FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – Two of the NFL’s most controversial and productive offensive players, Corey Dillon and Terrell Owens, make their debuts with new teams in an exhibition opener Friday night.

Dillon is the starting running back for the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots after seven seasons in Cincinnati. Owens will line up at wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles after eight seasons in San Francisco. Both were obtained in trades.

Dillon, often at odds with Bengals management, is happy in is new home.

“That’s what a championship team is, people with heart who still have the desire to go out there and compete and win,” said Dillion, who’s been to three Pro Bowls. “That’s the type of organization you want to be a part of.”

Owens, who has been to four Pro Bowls, also feuded with team management and was known for his flamboyant antics in San Francisco, where he once took pompoms from a cheerleader to celebrate a touchdown.

Now he’s concentrating on a different offensive system.

“The things we’re doing in practice, we obviously want to carry them over to the games,” he said. “Obviously, there are going to be mistakes. We can correct those.”

The game matches two of the NFL’s best teams over the last three seasons. The Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2002 and 2004, and the Eagles lost the NFC title game in each of the last three seasons.

Quarterback Tom Brady, the MVP of those two Super Bowls, has been given more responsibility to call plays at the line of scrimmage and wants to cut down on his fumbles and interceptions.

“I’ve made some progress in the last couple of weeks,” Brady said, “but I’m still not really where I want to be” for the regular-season opener on Sept. 9 against Indianapolis.

Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb doesn’t think there’s any pressure on his team just because it lost the last three NFC title games.

“The team that has the most pressure is pretty much New England,” he said. “When you win the Super Bowl, expectations are so high, everyone expects you to do it again. If you don’t come back and do it again, then they’re going to say you had a down year.”

The Patriots have won their last seven exhibition games, including all four last year. They ended the season with 15 consecutive victories, including the playoffs.

That’s three short of the NFL record of 18 set by the Miami Dolphins when they went 17-0 in 1972 and won their opener in 1973.

Neither team has much competition for starting jobs. For Philadelphia, Jeremiah Trotter eventually could beat out Mark Simoneau at middle linebacker. Trotter spent the last two seasons with Washington after parting with Philadelphia on bad terms, then rejoined the Eagles after last season.

New England’s depth at positions like wide receiver and linebacker means backups should get plenty of playing time Friday night.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he wants to use the game “to reassess veteran players,” while Philadelphia coach Andy Reid wants to focus on rookies.

“I’m very curious to see how the young guys play,” Reid said. “If it comes down to (them) winning the football game then that’s what we expect (them) to do.”

Reid plans to use his first-stringers for a quarter and a half. Belichick is expected to do about the same.

That could mean that fans wanting to see Dillon, who should boost one of the NFL’s worst ground games, and Owens, who has averaged 93 catches the past four seasons, had better show up on time.

“When you bring in a guy like T.O., you’re able to do a lot more different things,” McNabb said.

And Dillon should add a ground attack to Brady’s passing game.

“There are new teams, new expectations,” Brady said. “For us to accomplish our goal we are going to have to play better than we did last year.”