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 the new Week 2 (or the old Week 3).

First ... Oakland Raiders at Miami Dolphins: The best way for the NFL to start returning to normal is a great football game. Even though the NFL will spend a few weeks toying with the idea of trying to salvage 12 playoff teams, it's more likely that the playoff field will be trimmed to eight.

	Rich Gannon scrambles out of trouble during Oakland's 27-0 wild-card rout of Miami in 2000.

That means every game counts that much more. No place is that more evident than the Dolphins-Raiders game at Pro Player Stadium. Each team is 1-0. Each team needs to win because of the difficulty of trying to make a four-team playoff in the AFC. The teams in the AFC Central have an advantage because of a 10-game division schedule and the possibilities of making sweeps against the Browns and Bengals.

So you don't want to be the second-place team in the AFC West or the AFC East. That's why Mike Shanahan of the Broncos should get a lot of support for his idea of playing a wild-card round on Wednesday night and then coming back on Sunday for the next round. Auto dealers won't swap their convention week in the first weekend of February with the NFL, so moving the Super Bowl back a week isn't much of an option.

That makes these interconference games so much more important. You don't want to concede tie-breaking edges to opponents, and the first category is head-to-head games. The Dolphins and the Raiders will try to unload their playbooks on each other.

The Raiders match up well against the new speed at the Dolphins' wide receiver position. Two weeks ago, cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Eric Allen limited the Chiefs to only one reception by a wide receiver, and that came in the final two minutes of the game. The Dolphins are great at stopping the run, something that Jon Gruden's offense does as well as anyone in football.

The key in the game will be the improvisation of the quarterbacks. Rich Gannon is a master, and he will have to be. The Dolphins are equally good taking away their receivers because of their cornerbacks, so Gannon will probably be dumping off a lot of passes to halfback Charlie Garner and tight end Roland Williams.

For the Dolphins, their two keys will be quarterback Jay Fiedler and halfback Lamar Smith. To win, they must have a great rushing day from Smith in order for Fiedler to work his play-action passing skills and get the Raiders' safeties reacting to the run.

Normally, division matchups have that frenzied quality about it. Next week, the same frenzy will be seen in the Ravens-Broncos showdown in Denver. An 11-win season in the AFC might leave a team or two out of the playoffs. Every game counts this year.

And 10. St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers: This one is all about the defenses. The 49ers have won five of their past seven games, and their defensive improvement is one of the reasons. After using eight rookies in varied roles last year, the defense settled down and limited teams to 265 yards a game during that seven-game stretch. Have the young 49ers matured enough to contain the Rams? Great question. The Rams know the 49ers are thin at cornerback after their two starters, so they will spread the field as always and try to attack weaknesses. The Rams came out of their victory over the Eagles feeling good about a defense that changed nine starters. Can they contain Jeff Garcia and Terrell Owens? Because the game is in San Francisco, this will be a true test to see whether or not the 49ers are ready to advance into a playoff contention role in the NFC.

9. Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle Seahawks: Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren groomed Andy Reid as a coach in Green Bay. In two short years, Reid established himself as one of the league's brightest young minds as a coach. With an improved defense and with one of Reid's former pupils at quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, Holmgren doesn't want to be outdone. Each team has wide receiver limitations because of the youth at the unit. That has forced Hasselbeck and Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb to run around more than the coaches would like just to make plays. Trying to stop McNabb, though, will be a marathon. Two weeks ago, the Rams started chasing him around in the third quarter and that's when he started leading a comeback that eventually forced the game into overtime. Holmgren the master may have a few offensive tricks to go against the Eagles' tough defense, which is well-coordinated by former Holmgren assistant Jim Johnson.

8. New York Giants at Kansas City Chiefs: Because of the postponements of last week's games, the Giants face their second consecutive road trip in an AFC West city. That's tough. The Chiefs have one of the loudest fan bases, and the team is pretty good. At least, the Giants will be better prepared having a week to recover. They may have Jason Sehorn back at cornerback. He's been recovering from a knee procedure during training camp. Against the Broncos, Giants coach Jim Fassel benched a struggling Dave Thomas and finished the game with two rookies. The matchup is better for the Giants because the Chiefs are going through some tough times at wide receiver. Derrick Alexander has been slowed by a sore Achilles and has had very few practices. Sylvester Morris is probably out for the season. That leaves rookie Marvin Minnis as the team's best wide receiver threat. What the Giants have to watch is Trent Green working the middle of the field with tight end Tony Gonzalez. What the Chiefs have to watch out for is the Giants' defensive line, which can dominate some of Kansas City's inexperience on the offensive line.

7. Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars: The Jaguars showed that they are still a factor in the AFC Central by beating the Steelers in their home opener. If they can do the same against the Titans, the Jags have a chance to make a run at the division title. The Titans had a tough opening loss to the Dolphins. Steve McNair hurt his right shoulder. They lost two defensive backs for the season with knee injuries -- safety Bobby Myers and backup cornerback Dainon Sidney. Eddie George also wasn't running with all of his normal authority. Two years ago, the Titans danced on the Jaguars' turf after winning the AFC championship. The Jags remember that. But they still have to step up and beat the Titans if they want to stay in the playoff race.

6. Buffalo Bills at Indianapolis Colts: The 45-point effort to open the season for the Colts was a good sign. Plus, their defense did pretty decent in containing the Jets. The Bills are very vulnerable. The tight salary cap has caused them to lose a lot of veteran experience. The opener cost them their best defensive player, linebacker Sam Cowart who was lost for the season with a partially torn Achilles. With the changes on the defensive line and losses at linebacker, the Bills will be vulnerable to the running of Edgerrin James. To stop the run, the Bills will try to stack the line of scrimmage with extra players and try to blitz. That plays into Peyton Manning's skills. He loves those type of games.

	Carolina's Chris Weinke looked poised in his debut, throwing for 223 yards and a TD.

5. Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons: Initially, the Falcons fans were excited about the arrival of quarterback Michael Vick, but Dan Reeves made sure Vick would only be playing a couple of plays a game. Panthers fans are already jacked up about their rookie quarterback, Chris Weinke. He's already made Panthers folklore by pulling off an amazing upset on the road against the Vikings. The Panthers' defense, however, will have to be cautious. They did well confusing Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper. Chris Chandler won't be as easy. He's a sound quarterback who makes good decisions. He's also bolstered by better play from his offensive line and an improved running game with Jamal Anderson. Early in the week, the Panthers thought about bussing down to Atlanta. It would be a long ride home if they don't come up with a victory.

4. Detroit Lions at Cleveland Browns: Won't the Browns look silly if they traded Ty Detmer to Detroit in order for him to have enough time to learn the offense and beat them. Of course, the Browns, despite being in their third season, are still in building mode. They are starting to become more competitive, as they showed in a 9-6 loss to Seattle two weeks ago. At least the Browns had close to the same number of offensive plays as they did defensive plays. In most games, their defense is on the field at least 20 more times than their offense. The Lions benched Charlie Batch because, according to their accounts, he was responsible for four of his seven sacks. Detmer knows the West Coast offense. The Lions' brass figures he gives them a better chance of winning. But if the Lions lose to the Browns, they aren't going to be feeling too good about their season.

3. Denver Broncos at Arizona Cardinals: It's a battle of two first-place teams. Of course, the Cardinals lead the NFC East even though they haven't played, so that is a statement that won't be around too long in the Cardinals' vocabulary. Offensively, the Broncos have to make an adjustment with the loss of Ed McCaffrey for the season. Rod Smith moves to flanker. Eddie Kennison moves into the starting split end spot. Brian Griese should be able to pick apart the young Cardinals' defense. Terrell Davis should be able to run the ball. It will be interesting to see if Jake Plummer comes off his shoulder tendinitis problems to work his play-action passing game. New Broncos defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes knows a little about the Cardinals' new offense. New offensive coordinator Rich Olson was just down the hall from him last year when they worked for the Redskins.

2. Baltimore Ravens at Cincinnati Bengals: Are the Bengals for real? Probably not, but at least a home victory over a fifth-place Patriots team was a nice start. Naturally, the Ravens will be geared up to stop halfback Corey Dillon, who will try to break the Ravens' endless streak of not allowing 100-yard rushing days. This should be a good defense for quarterback Elvis Grbac to start working his passing game. The Bengals don't have the talent of the Bears, who had a good enough defense to contain the Ravens in the opener. The Bengals don't have much of a pass rush and have annually had problems at cornerback.

1. Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears: I keep saying that the Bears are last year's San Diego Chargers, but they should have several more victories. Their defense is good enough to keep them in most games. Facing the Vikings, though, will be a supreme test. Culpepper is coming off a bad season-opening performance so expect him to be sharper. Randy Moss won't allow himself to be limited to one catch. He will shoot for a big day. But don't be surprised if the Bears are in this game by the fourth quarter. Still, the Vikings have a huge edge aside from the talent differences. Dennis Green is 8-1 coming out of bye weeks.

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