Editor's note: ESPN senior NFL writer John Clayton's weekly "First And 10" column takes you around the league with a look at the best game of the week followed by primers for 10 other games to get you ready for Sunday and Monday. Here's his look at Week 1.

First ... St. Louis at Philadelphia: Stadium workers in Veterans Stadium better do a good job of fixing the carpet for Sunday's game between the Rams and the Eagles. It's the best game of the day, and the league can't afford to lose a marquee game because of rug problems.

	Donovan McNabb will present plenty of headaches for the St. Louis Rams.

Some scouts who watched the Titans play the Rams and Eagles in back-to-back weeks during the exhibition season came out saying that the Eagles might be the better team. Why? They can beat you in more ways -- Donovan McNabb's creativity, a running game featuring Duce Staley and a defense that creates turnovers and causes havoc with tricky zone-blitzing schemes.

Of course, that's a lot to ask from the Eagles, one of two surprise teams from the 2000 season that is knocking on the door of being a top NFC Super Bowl contender. By Sept. 16, the league will have a better idea where the Eagles stand because they follow the Rams game with a trip to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers, like the Rams, a true Super Bowl contender.

The good news for the Eagles is that young receiving corps -- starting with James Thrash and Todd Pinkston -- goes against a Rams defense that changed eight starters. That they know each others' names' is a tribute to new defensive coordinator Lovie Smith.

It will be hard enough for the Rams to figure out what McNabb's going to do play in and play out. So much of his game is improvisation. The Rams' game, however, will be a great test for the Eagles' young receiving corp. If there is one weakness in the Rams, it may be their pass rush. Yes, they have much better quickness, but except for injured defensive end Grant Wistrom, they may be missing a big-time pass-rusher.

The game against the Eagles will also be a good test and a confidence booster to Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, who must worry about concussions to some degree. The turf is hard. If he hits the asphalt floor on parts of the infield, that may be head-jarring.

And 10. New York Giants at Denver: This is the most interesting game to watch now that replacement officials are set to work the weekend. The Broncos have the most controversial offensive line for defenders because of their tendency to block low. The Giants have one of the best and feistiest defensive lines in the league. It's unlikely that the officials will be flag crazy, so the Giants may be contesting a lot of plays, hoping to draw flags. There will be plenty of emotions in this game. Terrell Davis is probably going to start. The fans will go crazy. The Broncos are entering a new stadium. That will excite the fans even more. With so many injuries, the Giants aren't going into Denver at full strength.

9. Oakland at Kansas City: Jon Gruden made his name to his players as a successful head coach two years ago when an injury-decimated Raiders team upset the Chiefs in the season-finale in Arrowhead. Having former Chiefs quarterback Rich Gannon as the offensive leader is a calming influence for this veteran team. Where the Raiders are vulnerable is in the middle of the field. The Trent Green-to-Tony Gonzalez tandem could be very dangerous if the Chiefs try to throw between safeties Marquez Pope and Anthony Dorsett Jr. They've tried zone defenses against Gonzalez, but he tears them up. The Raiders strength at cornerback could result in interceptions if cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Eric Allen make the right reads on receivers as they try to get into the pass routes. Early, the Chiefs receivers are still getting their timing down with Green. Though Green will put the ball at the right spot, the receivers might not be there.

8. Miami at Tennessee: This could be Marcus Spriggs' worst nighmare. On one play, he'll have to block Jevon Kearse. On others, they may move over Kevin Carter. A tight end may help him all day long, but the new Dolphins left tackle, replacing the injured Brent Smith, will be the part of the line the Titans will test the most. That's what the Titans do best. First, they stop the run. Then they find weaknesses in opponents' blocking schemes. Then they get the quarterback. For the Dolphins to win, halfback Lamar Smith has to have a big game. Though he might not get 100 yards Sunday night, he needs to have enough success so that Jay Fiedler can execute his play action passes. The Dolphins are more dangerous at wide receiver now that they acquired James McKnight and Chris Chambers. Don't expect a lot of scoring in this one.

