MONDAY NIGHT PREVIEWS

A doubleheader once again kicks off the NFL’s Monday Night Football schedule in 2018.

A pair of pretty good games, too. You’re probably aware Jon Gruden returns to head coaching with the Oakland Raiders after a decade in the Monday Night Football TV booth as analyst. His Raiders play in the second game, against the visiting Los Angeles Rams.

The Rams ought to win, so let’s talk more about the first game.

In a 7:10 p.m. EDT kickoff, ballyhooed rookie quarterback Sam Darnold makes his regular-season pro debut for the New York Jets at Detroit.

It’s also the debut of new Lions head coach Matt Patricia, the longtime defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick on the New England Patriots.

Historically, rookie QBs perform dreadfully vs. Belichick/Patricia defences. But Jets head coach Todd Bowles late last week didn’t sound unduly shaken in his 21-year-old, No. 3 overall draft pick’s chances against the Lions.

“I’m starting him — my confidence level has got to be pretty high,” Bowles said. “He’s (been) playing football his whole life. We don’t go by age. There’s always going to be one-year guys, two-year guys and 10-year guys. It’s a team going up (to Detroit), so I don’t worry about the confidence of the quarterback; I worry about the confidence of the team.”

And if the Lions come out with unfamiliar packages to confuse Darnold, Bowles said the Jets will just adjust.

“People can change and do certain things, but we have keys to read, and we have coaches, and we coach them up the best we can. We’re confident that they’ll go out and play.”

The Jets’ other starting rookie is from Ajax, Ont. — defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd, from a small NCAA Division II university in Kansas, Fort Hays State who burst onto the NFL’s pre-draft radar last January with dominating performances at Senior Bowl practices.