The NFL season marches in

New Orleans — 

Lights, camera… satisfaction?

The Minnesota Vikings will be looking for some of that tonight, when they open the 2010 NFL season at New Orleans in a rematch of last season’s NFC championship game.

Statistically, the Vikings thoroughly outplayed the Saints when they last met – except for five turnovers. The Saints took advantage of those miscues and rode them all the way to Super Bowl XLIV, where they knocked off Indianapolis to claim their first Lombardi Trophy.

Can the Brett Favre-led Vikings get it right this time? Or are Drew Brees and the Saints on their way to another fleur-de-glee?

Those are but two of the budding story lines in a season filled with them.

Will Pete Carroll prove he can be a consistent winner in the pros?

Will the Dallas Cowboys be the first team to play a Super Bowl on their home field?

Are the Hard-Knocking New York Jets for real again, or just a made-for-TV contender?

And what were the Philadelphia Eagles doing trading a six-time Pro Bowl quarterback within the division?

A look at what’s new around the league this season:

Five best kickoff weekend records:

Dallas 34-25-1.694W-3

Denver 32-17-1 .653W-3

NY Giants 48-32-5.600W-2

Jacksonville9-6.600L-3

Chicago50-35-5.588L-1

And five worst:

New Orleans15-28.349W-2

Seattle12-22.353W-1

Houston3-5.375L-2

Tampa Bay13-21.382L-4

(tie) Buffalo20-30.400L-1

Carolina6-9.400L-1

Uneasy lies the crown – Turnovers are a huge part of the game, and not just those that happen on the field. There’s no guarantee that a team can stay atop its division. In fact, over the past two years, there have been 11 new winners of their respective divisions – a record-setting six in 2008, and five last season.

New division winners in 2009 – New England, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Dallas and New Orleans.

Whistle stop – There are several new rules and points of emphasis this season:

Unnecessary roughness – There are enhanced safeguards for “defenseless” players who have just completed a catch – and long-snappers – from blows to the head or neck.

Helmet removal – If a ball carrier’s helmet comes off during a play, the ball will be blown dead immediately.

Dead ball fouls – If there is a dead-ball personal foul by either team following the end of the second or fourth quarter, the penalty yardage will now be enforced on the second-half or overtime kickoff.

Instant replay – Two adjustments have been made: 1) Of there is not an on-field ruling that a ball strikes a video board, guide wire, sky-cam or any other object, the replay assistant may now initiate a booth review, even if the event occurs prior to the two-minute warning; and 2) If a replay review inside of one minute of either half results in the on-field ruling being reversed, and the correct ruling would not have stopped the game clock, then there will be a 10-second runoff before the ball is put back in play.

Jersey numbers – In addition to Nos. 60-79, defensive linemen are now permitted to wear Nos. 50-59.

Position of umpires – Umpires will move from the defensive side of the ball, to the offensive backfield, opposite the referee for all plays except field goals, extra-point tries, and inside the two-minute warning of the second and fourth quarters.

Fit to be untied – Starting this season, new overtime rules will be in place for postseason games.

The new rule says gets the ball at the start of overtime can win on the opening possession only with a touchdown. If that team kicks a field goal, the other team gets a possession with a chance to either win with a touchdown or tie with a field goal. If the score is tied after that, it would be sudden death from that point on.

If neither team scores on its first possession, the game would continue on a sudden-death basis.

Don’t I know you? – The blockbuster trade of the offseason had the Eagles trading McNabb to NFC East rival Washington. There were a lot of other noteworthy transactions too.

Position Player (New team/old team)

WR Anquan Boldin (Baltimore/Arizona) – Boldin’s first stop after stepping out of Larry Fitzgerald’s shadow? Revis Island.

DE Alex Brown (New Orleans/Chicago) – The Saints, who let go of Charles Grant, picked up a quick pass rusher to pair with Will Smith.

CB Antonio Cromartie (New York Jets/San Diego) – With Darrelle Revis on the other side, Cromartie figures to see lots of passes coming his way.

LB Karlos Dansby (Miami/Arizona) – The Cardinals weren’t going to franchise Dansby three years in a row, so they had to let him go.

QB Jake Delhomme (Cleveland/Carolina) – Can the Browns reboot a quarterback who had eight touchdowns and 18 interceptions last season?

G Alan Faneca (Arizona/Jets) – Faneca was a key component in a Jets offense that led the NFL in rushing last season. Good guards are vital.

WR Santonio Holmes (Jets/Pittsburgh) – New York got the former Super Bowl MVP for a fifth-round pick. Obviously, the Steelers were desperate to dish him.

WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh (Baltimore/Seattle) – Things didn’t pan out for him in Seattle, so it’s back to being second fiddle to a star for Housh.

RB Thomas Jones (Kansas City/Jets) -- At 32, Jones is on the back side of his career. But he can still shoulder part of the load for Jamaal Charles.