7. Washington at San Diego: By the end of the season, this game may be forgotten because both teams may have losing records. For short term drama, this one's a beauty. Former Redskins coach Norv Turner would love to stick it to Dan Snyder's Redskins. He would like nothing better to beat the owner who fired him on the legs and right arm of Doug Flutie. Snyder, meanwhile, would love to come out of this game bragging about Jeff George burning the Chargers revamped secondary. Here's the problem for first-year Redskins coach Marty Schottenheimer. He has only 22 players back from last year's Norv Turner team. Dan Snyder's entourage at games has bigger numbers than that.

6. New Orleans at Buffalo: During the offseason, new Bills coach Gregg Williams made it a priority to get quarterback Rob Johnson to release the ball quicker to avoid extra hits, sacks and injuries. Johnson remained a target during the exhibition season, and now he opens against one of the best pass-rushing teams in the NFL. Hey, Rob, duck. The Saints want to carry over the momentum from last year's playoff season with an impressive road victory. So much favors the Saints in this one. They have a great experience line that returns in tact and two great running options -- Ricky Williams and Deuce McAllister. The Bills are young on the right side of the line and are starting a rookie halfback, Travis Henry. The other test for the Bills will be a run defense that lost nose tackle Ted Washington, inside linebacker John Holecek and strong safety Henry Jones.

5. Indianapolis at New York Jets: Herm Edwards brings the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two-deep zone defensive scheme to Gotham. What a tough test to start. Quarterback Peyton Manning is a master of throwing underneath zones. Problems on the Jets front line run defense could make it tough to stop halfback Edgerrin James. Before the Jets signed defensive tackle Steve Martin off the Chiefs roster Monday, they were going to use a seventh-round rookie as their starting nose tackle. With converted linebacker John Abraham also on the defensive line, the Jets don't know how well they cans stop the run. On the flip side, the Colts don't know exactly what they have on defense. They've added run stoppers Mike Wells and Christian Peter along with cornerback Thomas Smith.

4. Pittsburgh at Jacksonville: This game could determine the fate of the Jaguars this season. They have to beat Pittsburgh at home because by midseason this razor thin team, victimized by perhaps the worst cap problems ever, aren't going to be deep enough to be better than the Steelers by mid-season. A big game is needed from rookie nose tackle Marcus Stroud. The Jags play with a relatively undersized line that tends to get pushed around by bigger offensive lines. The Steelers have nice size and love to run to the ball with Jerome Bettis. If the Jags can't stop the run and Kordell Stewart comes up with a few big plays, the Jags could be in trouble. It's a must win game, believe it or not.

3. Seattle at Cleveland: One thing to watch is whether the Browns can exploit a Seahawks secondary, which lost their top three coners to injury. Two of the remaining three corners are rookies and the other, Paul Mirada, is inexperienced. Basically, the Seahawks are challenging Tim Couch to throw at them. The question is do the Browns have enough threats at wide receiver to beat a bone-thin secondary. Interesting. The game will also be a test for the Seahawks revamped defense, which added Chad Eaton, John Randle and Levon Kirkland to stop the run. The Browns will be hitting them with rookie James Jackson.

2. Detroit at Green Bay: New Lions coach Marty Mornhinweg returns to his first NFL stop and sees the quarterback, Brett Favre, who operates the West Coast offense at its best. If only his quarterback, Charlie Batch, can pick up some pointers. Batch has looked good at times in his new West Coast setting, but everyone knows in Detroit that it will take the whole season to judge Batch. A bigger worry is on defense. The Lions are down three safeties and are patching with bandages. Todd Lyght fills in for Bryant Westbrook and has to come up with a big game. Favre can't light up Lyght with big plays. If he does, the Lions will have to turn out the lights.

1. Carolina at Minnesota: Let's see. George Seifert will get to see if Rashard Anderson is really a cornerback. The big corner who looks like a safety will draw a lot of coverages against Randy Moss, who can embarrass Pro Bowl corners. If that isn't bad enough, Seifert has turned his defense into a kiddie core filled with first and second-year starters. And if that isn't bad enough, he's starting a 28-year-old rookie at quarterback, Chris Weinke. If Anderson struggles, he can go with veteran Jimmy Hitchcock, who has a pretty good background covering receivers. If Weinke can't get it going, that's a problem. There isn't a quarterback on the roster that has thrown a pass in the NFL.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.