Coaching for quality NFL teams in major metropolitan markets spoiled Steve Spagnuolo.

He served as a defensive assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2000-06 and defensive coordinator of the New York Giants from 2007-08. The Eagles were featured in national TV games 25 times during Spagnuolo's tenure and the Giants nine times.

Now Spagnuolo is head coach of the St. Louis Rams. For the first time in his coaching career, his NFL team did not appear on national television in 2009. The Rams also aren't scheduled to play on national TV in 2010 for the third straight season.

That's the longest national TV drought by any NFL team since the calendar flipped to the 2000. It's not surprising that the networks have opted to avoid the Rams; St. Louis has a combined 6-42 record over the last three seasons.

"You learn to appreciate the fact you end up on TV," Spagnuolo said. "I was blessed to be in Philadelphia and New York, where we did it a lot. I'll never complain again about having to play at night.

"You do have a reduced down time when you play those night games. Now they'd be welcome. I'm hopeful when things do change around here the networks will recognize that."

The NFL scheduled the Cowboys to play on national television six times this season, tops in the league. It marks the fifth consecutive regular season the Cowboys have been assigned the most national TV games.

Even though the Cowboys have won only one playoff game since 2000, they have been featured a league-high 54 times on national television. Those include holiday games (Christmas and Thanksgiving) plus night games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The New England Patriots with three Super Bowl victories in the 2000 decade rank second with 46 national TV appearances. The Houston Texans bring up the rear with only 10 – but three of those come this season.

The St. Louis Rams seem to have a short memory. Wide receiver Torry Holt and offensive tackle Orlando Pace were mainstays of the Greatest Show on Turf, helping power the Rams to two Super Bowls and one Lombardi Trophy. Both were selected to the NFL's 2000-09 all-decade team, and Holt ranks 11th in NFL history with his 920 career receptions.

But Pace's uniform number 76 and Holt's 81 are both in use this summer by rookies. Second-round draft pick Rodger Saffold is wearing 76 for the Rams and fourth-round pick Mardy Gilyard is wearing 81. Enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame would probably take those numbers out of circulation, and both Holt and Pace have strong cases for induction.

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll continues to distance himself from Southern Cal. Last April, he upset the Trojan Nation by drafting Texas safety Earl Thomas over his own former Southern Cal safety Taylor Mays. Since checking into training camp, he has bid goodbye to two of his former USC players, cutting fullback LenDale White and trading end Lawrence Jackson.

The Cleveland Browns believe they have three quality running backs who bring three different dimensions to the ground game in Jerome Harrison (speed), Montario Hardesty (slasher) and Peyton Hillis (power). The Browns finished eighth in the NFL in rushing last season while relying on the big-play ability of Harrison. Hardesty and Hillis are new to the Cleveland backfield with Hardesty having arrived via the draft and Hillis via a trade.

The Browns historically have relied on their ground game. The 2010 season should be a return to those roots.Ricky Williams has several milestones ahead of him this season with the Miami Dolphins. If he rushes for 517 yards, he will have gained more yards for the Dolphins than he did for the University of Texas (6,279). If he rushes for 975 yards, he will pass Larry Csonka (6,737) as the all-time leading rusher in Dolphins history. And if Williams rushes for 1,108 yards, he will become just the 24th player in NFL history to gain 10,000 career yards. He rushed for 3,129 yards in the first three seasons of his career with the New Orleans Saints, giving him 8,892 total rushing yards.

Devin Thomas followed in the footsteps of young receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, traveling to Phoenix in the off-season to work with quarterback Donovan McNabb. Jackson and Maclin visited Arizona as young receivers with the Eagles. Thomas headed West last off-season as a young receiver with the Redskins, McNabb's new team. Washington needs one of its young receivers to step up. There is plenty of age on the flank in Joey Galloway and Santana Moss –and Thomas clearly wants a bigger slice of the offense than last season, when he caught only 25 passes from Jason Campbell. "He's done a great job," McNabb said. "You can tell he's starting to get comfortable. He's been able to make plays and he's going to continue to progress. All the guys are elevating their game, and it's exciting to see what we're going to be able to do." ... Speaking of McNabb, his departure from Philadelphia has not caused the Eagles to lower their expectations from 2009, when they shared the best record in the NFC East with the Cowboys at 11-5. "My expectations are definitely the same, if not higher," Pro Bowl FB Leonard Weaver said. "We're still a team. We know that one man doesn't make a team. I'm definitely looking for higher expectations from all of us if we're able to play the game the way we do." Kevin Kolb replaces McNabb at quarterback, and LeSean McCoy replaces Brian Westbrook at halfback. But 17 other starters return from a Philadelphia team that has reached the playoffs two consecutive seasons and three of the last four. ... After sinking to 17th in the NFL in rushing last season, the Giants devoted a chunk of training camp to re-establishing a ground presence. The Giants ranked fourth in the NFL in rushing when they won the Super Bowl in 2007 and first in 2008. Youngsters Andre Brown and Danny Ware received increased work this summer along with holdovers Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. "We're trying to get our running game back in the shape that it should be – the shape that it was in a couple years ago," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "It's going to take some time."

At long last, the arrow is pointing up on the career of San Francisco QB Alex Smith. The first overall pick of the 2005 NFL draft struggled in his first two seasons, was benched in his third and missed his fourth season with a shoulder injury. But Smith regained the starting spot in 2009 and passed for a career-best 18 touchdowns. The 49ers have improved the cast around him, giving him an elite WR in Michael Crabtree in 2009 and now an elite pass-catching RB in Brian Westbrook in 2010. The continued progress of Smith "has been outstanding," 49ers offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye said. "I think the game, the pace visually and mentally, has slowed down for him now. I think he's comfortable with what he's seeing and what the calls are. I would expect as he builds toward the start of the season that he'll hit the ground running." ... The Denver Broncos were an average passing team a year ago, finishing 13th in the NFL. Since then the Broncos have traded two of their top four receivers, sending Pro Bowl WR Brandon Marshall to Miami and TE Tony Scheffler to Detroit. The success of the receiving game is now in the hands of veterans Jabar Gaffney, Eddie Royal and Brandon Lloyd and rookies Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. "We've got big [Decker], we've got small [Royal], we've got quick [Lloyd] and we've got fast [Thomas]," Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said. "They're all versatile because they're not just playing one position. We feel great about that. It's fun to watch when you don't really care where the ball is going. We have five guys in the passing game that have a chance to get it." ... When the New England Patriots were the dominant team in the NFL in the mid-2000s, they also had the dominant defensive line with first-round draft picks Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren across a three-man front. But the Patriots traded their all-decade end Seymour to the Raiders in 2009, and Warren has already been placed on injured reserve for 2010. "Changes happen all the time in sports, not just football," Wilfork said. "Around sports every year is different. So this year is different. I don't have Seymour. I don't have Ty. Nothing is going to be easy. But the guys here know exactly what we need to do to play on this team. We have 100 percent faith in these guys. If we didn't, it wouldn't be our year. I'm happy with what we have."