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Look for NFL teams to get a bit more serious about their execution in the second full week of preseason action.

Many observers and fans have little use for the four preseason games, but they are vital to players on the bottom part of the roster who are hoping to make the team, rookies who are trying to get acclimated to the NFL and coaches who want to figure out a game plan for the season and which players are best suited to executing that plan.

Rookies will not take these games for granted, as careers can get ignited with a strong early showing. Mitch Trubisky is expected to back up Mike Glennon in Chicago this year, but he came out with an eye-catching performance in Week 1 of the preseason, and he will try to continue it this week when the Bears play at Arizona Saturday night.

Here's a look at this week's preseason schedule, which starts Thursday and runs through Monday night.

NFL Preseason Week 2

Thursday, August 17

Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. ET

Baltimore at Miami, 7 p.m. ET

Tampa Bay at Jacksonville, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN

Friday, August 18

Minnesota at Seattle, 10 p.m. ET, NFL Network

Saturday, August 19

Carolina at Tennessee, 3 p.m. ET, NFL Network

Kansas City at Cincinnati, 7 p.m. ET

Indianapolis at Dallas, 7 p.m. ET, NFL Network

N.Y. Jets at Detroit, 7:30 p.m. ET

Green Bay at Washington, 7:30 p.m. ET

New England at Houston, 8 p.m. ET

Denver at San Francisco, 10 p.m. ET, NFL Network

L.A. Rams at Oakland, 10 p.m. ET

Chicago at Arizona, 10 p.m. ET

Sunday, August 20

Atlanta at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. ET, NFL Network

New Orleans at L.A. Chargers, 8 p.m. ET, NFL Network

Monday, August 21

N.Y. Giants at Cleveland, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN

All games can be live-streamed at NFL.com. Tickets for all games are available through Stubhub.

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New England at Houston

The Patriots return to the scene of Super Bowl LI and their remarkable triumph over the Atlanta Falcons. New England trailed by by a 28-3 margin late in the third quarter, and the Patriots mounted the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history to win the fifth Super Bowl in team history.

While Tom Brady will likely play two or three series and sit out the rest of the game for the Patriots, Houston rookie DeShaun Watson is likely to see quite a bit more action in the Saturday night game.

Brady and Watson have been seeing quite a bit of each other this week as the Patriots and Texans have been practicing against each other in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia.

Brady was a big fan of Watson based on his accomplishments at Clemson during his college career. "It was great to meet him. I've watched him have so many great games," Brady said, per Jim McBride of the Boston Globe. "Pro football players watch a lot of college players because on Saturday nights we're at the hotel and Clemson was on a lot."

The Patriots lost their preseason opener 31-24 to the Jacksonville Jaguars at home, and while Bill Belichick knows that Super Bowls are not won in the preseason, a better defensive effort would certainly be expected from the defending champions.

Watson should see plenty of action after completing 15 of 25 passes in Houston's preseason opening 27-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Watson has had a strong camp for the Texans, and he can make a good case for himself ending up in the starting lineup in the regular-season opener if he can continue to build on his eye-opening play.

Atlanta at Pittsburgh

The Falcons are going to have to overcome the hangover that is often associated with losing the Super Bowl the previous year, and the fashion in which head coach Dan Quinn's teams lost may make it even more difficult for Atlanta to overcome.

Don't expect either starting quarterback to see extensive action in this game. Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger are not likely to see more than a few series, and that's when Matt Schaub will take over for the Falcons. Landry Jones will move under center for the Steelers, and rookie Josh Dobbs will get his chance as well.

These two teams have two of the best running backs in the league in Devonta Freeman of the Falcons and Le'Veon Bell of the Steelers. Neither will play in this game, though, as Freeman is in the concussion protocol and Bell is in the middle of a holdout.

Steelers fans are hoping to see rookie wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster, who caught a behind-the-back touchdown pass from Roethlisberger in a Wednesday practice. Smith-Schuster later saw his practice come to an end after taking a hit in a running drill.