In the next two weeks, Kerry Collins revisits the end of the best season of his 14-year NFL career.
That was 2000, when the current quarterback of the unbeaten Tennessee Titans was with the New York Giants, getting them to the Super Bowl with perhaps his best game ever against Minnesota, then losing the title contest with one of his worst.
The 35-year-old Collins, who has stabilized the Titans as Vince Young’s not-so-temporary replacement, faces those teams in the next two weeks, starting with Minnesota in Nashville on Sunday.
His adversary this week is 37-year-old Gus Frerotte, who replaced Tarvaris Jackson last week and led the Vikings to their first victory, 20-10 over Carolina.
“It’s the battle of the blue hairs, I guess,” Collins says.
Collins’ experience works well for Tennessee, which is winning with defense. The Titans have allowed only 29 points in their three wins, the best average in the league and the second-fewest points – Baltimore has allowed 20 in two games.
e leads the league with four interceptions, more pilfers than 21 of the 32 teams, and he returned one 99 yards for a touchdown last week against Houston.
The Titans also have a coach, Jeff Fisher, who makes sure his players say the right thing.
“It’s still young in the season. It’s just the first quarter,” linebacker David Thornton says. “If we go out and lay eggs in the second, third and fourth part of the season, this strong start can really be in vain.”
The Vikings laid eggs in their first two games, losing in Green Bay, then blowing a 15-0 lead to Indianapolis and falling 18-15. After five field goals and no touchdowns in that Indy game, Frerotte stepped in for third-year man Tarvaris Jackson.
“I think we’ve got to kind of still work out some kinks, but I think having Gus back there gave us a great change in speed as far as offense,” wide receiver Bobby Wade said. “I thought we found a good balance in there, at least enough to sustain drives and score points. That’s all we can really do.”
Against the Titans, sustaining drives and scoring points won’t be easy.
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In other games Sunday, Arizona is at the New York Jets; Denver at Kansas City; San Francisco at New Orleans; Atlanta at Carolina; Cleveland at Cincinnati; Green Bay at Tampa Bay; Houston at Jacksonville; Buffalo at St. Louis; San Diego at Oakland; Washington at Dallas; and Philadelphia at Chicago.
is at Pittsburgh on Monday night.
Indianapolis, Miami, New England, Seattle, the New York Giants and Detroit are off in the first bye week of the season.
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Washington (2-1) at Dallas (3-0)
The Cowboys are living up to their preseason billing as the best team in the NFL.
But Redskins-Cowboys games are rarely one-sided. Or if they are, the underdog often wins, as Washington did 27-6 last season in a final regular-season game the Redskins needed and the Cowboys didn’t.
This game reflects the strength of the NFC East, which is 10-2 overall with the two losses in division games, the Redskins to the Giants and the Eagles to the Cowboys. One problem for Washington could be the absence of DE Jason Taylor, out with a calf injury that ends a streak of 133 straight games.
Philadelphia (2-1) at Chicago (1-2)
Philadelphia looked like the 1985 Bears last week against Pittsburgh, sacking Steelers QBs nine times in a 15-6 win. This came six days after the Eagles allowed 41 points to the Cowboys. Brian Dawkins, burned by Dallas, earned NFC player of the week honors for a stellar performance against the Steelers.
The Eagles might have a problem if Brian Westbrook, listed as day to day with an ankle injury, can’t play.
pes to have WR-KR Devin Hester, its only explosive player, who missed last week with a rib injury.
Baltimore (2-0) at Pittsburgh (2-1) (Monday night)
The Steelers were battered by the Eagles – literally. Ben Roethlisberger has shoulder and hand injuries and Willie Parker is out, meaning rookie Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh’s first-round pick, will start at running back. The Steelers also are without NT Casey Hampton and DE Brett Keisel.
The Ravens’ first-rounder, Joe Flacco, has started and won both games at QB in place of the ailing Troy Smith and the injured Kyle Boller. But as usual, the Ravens win with defense and have allowed just 20 points in wins over Cincinnati and Cleveland.
Green Bay (2-1) at Tampa Bay (2-1)
An intense rivalry from the old NFC Central. There still might be some lingering bad blood about a hit by Warren Sapp that nearly ended the career of Packers left tackle Chad Clifton. Sapp is retired, but Clifton remains one of Aaron Rodgers’ principal protectors.
