Los Angeles area Zach Gentry Jersey , the NFL now has two teams there. On Saturday, both will host preseason games on what many say is the only August weekend that even slightly matters.The Rams host the Texans in an afternoon game, and four hours later the Chargers entertain New Orleans.There’s actually some intrigue in Chargers-Saints, particularly for an exhibition game. For the second straight season, the teams went through two days of joint practices at the Chargers’ training camp complex in Orange County ahead of the preseason game.Saints star quarterback Drew Brees once was San Diego’s starter, then was displaced by Philip Rivers. Brees has gone on to wild success and a Super Bowl championship in New Orleans, while Rivers has been a fixture behind center for the Chargers in San Diego and now in L.A.“It was a tough set of circumstances, obviously, because they drafted him in 2004 to basically take my job,” Brees said on the Saints’ website. “I think everyone always tried to pit us against each other and couldn’t figure out how we could be friends or good teammates to one another in the quarterback room when we were having that type of competition, but we were.”And they still are friends as well as supreme competitors.“There’s no denying it was somewhat awkward,” Rivers said. “We both wanted what the other person was trying to get, and keep it from him. But at the same time we pulled for one another.“It may not make sense, and I’m not sure any of that necessarily does. That’s kind of the way it went in those two years. I tried to be the first person to high-five him after a touchdown. But at the same time I wanted to be out there playing.”Neither will be playing very long Saturday.The Rams’ glamorous offseason additions are expected to play for the first time. Coach Sean McVay has been exceedingly cautious about using his starters in the preseason and could continue to hold out some veteran players, but receiver Brandin Cooks, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters are likely to see their first action.Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson did not play in a 33-7 loss at the Rams last season because of a torn ACL, but will get to test himself against a Los Angeles defense still attempting to identify a starting outside linebacker. The Texans scored at least 33 points in each of Watson’s last five starts as a rookie, but failed to score more than 17 points in eight of nine games after he was hurt.MORE INTRIGUEThe biggest topic from the Chiefs‘ perspective as they head to Chicago is coach Andy Reid gets to match up with his former offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, now in charge of the Bears.“I’m proud of him for having the opportunity — I’ve watched his tape and he’s doing some good things with the team,” Reid said. “It’s a little like looking in the mirror when you look at his offense. He’s added a few little wrinkles but a lot of it is pretty similar.”The Bears were hoping to have first-round draft pick Roquan Smith in his first action, but he barely practiced after ending his holdout. Starters or key players missing the game for certain are LB Leonard Floyd (broken bones in his right hand), and TE Adam Shaheen (right ankle and foot). Also possibly out: CB Prince Amukamara (ankle), DE Akiem Hicks (knee soreness) Nick Bosa Jersey , and TE Dion Sims (concussion).THE RETURNSWhile most fans will focus on the play of the Indianapolis and San Francisco quarterbacks, Andrew Luck and Jimmy Garoppolo, on Saturday, the coaching staffs might look more closely at their revamped secondaries.The 49ers are eager to see cornerback Richard Sherman make his first appearance since tearing his Achilles tendon last season. The former All-Pro with Seattle joined San Francisco in the offseason.“I’m more concerned about my game shape and making sure I can still go every single play because I haven’t played (since November),” Sherman said.First-year Colts coach Frank Reich will get his first glimpse of his projected starting safety pairing.Clayton Geathers, who missed most of 2017 after neck surgery, returned from a subsequent knee surgery in Monday night’s loss to Baltimore. Now, Malik Hooker, Indy’s first-round pick in 2017, is expected to make his first start since October after recovering from two torn ligaments in his right knee.It would be the first time Geathers and Hooker have actually lined up together in game action.“I’m going to be pretty excited, just from the journey we had,” Hooker said.HOLD THAT LINECincinnati’s offensive line struggled against the Cowboys last week, which was a bad sign after the Bengals spent the offseason overhauling it. The starting offense managed only two first downs — one on a scramble by Andy Dalton — in three possessions. If the right side of the line struggles again on Sunday vs. Buffalo, changes could be in store, especially at right tackle where Bobby Hart has had problems.First-round draft pick Josh Allen gets his opportunity to secure the Bills‘ starting job after showing progress in accuracy and decision making since the start of training camp. It’ll be Allen’s first start, and comes after the quarterback directed drives to a touchdown and two field goals in a 19-17 win at Cleveland. Allen has yet to face an opponents’ starting defense, and he’ll be playing behind a retooled offensive line that struggled against the Browns‘ pass rush.Coach Sean McDermott said some starters will play into the third quarter, though he didn’t specify QBs.BACK TO PITTSBURGHMike Vrabel started his NFL career with the Steelers as the 91st pick overall in the 1997 draft. He returns with the Titans looking for his first victory as a head coach.Vrabel says he kind of stumbled out of the blocks in Pittsburgh where he learned how to be a professional player from the likes of Dermontti Dawson, Mark Bruener, Jerome Bettis and Greg Lloyd.