Elsewhere in the NFC, personalities promise to offer plenty of drama.
Temperamental wide receiver Terrell Owens, banished from Philadelphia, will try to form a working relationship with quarterback Drew Bledsoe and no-nonsense coach Bill Parcells in Dallas.
Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, 37, returns for a 16th season in Green Bay after toying with the idea of retirement, while in a New Orleans still hurting a year after Hurricane Katrina, this year's draftee Reggie Bush is already being hailed as a hero on and off the field.
Despite the headlines Owens, Favre and Bush are sure to generate, Washington, the New York Giants, Chicago and Detroit are the NFC teams more likely to dominate.
Overseeing it all will be Roger Goodell, who succeeded Tagliabue as NFL commissioner in August.
Goodell, who rose through the ranks of NFL management to become the third commissioner in the league's history, takes over a nearly six billion-dollar a year business.
He knows he has a hard act to follow in Tagliabue, under whose reign the league introduced a salary cap, expanded by four teams, built 17 new stadiums and enjoyed skyrocketing revenues.
Since Tagliabue took office, the NFL has been the only major US professional sports league without a work stoppage.
"I'm thrilled by this challenge," Goodell says of his task to keep US sport's juggernaut moving forward. "I can't think of a greater job."
RSS