me, Miami's a lot like New England. If you look at the Patriots and say who are their stars, well, it's hard to find a lot of stars on that team. Then you say, how did they win a Super Bowl? Well, they won by playing well as a team. That same blueprint is true of the Dolphins. There aren't a lot of stars on Miami's club. They play well as a team, though. And it was big getting Norv Turner to be the offensive coordinator for them. He's a really good coach and he'll help that team a lot.

Green Bay at New Orleans

	Deuce McAllister has been simply unstoppable this season.

The Saints are one of those teams that you forget about for some reason. You know when you are putting down all of the good teams and you get down to number seven and number eight and number nine and so on in rating the teams and how good they are from one to 32. Well, where do you put New Orleans? I feel some people put them down too low. Once you get past the elite teams -- and there are only three or four or five of them, if you can even name that many -- then I think you have the Saints right there. There are a few teams in the league that you better be ready to play or they will beat you up. New Orleans is one and Tennessee's another. If you ever take the Saints lightly then they will really get after you and I've seen it over the years and I've seen it even happen to a really good team like St. Louis.

Brett Favre of the Packers is one of my favorite players and he's one of the best quarterbacks ever in football, but one thing about him is that he does have trouble playing indoors on carpet (artificial turf). He's had trouble playing at Minnesota and at Detroit in his career. He just doesn't play as well there. The game indoors on carpet is a little faster and things happen just a split-second faster, and I think the whole Green Bay team, including Favre, is one that was built to play outdoors and on grass. Historically, the Packers haven't been the same team when you take 'em indoors, and that will be the setting for this game.

Chicago at Atlanta
The Bears have kind of found out that they can throw the ball and they showed that on Sunday against Minnesota. Marty Booker's a very good receiver and he had a great game against the Vikings. Chicago has a good defense and a good running game led by Anthony Thomas, but they're really good if they can get the passing game going with quarterback Jim Miller. They've never really had that deep or medium passing threat at receiver and they might have it now in Booker, David Terrell and Marcus Robinson. If they can get that then they become a multi-dimensional team, and I don't remember them ever being that way.

The Falcons are going to be exciting this season with Michael Vick at quarterback. They took Green Bay to the limit in Week One at Lambeau Field and Vick played really well. This is going to be a good matchup.

Tampa Bay at Baltimore
I know it sounds obvious, but the Buccaneers need to get that first win. It sure as heck helps, though, that they aren't in a strong division. I don't think they are a top team right now, but they are good enough to win their division and that would put them in the playoffs. The Ravens lost at Carolina on Sunday and they're a team that won the Super Bowl a couple of seasons ago, and now they've had to dismantle the team because of the salary cap and stuff. They are still a football team, obviously, with a lot of pride and you always have to be aware of that. They will be ready to play on Sunday.

Houston at San Diego
Who would have thought that this would be the 1-0 Texans against the 1-0 Chargers? Houston quarterback David Carr has looked really impressive so far. I've seen him a bunch, both in practice and in games, and he reminds me a lot of New England's Tom Brady. In fact, he may have a stronger arm than Brady.

New Chargers' coach Marty Schottenheimer made the right decision by going with second-year player Drew Brees over Doug Flutie at quarterback. At some point you just have to play the guy and see if he's ready and see if he can get the job done. Brees did get the job done in a Week One win at Cincinnati. San Diego has the running game with LaDainian Tomlinson to go with Brees. The Chargers may be a little better than people thought before the season started. Everyone's talking about Oakland and Denver in their division, and rightly so. Some mention Kansas City, too, but they kind of forget about San Diego. I'm not saying that the Chargers are going to win the division, but I feel that they will make some people at least think about it.

Tennessee at Dallas
The Cowboys didn't look good against Houston on Sunday night. They showed in that loss that they have some areas where they aren't strong and they have to work on that and get some better players at those positions. The Titans are pretty good. If Eddie George stays healthy then he's a heckuva running back. Also, they have a solid defense. Heck, defensive end Jevon Kearse goes out of Sunday's win over Philadelphia with a foot injury and rookie Carlos Hall steps in and gets three quarterback sacks. That was pretty darn good. They're a well-coached team and I would think they will make a little run here at some point.