You can already see the difference Donovan McNabb makes with the Redskins. On third-and-14, McNabb hit TE Chris Cooley for a 15-yard reception for a first down.

Well, they do call it preseason for a reason. The Eagles and Bengals starters combined for no points for most of the first half on Friday night. The two offenses looked like junior high school kids sitting across from each other at a dance.

Fantasy enthusiasts can certainly be a panicky bunch. One of the kids in the NFL.com fantasy forums was worried that Mike Tolbert was going to take goal-line carries away from Ryan Mathews.

QB Carson Palmer is on the hot seat. An obvious statement, like saying that LeGarrette Blount needs to stop punching people.

The Eagles feel like one of those television shows that have been on the air so long that the producers shuffle the cast to keep things fresh. Kind of like Law and Order. Which to me was never the same once Angie Harmon left. And I feel the same way about the Eagles this season.

Apparently Falcons coach Mike Smith did not run Michael Turner enough in 2008, now he is determined to get Turner involved into the passing game, too.

Patriots WR Wes Welker returned to real game action on Thursday night, making an appearance during the team’s first drive against the Falcons. Tom Brady did not waste any time getting the ball to Welker, either.

Here is all you need to know about C.J. Spiller — he is a playmaker.

Patriots WR Wes Welker is out running wind sprints on the turf at the Georgia Dome — in anticipation of tonight’s game in Atlanta — and the Twitter universe is blowing up.

Colts WR Pierre Garcon and TE Dallas Clark will sit out tonight’s contest against the Bills, as noted here on Tuesday. So one of the keys that I will be watching Thursday night is who gets the start at receiver opposite Reggie Wayne.

In what could only be viewed as one of the most surprising developments of the summer, former Cowboys and Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson went a month without hairspray.

Bills coach Chan Gailey told the team’s official Web site that he expects rookie RB C.J. Spiller to get a lot of reps against the defending AFC champions on Thursday night.

The Bears offense is like the sun. Use precaution, and you could get a nice warming glow. Move haphazardly, and you will end up burned.

Ask yourself if this sounds familiar: The Chargers draft a running back from a Western Athletic Conference school, give him more than 300 attempts as a rookie and he goes on to a Hall of Fame career.

That was LaDainian Tomlinson in 2001. Now the Chargers are trying to recapture that magic with Ryan Mathews in 2010.

Colts WR Pierre Garcon and TE Dallas Clark are expected to miss Thursday’s preseason game against the Bills, according to the team’s official Web site. Much ado about nothing or further fuel for the notion that teams coming off Super Bowl losses tend to struggle the following season?