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Even though the Texans don't play until tomorrow night, we're football fans and we're tuning in anyways. The NFL has eight early games on hand for us, allowing us to marvel at Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, while cringing at Blake Bortles and Kirk Cousins. Some of these matchu-ps look interesting and have playoff implications. Some of these match-ups look dire and have draft pick implications.
The Jaguars are in Baltimore taking on Joe Flacco and the Ravens.
Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Ameer Abdullah, and the rest of the Lions are expecting to extend their futility in Wisconsin against James Jones, Clay Matthews, Sam Shields and the Packers.
The Dolphins, led by Ryan Tannehill, are hoping to show they're the real deal against the favorite team of battery throwers everywhere, the Eagles, in the City of Brotherly Shove. DeMarco Murray will hope to produce against the Dolphins' defensive line.
The Browns are starting Johnny Manziel against the Ben Roethlisberger-less Steelers in Steeltown.
The Bears are hoping to build upon their surprise win against the Chargers by taking on the Rams in St Louis. Jay Cutler will attempt to improve his franchise-leading stats, while the Rams' defensive line will be trying to eat him alive (and inflict dirty hits upon him, of course).
The Cowboys and Matt Cassel (and Dez Bryant and Greg Hardy) will be trying to drown out the bad headlines by winning against the Jameis Winston's Buccaneers in Tampa Bay.
The Panthers (led by Thomas Davis, Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly and Star Lotulelei) will be looking to go 9-0 against the hapless Titans, led by Marcus Mariota, Chance Warmack and Taylor Lewan (teehee).
Drew Brees and the Saints will be hoping to curb-stomp Washington, with DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, and DeAngelo Hall will be doing their best to prevent it.
There you have it, football fans, your early game slate. Chat in the comments below about what you think about the games. The late games thread will open at 3:05 p.m.
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