The National Football League kicks off a new season on Thursday with defending Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Tennessee Titans (September 10, 8:30/7:30c, NBC), before a full slate of Sunday games on CBS and Fox. Between several high-profile comebacks and a colorful crop of rookies, here’s a pigskin primer for the fall’s big stories.

Can the Steelers win the Super Bowl again?
“Absolutely,” says NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth, who is taking over for the departed John Madden in the Sunday Night Football booth. Pittsburgh returns 21 of 22 starters, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and NFL Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison. “The Steelers had the best defense in football a season ago,” Collinsworth says. “There’s nothing to make you think that they won’t be close to that again.”

Will Michael Vick do more than sit on the bench for Philadelphia?
Most teams thought he was radioactive, but the Eagles took a chance on Vick, who spent 18 months in federal prison for bankrolling a dog-fighting ring. They’ll use him as a decoy, lining him up at quarterback, running back or wide receiver. “It will get everybody thinking,” says CBS lead analyst Phil Simms. “Opponents have more to get ready for when they play them.… “What the Eagles did is take $1.6 million and [they] said, ‘Let’s go ahead and gamble on the fastest quarterback to ever play in the NFL. The fastest ever.”

Can Tom Brady get his groove back?
Post–knee surgery, the New England quarterback might not resemble the MVP of two years ago (when he threw an NFL-record 50 touchdowns and led the Patriots to an 18–1 record), but he’ll be plenty good enough to power the Pats to the postseason. “I don’t think you will quite see Tom come all the way back until next year,” Collinsworth predicts. “The best case scenario is probably about mid-season that you will start seeing the Tom Brady of old.”

Will the Terrell Owens gamble pay off in Buffalo?
Expect the controversial and flamboyant wide receiver—on a one-year deal with the Bills—to add big-play potential to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 1999, and ranked 25 out of 32 teams in offense last fall. The theatrical T.O. scored a whopping 38 touchdowns and caught 235 passes over the past three seasons for the Dallas Cowboys, so “whatever you believe about Owens as a person,” Collinsworth says, “the talent is undeniable.”

Was jumping from Denver to Chicago a smart move for Jay Cutler?
Cutler, who bailed on the Broncos after head coach Josh McDaniels flirted with the idea of acquiring Patriots QB Matt Cassell, gives the Bears a solid chance to win the NFC North. Last season, the rocket-armed Cutler made the Pro Bowl, throwing for 25 touchdowns and 4,526 yards, which gives him the potential to be Chicago’s best quarterback since Hall of Famer Sid Luckman led the team to four titles in the 1940s. “It takes a special guy to be the quarterback in Chicago,” says Collinsworth, who believes Cutler is up to the challenge. “You already have a guy who is proven that he can throw it in bad weather by playing in Denver. And he has the arm strength to be able to throw it in the wind that you get there in Chicago. He can certainly handle the pressure. This is kid with plenty of swagger. Nobody believes in Jay Cutler more than Jay Cutler.”

What should we expect from this year’s rookie quarterbacks?
Matthew Stafford (Detroit Lions) and Mark Sanchez (New York Jets), first and fifth, respectively, in April’s NFL Draft, should see significant playing time—and media attention. “Unless they go to the playoffs, we are not going to judge [their seasons] a great success,” Simms says. “They will play well and they are good enough to warrant where they were selected in the draft. [But] their teams are just not ready to play up to it.”