All football, all the time.
There is no truth to the rumor that rescue squads are dredging the Ohio River west of Pittsburgh, trying to find the Steelers' missing running game.
Maybe.
Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Steelers have outrushed every other team in the league by more than 5,000 yards. In 601 games, the Steelers have rushed for 83,943 yards, an average of 139.7 per game. The Cowboys are second with 78,896 yards, or 131.3 per game.
On Thursday, in the special opener accorded to Super Bowl champions, the Steelers rushed for 36 yards on 23 carries in a tedious 13-10 win over Tennessee.
Willie Parker had 19 yards on 13 carries. Rashard Mendenhall, last year's first-round draft pick, had 6 yards on four carries.
Those are not misprints.
"It has to get better," said tight end Heath Miller.
He left unsaid that it could hardly be worse.
I've got a secret. It looks as if coach Eric Mangini's attempt to keep the Browns' starting quarterback a secret worked better than anticipated.
As late as Friday night, the new coach refused to announce the winner of the preseason competition between Brady Quinn and Eric Anderson.
So when the scoreboard listed the first-half stats on Sunday, it showed the numbers for "Brady Anderson."
And this was in Cleveland's stadium.
Falcons become hawks. Atlanta's defense had 10 interceptions and 10 forced fumbles last season. So when the ball-hawking Falcons forced four turnovers against Miami on Sunday, they already had one-fifth of the 2008 total, and the three fumble recoveries were half of last year's total of six.
"I thought we were attacking the ball as well as we have since we've been here," Atlanta coach Mike Smith said yesterday. "It's something we knew we had to improve on. This was the first fruits of the hard work."
The Falcons host the Eagles in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 6.
Saints pound the rock. Backup running back Mike Bell got 28 carries for a career-high 143 yards while working as Reggie Bush's backup in New Orleans' 45-27 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Bell's yardage total was the most by a Saints running back in one game since Deuce McAllister's 143 in a January 2007 playoff win over the Eagles.
Regular backup Pierre Thomas could return from his sprained knee as soon as Sunday, which means the Saints could have three healthy backs when they visit Lincoln Financial Field.
Injury bug. NFL teams have played just one game each, but already two of the biggest defensive names in the game are sidelined.
Brian Urlacher's dislocated right wrist means the Chicago Bears will host the Super Bowl champion Steelers on Sunday without the all-pro linebacker. The Steelers, meanwhile, will be without all-pro safety Troy Polamalu, who will miss at least three weeks with a sprained left knee.
Burgeoning legend. Minnesota's Adrian Peterson has just begun his third NFL season, but he's already on the verge of superstardom.
And his spectacular 64-yard touchdown run at Cleveland on Sunday - with the Browns' legendary Jim Brown watching from the sideline - left no doubt who is the Vikings' most important offensive player.
All told, six tacklers had their hands on him at one point or another. All came away empty-handed.
"He's a beast," Vikings rookie Percy Harvin said. "When he ran that [64-yarder], we looked at him and were like, 'We want what you're taking.' He's a monster."
Finally. When Jeff Garcia was here three years ago, he quickly became one of the most popular players on the Eagles.
Like Jim McMahon, like A.J. Feeley, like the young Randall Cunningham, Garcia was a highly popular backup quarterback.
When Donovan McNabb got hurt late in the 2006 season, Garcia went 5-1, winning five straight starts to finish the regular season. A local clothing company made up T-shirts featuring the quarterback - the quarterback - with his fists up in a boxer's stance above the caption: "A Fighter Fights."
Garcia then delivered a win over the Giants in the playoffs before the season ended in New Orleans when Andy Reid ordered a punt on fourth and long and the team never got the ball back.
How long will it be Sunday before the fans begin chanting, "We want Jeff?"
(I don't think it'll be long, either.)