This weekend, the Jaguars and Falcons meet, two teams with some interesting changes.

Jacksonville dished out $30 million for wide receiver Jerry Porter, the former Raider, who is being penciled in as the No. 1 receiver. On defense, longtime run stuffer Marcus Stroud went to Buffalo and DE Bobby McCray went to the Saints. First-round draft pick DE Derrick Harvey, the No. 8 overall pick from Florida, and DE Quentin Groves will be asked to step in for new defensive coordinator in Gregg Williams. Williams was with the Redskins last fall under Joe Gibbs. He has put together some of the league's top defenses in recent years. Williams prefers an attacking style that tries to create turnovers. Keep in mind Del Rio is 15-5 SU, 14-6-1 ATS in preseason.

The Falcons have even more changes. The new head coach is Mike Smith, with Mike Mularkey taking over as offensive coordinator. Smith was the defensive coordinator of the Jaguars, so he is very familiar with his opponent. The QB situation is a stark contrast of youth versus old, with rookie QB Matt Ryan and veteran Chris Redman.

The defensive line has had several players (Jamaal Anderson, Jonathan Babineaux and John Abraham) miss practice time with injuries and personal matters, while Grady Jackson was added just last week.

Of course, starters won't see a lot of time just yet, and for good reason. Who can forget five years ago when Michael Vick suffered a serious injury in August, wrecking his season? No coach wants to jeopardize his job and no owner wants to risk his investment by losing a star player to a devastating exhibition injury. The Falcons have invested a lot in QB Ryan, so getting him experience is important, but so is keeping him healthy. Still, with coaches rotating players, examining depth, testing new game plans, and individual athletes battling for roster spots, there's plenty of competition in August.

The Ravens head to the Patriots and Baltimore has a new coach in Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh said no one has taken the lead in the team's quarterback race. Throughout training camp, Kyle Boller, Troy Smith and Joe Flacco have rotated with the starting offense, so expect to see that trio trying to produce as the No. 1 job is wide open.

Another thing to keep an eye on is subtle strategic adjustments. The Saints head to Arizona this weekend, a game on ESPN. The Saints loaded up in the offseason trying to improve a defense that was 26th overall. They moved up in the draft to take USC nose tackle Sedrick Ellis with the 7th pick, along with DT DeMario Pressley (5th round, NC State). They added cornerback Randall Gay via free agency and CB Tracy Porter (Indians, second round) was plucked to improve the 30th ranked secondary.

Speaking of defense, that's also what the Cardinals focused on, drafting CB Dominick Rodgers-Cromartie (Tennessee State) with the 16th overall pick and tall DE Calais Campbell (Miami) in the second round, a potentially strong pass rusher. Having new pieces like that allows coaches to test new strategies.

The Broncos and the Texans hook up in their first preseason game. The Houston coach, Gary Kubiak, spent over a decade as offensive coordinator at Denver under Mike Shanahan. Houston has a new offensive coordinator in Kyle Shanahan, Mike's son. Kyle is one of the youngest coaches in the league at the age of 24, so the kid will be trying to outwit his old man on the other sideline! Note that Mike Shanahan is 40-24 SU, 35-25-2 ATS in preseason, including 14-7 SU/12-9 ATS the last five Augusts.

Also, keep and eye on home field play. In August of 2004, home teams went 21-10-1 against the spread the first two weeks of preseason. Three years ago, the home team went 10-5 SU/ATS the first week of exhibition play, and in 2006 went 11-5 SU, 8-7-1 ATS. Sometimes coaches are disappointed with their team's first game, particularly if it's a road loss, and they want to see a more determined effort in Game 2, especially if it's in front of the home fans. This happened a year ago when Philadelphia looked sloppy in a 29-3 loss at Baltimore in the exhibition opener. A week later, at home, Andy Reid demanded a better effort and the Eagles destroyed Carolina, 27-10.

It's not uncommon for new coaches to want to prove something early on, even in preseason, while veteran coaches might take a different approach. I recall Buffalo coach Marv Levy, who had a veteran team and rarely cared about preseason. Indy's Tony Dungy is similar, more interested in health while taking it easy on veterans. Dungy's Colts are 2-11 SU/3-10ATS the last three preseasons.