DE Aaron Kampman (Jacksonville/Green Bay) – Kampman is recovering from a torn ACL, but the Jaguars think he can help them pressure the passer.

QB Matt Leinart (Houston/Arizona) – The former USC star is looking for a fresh start with a coach (Gary Kubiak) who learned the pro game as John Elway’s backup.

WR Brandon Marshall (Miami/Denver) – Marshall can be a headache, but he’s also a field-stretcher who caught 101 passes last season.

WR Terrell Owens (Cincinnati/Buffalo) – The biggest proponent of Owens within the Bengals? Carson Palmer, his offseason workout partner.

DE Julius Peppers (Chicago/Carolina) – Bears should get a boost from a backfield wrecker who has 25 sacks in the past two seasons.

LB Joey Porter (Arizona/Miami) – The Cardinals are betting that Porter can still be disruptive to an offense, and help galvanize the locker room.

S Kerry Rhodes (Arizona/Jets) – Rhodes felt the odd man out in Rex Ryan’s defense. Now, he comes to one that is relying on him to be a playmaker.

CB Dunta Robinson (Atlanta/Houston) – The Falcons have searched for years for a shutdown corner. Their defense was 28th against the pass in 2009.

S Antrel Rolle (New York Giants/Arizona) – The Giants had all sorts of problems in the secondary last season. Can Rolle be a Antonio Pierce-type leader?

RB Chester Taylor (Chicago/Minnesota) – Even though he’s 30, Taylor doesn’t have a lot of tread wear; he’s only started one season.

DE Jason Taylor (Jets/Miami) – After all those years with the hated Dolphins, it’s strange to see Taylor spend his career golden years in green.

RB LaDainian Tomlinson (Jets/San Diego) – Tomlinson showed flashes of the old LT this summer. He was yesterday’s news in San Diego.

DE Kyle Vanden Bosch (Detroit/Tennessee) – Lions Coach Jim Schwartz is hoping he can create some of that Tennessee-type pressure with Vanden Bosch.

QB Charlie Whitehurst (Seattle/San Diego) – Pete Carroll obviously saw something he liked in the inexperienced Whitehurst, giving up a lot to get him.

DT Jamal Williams (Denver/San Diego) – When Williams is healthy – and lately, that hasn’t been often – he’s as good a run stopper as any in football.

Book ‘em – Players on the verge of milestones:

Favre, Minnesota – Needs three touchdown passes to become the first player in NFL history with 500 for his career. (He’s the all-time leader with 497.)

Peyton Manning, Indianapolis – Needs three more games with four or more touchdown passes to surpass Favre’s record of 23.

Tomlinson, Jets – Needs 1,000 yards rushing to become the fifth player with nine such seasons. Only Emmitt Smith (11), Curtis Martin (10), Walter Payton (10) and Barry Sanders (10) have more.

Randy Moss, Patriots – Needs two receiving touchdowns to join Jerry Rice as the only players with 150 for their career.

Terrell Owens, Bengals – Needs six receiving touchdowns for 150.

Andre Johnson, Houston; Wes Welker, New England; Brandon Marshall, Miami – Need 100 catches to join Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison as the only players to record four 100-catch seasons.

Tony Gonzalez, Atlanta – Already has the all-time career receptions record for tight ends, but needs one more catch for 1,000.

Darren Sharper, New Orleans – Needs two interception returns for touchdowns to surpass Rod Woodson (12) for the most in history.

Encore! Encore! – Tennessee’s Chris Johnson ran for 2,006 yards last season, becoming just the sixth player in history to rush for 2,000 yards. No one has ever done it twice, let alone in consecutive seasons.

How the other five 2,000-yard backs fared the year after:

O.J. Simpson, Buffalo -- 2,003 in 1973; 1,125 in 1974

Eric Dickerson, LA Rams – 2,105 in 1984; 1,234 in 1985

Barry Sanders, Detroit – 2,053 in 1997; 1,491 in 1998

Terrell Davis, Denver – 2,008 in 1998; 211 in 1999

Jamal Lewis, Baltimore – 2,066 in 2003; 1,006 in 2004

Jersey boys – Even though Tim Tebow hasn’t taken a snap in a regular-season game, he still sells a lot of jerseys. In fact, he sold more than any NFL player this offseason.

Top-selling jerseys between April 1-June 30, 2010:

1.Tebow, Denver

2. Donovan McNabb, Washington

3.Drew Brees, New Orleans

4.Peyton Manning, Indianapolis

5. Tony Romo, Dallas

6.Brett Favre, Minnesota

7.Troy Polamalu, Pittsburgh

8.Ndamukong Suh, Detroit

9.Sam Bradford, St. Louis

10.Mark Sanchez, New York Jets

sam.farmer@latimes.com

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