ESPN NFL

Posted by ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert

Five nuggets of knowledge about Sunday’s games:

Don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling good about Detroit’s matchup with New Orleans’ offense. The Saints were the NFL’s most explosive and efficient offense last season, ranking first in percentage of drives ending in a touchdown (30.0). The Lions, on the other hand, gave up more touchdowns per drive than any other defense last season. It’s true, Detroit will have a new coordinator and eight new defensive starters Sunday. But even if they ultimately improve, such turnover doesn’t bode well for immediate success. One thing I am sure of: The Lions will make a better showing than last year, when the Saints accumulated 32 first downs, converted 11 of 12 third downs and never punted.

	Bruce Kluckhohn/US Presswire
	Brett Favre's performance in Cleveland on Sunday could set the tone for the Vikings' season.

It will be interesting to see what kind of tone new Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre sets for the season at Cleveland. Favre recently related a story from his season debut last year with the New York Jets. On a fourth-and-15 play, Favre got hit as he tried to throw toward Laveranues [Coles.] The ball fluttered in the air, and Chansi Stuckey caught it on the other side of the field. “All of a sudden it’s like, ‘That’s why we got Brett Favre,’” he said. “I’m walking to the sideline thinking, ‘I have no idea how that just happened.’ It just made the rest of the season very difficult.” In short, Favre will either raise or lower expectations for his season based on his performance Sunday.

In four career starts against Cleveland, Favre has averaged 228 passing yards per game. If that’s an over-under mark for Sunday, I’ll take the under. Especially in the early going this season, I expect the Vikings to rely on tailback Adrian Peterson and receiver/runner Percy Harvin for most of their offense. Look out for some trickery when they’re on the field at the same time.

Chicago receiver Devin Hester hasn’t had much success against Green Bay’s cornerbacks. According to research from KC Joyner, Hester didn’t catch another element of the Bears’ still-forming priorities in the passing game. Quarterback Jay Cutler seems to favor tight end Greg Olsen, receiver Earl Bennett and tailback Matt Forte. Where does Hester fit in? Perhaps he’ll have a better chance against the Packers’ new scheme, which won’t call for as much man-to-man coverage.

New Green Bay defensive coordinator Dom Capers brings a reputation for instant success, having raised the profiles of defenses in Miami (2006), Jacksonville (1999) and Pittsburgh (1992) in his first year as those team’s defensive coordinator. But how did his defenses do in their first game under his scheme? But how did they perform in his first game of those seasons? They allowed an average of 16 points per game, winning two of the three.