The Bucs were limited to 47 yards rushing in Chicago last week, but managed to win in overtime with Griese throwing 67 times. They provide a pretty good test for Rodgers, a tougher road game than his first, in Detroit.
San Francisco (2-1) at New Orleans (1-2)
002 draft, but never played a game for them. Until this season, he had thrown just 26 passes, just about a third of the 76 he’s thrown in three games this season.
The Saints could have won in Denver last week if Martin Gramatica hadn’t missed a 43-yard field goal late in the 34-32 loss. But they are without two of their top offensive weapons: TE Jeremy Shockey has a sports hernia and joins WR Marques Colston on the injury list.
Denver (3-0) at Kansas City (0-3)
The Denver defense, which has allowed 28 points a game, might get a break this week against a team averaging just over 10 points. Damon Huard starts for the Chiefs, who have changed QBs every week – Brodie Croyle, then Huard, then Tyler Thigpen and now Huard again.
The Broncos are tired of hearing how they should be 1-2, winning because of a referee’s mistake and a missed field goal. It’s hard to knock the offense, which leads the league with 114 points, an average of 38 per game. Brandon Marshall is second in both catches (24) and yards receiving (321) despite being suspended for the first game.
Arizona (2-1) at New York Jets (1-2)
ntend.
The Cardinals stayed in the Washington area after losing to the Redskins last week to avoid another long trip. That’s probably a good idea given they are 2-15 in the eastern time zone since 2003. On the other hand, they are 2-15 in a lot of places over the last 60 years.
Atlanta (2-1) at Carolina (2-1)
Before everyone gets too excited about the Falcons. Remember that they have beaten Detroit and Kansas City, two of the NFL’s three worst teams. Still, Michael Turner, signed after backing up LaDainian Tomlinson in San Diego, leads the league in rushing and is averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
Jake Delhomme was sacked five times in Minnesota last week, where the Panthers led 10-0 early but lost 20-10. The Falcons’ John Abraham leads the NFL in sacks with six, so this could be a more dangerous game for Carolina than it looks.
San Diego (1-2) at Oakland (1-2)
Norv Turner, the Chargers’ coach, coached the Raiders for two seasons (9-23), so he knows what Lane Kiffin is going through as he waits for Al Davis to swing the ax. Or is Davis just toying with his young coach? His week-to-week status could last for 16 weeks in the wacky world of the Raiders.
but have patched well, especially with LB Jyles Tucker in Merriman’s spot and Darren Sproles replacing Michael Turner as the changeup to Tomlinson.
Cleveland (0-3) at Cincinnati (0-3)
Derek Anderson is still the quarterback for Cleveland while Brady Quinn gets ready. The Browns’ playoff hopes were killed last year by a loss in Cincinnati in the next-to-last week, and this start probably dashes their playoff hopes for this season. After this game, they have a bye, then play the Giants, Redskins and Jaguars.
The Bengals played decently last week, losing to the Giants 26-23 in overtime on the road. Carson Palmer finally played like Carson Palmer, T.J. Houshmandzadeh had 12 catches for 146 yards, but Ocho Zero continued to do …
Almost zero.
Houston (0-2) at Jacksonville (1-2)
It has to be disturbing for the Texans that they staked the future on Matt Schaub, who in two games has thrown five interceptions and has a passer rating of 50.3, lower than any starting QB except Anderson and Thigpen. It’s could be especially bothersome with Sage Rosenfels, whose passer ratings the last two seasons were 103 and 84.8, on the bench.
The Jaguars win when they run and lose when they don’t. They beat the Colts by rushing for 236 yards, nearly double the 129 combined in losses to Tennessee and Buffalo.
Buffalo (3-0) at St. Louis (0-3)
back for the Rams in place of Marc Bulger, who is not the problem; half the teams in the NFL would probably grab Bulger if he became available. But the change symbolizes what’s wrong with the league’s worst (and oldest) team: Green is 38, Bulger is 31.
Contrast that with Buffalo, which is getting solid QB play from 24-year-old Trent Edwards in his second year. He brought the Bills back from nine points down in the fourth quarter last week to beat Oakland. Buffalo turned around after the now re-retired Marv Levy was brought in to stabilize what had been a confused front office.