Ten Things I Think I Think

	Rookie linebacker Kevin Burnett (right) participates in a drill with running back Julius Jones at Cowboys training camp. AP

1. I think the Dallas defense is going to be good enough to put a scare into the Eagles. Not to beat the Eagles, mind you, but concern them. Former Giant Carl Banks went to the Cowboys camp to work with the linebackers and I thought he'd come back raving about the rookie Ware. He liked Ware. He loved Kevin Burnett, the versatile 243-pounder who can play inside and outside. I think Banks saw some of himself in Burnett, a guy who can play the run well and has a good enough first step around the corner to be a 10-sack guy too. Not this year, but sometime in his career. For all the love thrown Ware's way --  deservedly, I might add -- remember Burnett was the 42nd pick in the draft and the third Dallas draft pick. This is shaping up as a very, very good draft for the Cowboys.

2. I think I'm not exactly sure what this means, but it's just an observation on the state of the relation between the Patriots and the Red Sox in Boston. I picked up the Globe when I got to Boston on Wednesday and this is what I saw in the coverage between the defending baseball and football champions:

• Patriots. About two-thirds of a page of coverage. One writer. One story starting on the front page of the sports section on defensive coordinator Eric Mangini speaking for the first time, a Patriots' notebook inside sports, then a long paragraph in the feature section on the team's preseason charitable dinner.

• Red Sox. About four and two-thirds pages, including five on three different section fronts and an op-ed piece on the editorial page. Seven different writers. Let's start on the front page: just below hurricane coverage, a long story jumping to inside the sports section on the Red Sox's evangelical Christians. Two stories on the front of the business section, one column on the team's development hopes around Fenway Park and one story on the business partnership between the Sox and Boston College.

In sports, three stories started on the front of the section and jumped inside: one on the 7-6 win over Tampa Bay, one Dan Shaughnessy column on Curt Schilling, and a story about David Wells being called on the carpet by the commissioner. Inside, a long Red Sox notebook, a box score, stats, a half-page house ad on the Globe's Red Sox pendant collection (today's $3.25 pendant: Doug Mirabelli), a smaller ad on the Globe writers slated to appear on cable TV that night.

On the editorial page, a story by a woman about how her Red Sox-obsessed husband is more nutty about the team than he was before they won the World Series last year. I guess you could say one team is playing games and the other isn't, which is certainly the case. But if you follow the New England sports scene, it's amazing, and true, to note there is a significant and adoring Patriots fan base that is alive for six months a year, and there are six states of 24/7, 12-months-a-year Red Sox wackos who simply cannot be sated. One other factor, the size of which is hard to figure: Belichick makes it very, very hard to cover his team with any color. The less you know about his players, the better he thinks it is. The less fame his players have, the easier it is for him to keep the egos in the locker room down -- and the easier it is to have them all buy into the long-term greatness the team enjoys.

3. I think the last preseason weekend ought to be outlawed. Or tickets should be free. Sham games. Total shams.

4. I think you've got to read Mike Silver's online story Tuesday and magazine story later this week. He followed Deuce McAllister back to Louisiana over the weekend, and trust me, he's got some wrenching stuff.