“My first apartment was next door neighbors with Greg Lloyd,” Vrabel said. “I’m like going out after games and I’m like this is crazy, like I’m working out with this guy. So there were a lot of great pros on that team, Hall of Famers … They really showed the younger players how to be a professional one L.J. Collier Jersey , how to be a Pittsburgh Steeler and what it meant to the Rooney family to represent that organization.”Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will make his lone exhibition appearance eager to “knock the rust off.” The 36-year-old modified his diet during the offseason and arrived in training camp noticeably slimmer, though don’t expect him to start ad-libbing in the pocket as he did a decade ago. Roethlisberger is content to let his right arm and his brain do most of the work.RYAN VS. RAMSEYAll-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey gets his first look at one of the many NFL quarterbacks he ripped recently.Ramsey is back from a one-week suspension and slated to play when the Jaguars host Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons.Ramsey has declined interview requests since rejoining the team Monday. He hasn’t spoken publicly since screaming profanities at media members who recorded a post-practice altercation involving defensive ends Dante Fowler and Yannick Ngakoue. Three days later, GQ magazine released a Ramsey story in which he called Buffalo rookie Josh Allen “trash” and said Ryan was “overrated.”Falcons coach Dan Quinn said he’ll be looking for his players to show they are game ready against Jacksonville.“Are we playing with speed, playing with urgency and executing?” Quinn said.Starters can expect to play “somewhere between three or four series or two quarters,” Quinn added.Notable exceptions will be standout wide receiver Julio Jones and running back Devonta Freeman, who are healthy but will be held out for the third straight week. Quinn also plans to protect them in next week’s final preseason game against Miami.LOPSIDEDThe Ravens have been a bad matchup for the Dolphins, who lost to Baltimore 38-6 in 2016 and 40-0 last year. They meet Saturday night in Miami.Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, will see his most extensive action of the preseason. He hasn’t been hit in the first two games.Newcomer Frank Gore, the NFL’s leading active rusher, is expected to play for the first time this summer.Miami wants to see more from rookie tight end Mike Gesicki, who is battling for a starting job but has yet to catch a pass.The Dolphins have allowed 299 yards rushing in the first two exhibition games, including 226 yards at Carolina, and 71 on one play.For the Ravens, it’s all about the QBs. Joe Flacco has enjoyed a brief but solid preseason, and they’re trying to get Lamar Jackson up to speed, but he has been playing like a rookie and running dangerously. RG3 has been good, but the question is whether the Ravens will keep three QBs. This game might help them make a decision.The Ravens appear prepared to start rookie Orlando Brown Jr. at right tackle, but if he struggles in this game they may have to rethink it.NO DRESS REHEARSAL LIKELY FOR DAK, ZEKEThe Cowboys could be without all four returning starters on the offensive line for what’s supposed to be the “dress rehearsal” game at home against Arizona on Sunday night. There’s a good chance that means quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott won’t play either.In Prescott’s case, Dallas had a 16-play drive that went into the second quarter on his third series last week against Cincinnati. Coach Jason Garrett says that longer-than-expected stint also factors into whether he plays against the Cardinals. If Elliott doesn’t play, that means he will skip the entire preseason despite being healthy.No. 10 overall pick Josh Rosen is a game-time decision for Arizona after injuring the thumb on his throwing (right) hand in practice. Sam Bradford, who has completed all seven passes in the preseason Marquise Blair Jersey , is in line to start again.If Prescott sits, the Arizona defense likely will go the entire preseason without facing a starting quarterback. San Diego’s Philip Rivers skipped the opener, and Drew Brees sat for New Orleans last week. Winning in daily fantasy football often requires determining which trends are trustworthy and which trends are mirages.Attempting to predict the future requires accurately processing data and here are a handful of data points — some reliable and a few unreliable — to pay attention to moving forward:RELIABLE TRENDS— Running backs in the passing game versus the Falcons. In the history of the NFL, six running backs have caught 14-plus passes in a game, and that has happened twice already this year against the Falcons defense. The loss of Deion Jones cannot be overstated because the defensive scheme always included conceding catches to backs, then chasing them down with speedy linebackers. In 2017, the Falcons ranked 21st in the passing game against RBs, according to Football Outsiders’ Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) metric. They rank 15th this year. After allowing the second-most receiving yards to RBs last year, they have allowed the third-most yards receiving to the position thus far in 2018.James Conner is the lucky back to face the Falcons this week and he ranks second among RBs in routes run. He has run one fewer route than league-leader Alvin Kamara.— Keke Coutee emerging as a dependable target for Deshaun Watson in Houston. Of the 11 passes Coutee caught in his NFL debut, only one was caught more than 10 yards downfield. Six of the passes were caught behind the line of scrimmage and 96 of his yards were gained after the catch. Amazingly, that number was the highest of the week, topping players like Rams receiver Cooper Kupp (89) and Minnesota’s Stefon Diggs (11).Watson is hurt by playing behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines, which means finding quick targets is a must — he has been pressured on the fifth-most snaps of any quarterback this season and has been sacked at the fourth highest rate. With defenses focusing their attention on DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, Coutee presents a unique threat out of the slot with his combination of speed and athleticism. The coaching staff was “really excited about” Coutee heading into the week after raving about him in the offseason. Since there really is no tight end threat on this team, there is room for a third option in the passing game, especially with running back Lamar Miller ailing.In college, Coutee gained 38 percent of his yards on targets thrown 20-plus yards downfield, so there is some upside as well. He does not appear to simply be a flash in the pan, as this offense has been lacking this sort of X-factor.DECEPTIVE TRENDS— Washington as a top 7 rushing defense. Only six teams have allowed fewer rushing yards per game so far than the Redskins. Of the teams in the bottom seven, only two have allowed more than 4.0 yards per carry: the Rams and the Redskins. To this point, the Redskins rank second in time of possession (33:31) behind only the Eagles, and the Alex Smith-led Chiefs ranked 10th in time of possession last year.One could argue the Redskins are more committed to the run this year and they lack downfield threats so they will continue to rank among the best. However, the NFL leader in time of possession last year was the Eagles D.K. Metcalf Jersey , and they only averaged holding the ball for 32:48 per game. Even if the Redskins finish as one of the best in the category, they are due for some regression. Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades them as the 32nd rated rushing defense. Washington plays New Orleans on Monday night, meaning both Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram will have a shot to become the first backs to rush for more than 61 yards against them this year.— Calvin Ridley’s TD trends. Over the course of the last two weeks, Ridley has scored a whopping four touchdowns, a TD once every 3.5 targets. Naturally, that is unsustainable, and Ridley ranks third on the team in target market share (15.1 percent). Even if throwing out the first week, he would barely edge out Mohamed Sanu for second in target share (19 percent versus Sanu’s 18 percent). Meanwhile, Julio Jones has still been targeted at a 33 percent rate for the season and a 27 percent rate over the course of the last three games.Undoubtedly, Ridley is going to be valuable moving forward, but the team has needed to make up for a lack of running game recently. With Devonta Freeman out, Tevin Coleman has managed just 84 rushing yards on 29 carries in his last two contests combined. According to DailyRoto’s red zone tool, Coleman has enjoyed six red zone touches combined over the last two weeks and seven total over the last three. Out of all those touches, he has converted exactly zero of them into scores. This led to Ridley converting on his red zone targets that otherwise would not have existed — and at an extraordinary rate.Since Week 2, Ridley has been targeted five times in the red zone and has scored on four of those targets. Strangely, Jones has not been targeted in the red zone since Week 1, and he was targeted four times in that game. Looking back to last year, Jones was targeted on 31.2 percent of the team’s red zone targets. With Ridley in town, the number may not stabilize at 30 percent but Jones certainly will garner more than 17.4 percent of the red zone looks over time.Sell high on Ridley if an offer arises, otherwise just set reasonable expectations and do not expect this TD barrage to continue at this sort of outrageous rate.