In yesterday's rant, I noted that there were three NFL coaches named Bill and that all three had won last Sunday despite being three-point underdogs. Well, if you want to stretch a point, there is also a coach named Brian “Bill”ick in the league and his team didn't win; it self-immolated. The Ravens' defense held the Lions passing attack to 97 yards, which is usually a winning formula. Problem is that the Ravens were whistled for 21 penalties amounting to 147 yards. And two players were ejected. In what has to be one of the great examples of “shooting oneself in the foot”, the Ravens defense held the Lions on three consecutive downs from the Ravens' one-yard line. After the third down play, defensive tackle, Maake Kemoeatu, made a clear and unambiguous obscene gesture to the Detroit fans. That was flagged giving Detroit a new set of downs at the one-yard line. On third down, the Lions finally scored a touchdown. The over/under for that game was 33; the Lions got 35 all by themselves; that's not a common occurrence. Oh, yeah, and the Ravens turned the ball over 4 times too in that game. Somebody get the air-freshener - - quick.

By the way, I saw one of the highlights of this putrid game on a Ravens' wrap-up show. Among the clips I saw, someone on the Lions named Bryson – obviously not the author of A Short History of Nearly Everything – was running down the sidelines for a long TD. In pursuit – but not gaining on him even a bit – was the once formidable defensive back, Deion Sanders. Absent superior speed, Deion Sanders isn't going to be able to play defensive back much longer.

Even less common than the Lions going “over” all by themselves is the situation where one team beats the over/under total by ten points all by itself. Last week the Green Bay Packers did that by rolling to a 52-3 win over the New Orleans Saints. The Saints are not a very good team to begin with and their peripatetic season seems already to have caught up with them. The Saints only committed 11 penalties for the game but they did manage to turn the ball over 5 times on Sunday. I'll be surprised if the Packers' defense can hold any other team without a TD for the rest of the year and I'll be equally surprised if the Packers' offense can run up 42 points – let alone 52 – on any other team for the rest of the year.

The Miami Dolphins might have taken scoreboard watching to a new level last weekend. Did they have progress reports being funneled to them on the sidelines regarding the Ravens' meltdown with regard to penalties and turnovers? Obviously, I don't know; but for some reason the Dolphins found a way to be on the wrong end of 18 penalty flags and managed to turn the ball over 5 times against the Buffalo Bills. Indeed, they lost that game but the Bills managed to keep it close. Kelly Holcomb was the QB last week and went 20-26 for 137 yards and a TD. Those aren't great stats but they generated a win and they are better than what JP Losman accomplished in the previous couple of games. So, what did the Bills' braintrust have to say after the game? They aren't sure whom they will start at QB next week. Forget the air-freshener in Buffalo; somebody get the lobotomy instruments - - quick.

Vinny Testaverde started and led the Jets to a win. That's what the headlines said anyway. What the Jets did was to prevent the Bucs' offense from scoring a TD all day long; four times the Bucs were inside the Jets' 30-yardline and had to settle for field goals. Brian Griese is a marginal QB in the NFL at best and he is definitely the weak link on a Bucs' team that has some real defensive talent and a decent running game.

Alex Smith got his first NFL start on Sunday. It is certainly too much to have expected him to take the field with that ragtag assemblage of a team and lead it to a convincing win; even his mother would not have thought that was a probable event. But his debut consisted of four interceptions a fumble and 5 sacks. Welcome to the NFL.

I have no inside source of info here; so let me get that out of the way from the beginning. And I am not a doctor either. Nevertheless, looking at the play on the field, I believe that Donovan McNabb is hurt – and hurting – much more than he and the Eagles are letting on. His passing accuracy has regressed to what it was about 3 seasons ago; he is throwing almost exclusively with his arm and not his entire body; he does not move in the pocket nearly as much nor as quickly. Obviously, I don't wish for McNabb to be injured, but that's what I think is happening out there and that's why I believe the Eagles are vulnerable to a significantly worse season than they – and I – had anticipated.

The Cardinals' rookie RB, JJ Arrington, has one run for 12 yards and another one for 13 yards this season. Let me congratulate him for those because the rest of the news on him is pretty bleak. Going into last Sunday's game, Arrington had carried the ball 18 other times this season for a grand total of – hold your breath here – 2 yards. That works out to 4 inches per carry! Go back and read that carefully, you won't see that statistic very often. On Sunday, Arrington improved that stat line – as if that was any real accomplishment – with 4 carries for 14 yards. That brings his statistics for the season – outside of those two runs I've already congratulated him on – to 22 carries for 16 yards. Instead of averaging 4 inches per carry, he is now up to 26 inches per carry.

There was a time when the teams of the NFC North were foundation of the “Black and Blue Division”. Chris Berman still refers to the NFC North as the “Norris Division” – making an allusion to a prior alignment of the NHL. I look at the NFC North at the moment and see the “Deadly Dull Division” with four seriously flawed teams in it. The only reason that the division winner here might be over .500 for the year is because it will have six games against the other sorry-assed members of the same division. Maybe it should be referred to as the “WGARAD” – the Who Gives A Rat's Ass Division.

As of now, I have a specific rooting interest in college football for the rest of the season. After Penn State beat Ohio State last weekend, it is pretty clear that Penn State is going to a bowl game this year. What I want to happen is for Penn State and Florida State to meet in a bowl game – it won't be the Rose Bowl for the national championship and I don't care. I want to see that match-up because it will definitely be the AARP Bowl. Joe Paterno versus Bobby Bowden, two coaches who can easily be called “long in the tooth”. And they are also the two winningest coaches in the history of Division 1-A college football. I'm rooting for that game to happen.

And for the record, can we please get something straight? USC is not – repeat not – going for its third straight championship. Two seasons ago, USC did not even play in the championship game [LSU and Oklahoma did] and the reason they did not play in that game was that they lost to Cal. So, when USC wins this year, they will have won their second championship in a row not their third.

Finally, those of us living in Virginia have a gubernatorial election coming up. There are three candidates running and even though they are not named Moe, Larry and Curly … well, you get the idea. One of them will sponsor a car in the Nextel Cup Chase event at Martinsville on October 23; I doubt anyone would believe that would be a deciding factor in my decision on whom to vote for. Nonetheless, Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times thought this move was a perfect fit as marketing strategies go:

“Where else but politics and auto racing do you experience lots of hot air, go in countless circles and end up in the same place you started?”

But don't get me wrong, I love sports...

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