What have we learned?

The Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets are supposed to be among the ranks of Super Bowl favorites. They sure didn't look like it during the preseason.

Of course, those games also didn't count.

That's the trouble with trying to make sense of the preseason. We don't know how much to take from the things we saw the last five weeks.

Are the 49ers (4-0) really that good? The Colts (0-4) certainly aren't that bad. (The 0-4 Bears, however, might be.)

Since the standings aren't a good barometer, let's instead turn to some story lines that emerged from preseason. There are plenty to follow headed into Thursday night's opener in New Orleans, with Brett Favre and the Vikings taking on Drew Brees and the Super Bowl champion Saints:

• Dilemma in Dallas, Nervous in New York

Tony Romo led just one touchdown drive in four preseason games, and it covered all of eight yards. The worrisome part for Jerry Jones's crew is how many drives fizzled because of a shoddy offensive line and sloppy play close to the opponent's goal line.

The Cowboys say bland play-calling and a patchwork line are to blame. They insist everything will click once the season starts, with the debut of rookie receiver Dez Bryant giving them another boost. What else can they say?

Whatever Jets Coach Rex Ryan has to say is probably funny, filthy or both if you've seen his starring performance in Hard Knocks.

But the most foul words New York could hear are "sophomore slump," as in Mark Sanchez regressing in his second season. He doubled Romo's preseason TD production with two amid excuses, er, explanations similar to those heard in Dallas. The club has another lingering issue with star cornerback Darrelle Revis still holding out.

• Lambeau leak: Cleveland, Seattle and Kansas City all posted their highest point totals of the preseason against Green Bay.

So the Packers don't even want to think about what good offenses might do against their club.

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers can offer the same plausible reasons as the offensive coordinators on the Cowboys and Jets - Green Bay wasn't going to show more than it had to in exhibition games. However, mounting injuries in the secondary (safety Atari Bigby, cornerback Al Harris) are a huge concern for a unit that already seemed overmatched against the top quarterbacks last season. Kurt Warner and the Cardinals racked up 51 points in the Packers' last game that counted, a playoff loss.

Green Bay defenders have the benefit of practicing against a great quarterback: Aaron Rodgers, who led the Packers to seven touchdowns in 13 drives this preseason.

• Replacing Roethlisberger: Pittsburgh was hoping Byron Leftwich could be enough of a game manager to get his club through Ben Roethlisberger's suspension, which Commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday cut to four games. But Leftwich got hurt in the preseason finale, leaving Coach Mike Tomlin to choose between Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch.

Dixon is young, athletic and error-prone. He might be put on a short leash or find himself behind Batch, another game manager type. Then again, the Steelers had such little faith in him as Roethlisberger's stand-in that they signed Leftwich.

• Favre's targets: Soon after the 40-year-old quarterback was pried from Mississippi by several Minnesota teammates, he started losing his receivers: Sidney Rice underwent hip surgery, then Percy Harvin had a flare-up of his migraine problems that was so severe he was rushed to a hospital. (next page »)