The Redskins beat the Pats handily. The thing that stood out to me is that the Patriots showed that they can dominate a team like SF - which stinks - but that they are not on the same level as a team with a significant number of real NFL caliber players. The Pats shut down the 49ers running game to an almost embarrassing level; the Redskins ran the ball 43 times for 190 yards and 90% of that yardage was gained by the running backs who are vying for the role of "watching Stephen Davis carry the ball". New England had the ball for less than 20 minutes in the whole game!

The Lions defeated the Bills in a dreadful game. Detroit used the game to audition three guys who are fighting to be the #3 QB and who risk getting splinters in their hands from carrying clipboards. Case, Stenstrom and Sauter did little to distinguish themselves but the Lions' braintrust must have seen something because Stenstrom was released last night. A glance at the game stats might cause you a double take since one of the Lions' rushers was named "Sanders". No, Barry is not making a comeback and given his comments to a reporter at last week's golf tournament, you are more likely to see Satch Sanders carrying the ball this year than you are to see Barry in uniform.

Is Charlotte NC cursed? You know all the things that befell members of the Hornets last year including the death of Bobby Fills. And after all, the Hornets have Derrick Coleman on the team which is as bad as it gets. Then the Panthers have Rae Carruth problems and Fred Lane gets killed and they have injuries galore and now their kicker, John Kasay, breaks his kneecap in practice as he tries a 30 yard field goal. The bone is broken in half and needs to be "surgically repaired" which means they will do the osteo-equivalent of welding the damned thing back in one piece. And what veteran free agent did the Panthers just sign? Eugene Robinson whose most famous recent accomplishment was to "go out and find a hooker who makes like Hoover the night before the Super Bowl."

Maybe the Saints are cursed too. After a rash of injuries in training camp and early exhibition games Safety Darren Perry rear ended another vehicle and was arrested for DWI about an hour after the Saints lost to the Indy Colts.

The Packers loss to Denver showed that the Packers DL is in big trouble. They do not stop the run well and they compensate for that by putting just about no pressure on the passer. It could be a LONG season on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field…

The Cowboys defense should scare no one either. Oakland ran the ball 33 times for 229 yards on the Dallas this weekend. Napolean Kauffman only carried twice for 12 yards but that noted ball-toting threat, Bobby Hoying carried 4 times for 67 yards.

Memo to Jerry Jones: If your defense cannot run down Bobby Hoying from behind in less than 5 yards, go out and sign two of the icons from Easter Island to increase your team speed.

The KC Royals took notes on the problems that befell the Colorado Rockies after the Rockheads gave out pewter key chains as a promotional item and they caused a stink about lead poisoning for kids. KC hoped to do this quietly, but when they found that they had given out 30,000 key chains of similar type last year, they realized that they just had to do a recall. The chains are George Brett memorabilia and after the Royals get about 20,000 of them back, you can be sure to find the rest of them on e-bay. The really good ones will be advertised as "never sucked on by a drooling kid…"

Umpire Rick Reed admitted on Sunday that he blew a balk call on Saturday that gave the White Sox a win over the Devil Rays. That is a giant step forward for baseball umpires and would never have happened in the Richie Phillips regime. Yet one more reason why Richie's absence from MLB - or any other sports endeavor - is good for that sporting endeavor.

Raul Mondesi had elbow surgery to remove twelve bone chips from his right elbow. He reports that he can now actually straighten his arm out which he could not do before. Imagine if his throws from right field actually improve after this surgery. Scary thought!

Maybe Peter Asbestos knows something. Maybe there is a reason why he intervenes in stuff for the Orioles and does not leave things to his "baseball people". Or maybe Syd Thrift is a blockhead. In one of the Orioles' "fire sale trades" they got Leslie Brea from the Mets as a young pitching prospect. Brea was called up this week and got shelled in his debut. They are sending him back to the minors and they just found out that he is not 21 years old, he is 26 years old. BIG difference for a pitching prospect, Syd. Stay tuned here; Peter Asbestos will do something about this.

Pedro Martinez was removed from the game last night with a twinge in his shoulder but refused to take an MRI because he said that it was sore because he slept on it wrong. But since MRIs are painless and non-invasive, why refuse the test?

The people who run the National Hockey League are not MENSA candidates. Every couple of years, the league is plagued with incidents or thuggery and last year's incident where McSorley cold-cocked an opposing player has been replayed on TV more times than any I Love Lucy episode. So now Billy Tibbits is the newest member of the NHL having signed with the Pittsburgh Pens. And will that ever be an appropriate name. You say you don't recognize the name, Billy Tibbits; and you can't recall who he played for last year? Reason is that he has been in the pen - the State Pen - for a while. He has what one wire-service described as a "lengthy criminal record in Massachusetts." Most recently he served 30 months for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a police officer and in 1994 he was involved in "little misunderstanding" that the authorities called "rape". So the guy who spent time in the slammer for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon is now being given a hockey stick to carry around. Stand by. And get ready to hear the Penguins tell you that calling them the Pens after Tibbits winds up in the pen the next time is "unfair" and "demeaning to all the wonderful civic minded citizens on the team."

Remember When Tiger Woods had won six tournaments in a row and that was the single biggest topic to be considered by the sporting press? Well when Tiger did that, he was just about half way to the real record which is eleven consecutive tournaments won by Byron Nelson. Now we have a chance to see if passing the halfway mark to a major record is an all-consuming story or not. Gabe Kapler of the Rangers has now hit in 26 consecutive games and just three more will put him over the 50% mark in his quest to reach 56. I got a lot of money that says that Gabe will not be the subject of at least one story a day - and sometimes a story and a column and a "countdown graphic" all on the same day - from the 29th game forward.

Finally, the major sports story in DC today is that Cory Raymer injured his knee in practice and they don't know if it is a bruise or two torn ligaments and if he will be out for the season or back at practice today. Full teams of analysts have gone into what the Skins' options could be. And the paeans of praise are already in full throat. Raymer is the "most durable" "most improved" "fulcrum of the offensive line". Unfortunately, facts get in the way here. Raymer missed an entire year with a broken ankle and then half of the next year after a car accident. If he is the most improved player on the OL, that is probably because he was the least productive of them last year. As to being the fulcrum of the line, Cory has spent the majority of the last two seasons guessing if a middle blitz was coming and when he guessed wrong - about 50% of the time - the QB or the RB took a shot. I'm willing to believe that Norv Turner has evaluated that Cory is the best center on the roster and that is why he is starting at that position. But this is not a reincarnation of Jim Ringo or Jim Otto or Mike Webster. Raymer's loss - even for the entire season - would not be the single worst thing that could happen to civilization. We would not all devolve to sitting in a circle with one thumb in an ear and the other in... you get the picture.

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