ESPN NFL

For all the brilliance of Bill Parcells this season, and despite the manner in which he led the suspect Dallas Cowboys to the lead in the NFC East, his team is now tied for the division lead after Sunday night's defeat.

Game ball
Plummer Jake Plummer, Broncos QB This week's game ball goes to Plummer, who may well have salvaged the Broncos' season on Sunday, but with this provision: Tuck the ball away in a closet somewhere. At least keep it off the floor of the living room. The Broncos can ill afford to have Plummer trip over anything, including a football, and breaking his foot the way he did when he stumbled off his sofa a month ago. Playing for the first time since that freak injury, Plummer led the Broncos over San Diego on Sunday, throwing three touchdown passes, all of them to tight end Shannon Sharpe. No tears, please, about the short-lived Danny Kanell Era ending in Denver. Now with "The Snake" back in the lineup, and tailback Clinton Portis still ringing up 100-yard games, the Broncos have at least a chance to slither back into the playoff picture.
Scout's take
Comments elicited from two NFC scouts: Engram "(Seattle wide receiver) Bobby Engram never gets the credit he deserves. He always knows where the chains are, can return punts, is a solid guy to have around your younger receivers. He scored twice Sunday, on a catch and a (punt) runback, and every team should have a guy like him around. I wish my team did." "You look at the teams who, right now, are leading everyone else for the first (overall) pick in the draft, and it could be pretty interesting. There are a ton of teams right now who would love to get Eli Manning and, the way he's playing, you can't blame them. But you've got Atlanta, Jacksonville and San Diego all with just two wins. The Falcons and the Jaguars can't possibly take a quarterback with the first pick and, if San Diego does, it's conceding that (Drew) Brees isn't their guy. I guess the point is, you could get some trade action at the top of the '04 draft, from teams wanting to deal up for Manning." "And how about that Peyton (Manning), huh? He's playing without his safety net (wide receiver Marvin Harrison), still throws for 400 yards, and spreads the ball around so that three different receivers end up with more than 80 yards. He might not be the most valuable player in the league, but he could be the best player." "Now that the Eagles have (free safety) Brian Dawkins back, look out for some of the (stuff) that (coordinator) Jim Johnson will come up with in the last month and a half. Jim hasn't gambled too much, because he needs Dawkins in the secondary to get everyone in place, but he'll dig deep into the bag of tricks again now." "I'm no fan of (Steve) Spurrier but, the more times I watched the replay of Stephen Davis' winning touchdown run for Carolina, the more times I think the Redskins got robbed. I'm not sure Davis even got to the goal line. And then (Redskins) safety Matt Bowen knocks the ball out of his hand. I've got to hear the NFL office's explanation of that one." "(Detroit quarterback) Joey Harrington played OK on Sunday but, watching him, I was kind of disappointed. I really felt like he would come on so fast, with (Steve Mariucci) as his head coach, but his development just seems to have stalled some. Of course, it would help if he had any kind of running game and a couple of real, NFL-caliber receivers." "Every time you think Arizona is playing good enough to maybe save (head coach) Dave McGinnis' hide, they go and lay an egg like the one on Sunday." "For whatever reason, (New Orleans tailback) Deuce McAllister doesn't get mentioned very often with the top players at that position. But I'd take him any day. For a guy whose 'rep' was that he was soft when he came into the league, he runs hard, and he's got just great wiggle in the secondary. I love the guy and I'm sick we didn't take him in the draft." "Here's an interesting dilemma I was thinking about watching Cincinnati today: Let's say (Jon) Kitna keeps playing steady, not turning the ball over, and he takes the Bengals to the division title. Next year in camp, he's got to be your starter, right? But what does that do for Carson Palmer who, sooner or later, has to play for you, given the investment that you've got in him?"
Heard in the pressbox
Warrick The Bengals have about $2 million in remaining salary cap room for 2003, and they might approach wide receiver Peter Warrick about a possible extension. Last week, of course, the club went out of character and extended the deal of its other starting wide receiver, Chad Johnson, by five years at $26.05 million. ... You wonder if Tom Coughlin can turn down the Giants job for a second time, assuming (Jim) Fassel is canned, which he will be. But the rumors are that Coughlin would prefer going to someplace like Miami, where Dave (Wannstedt) could be axed. Coughlin is still a Northern-type guy, but his wife and family have really come to like the South a lot. Forget the stuff about Coughlin maybe going to Penn State. It's not going to happen. ... Teams interested in LSU coach Nick Saban, and there will be several, won't have to worry about a buyout in his contract. For all intents and purposes, there really is none, and he can pretty much leave for any NFL job he wants. ... It's going to be very difficult for Tennessee to keep defensive end Jevon Kearse around beyond this year. The team is in cap peril again, as it almost always is, and sooner or later, the Titans have to get things under control. They could slap a "franchise" label on Kearse, but he doesn't want that, and he and (agent) Drew Rosenhaus could make life miserable if that happens. ... St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger has been pretty shaky of late, throwing more interceptions than earlier, and Mike Martz is getting a little antsy about that. But there are no signs Martz is ready to yank Bulger and re-insert Kurt Warner into the lineup. The job looks like it belongs to Bulger for the rest of the year and then the Rams will do something to unload Warner and his fat contract. ... No one should be surprised, if the Ravens keep sputtering on offense, to see coach Brian Billick turn to quarterback Ray Lucas, just as soon as the journeyman learns the offense. Then again, how hard is it to learn how to hand off to Jamal Lewis? ... Kevin Hardy has played far better at middle linebacker for Cincinnati than anyone felt he could. Hardy has been a strong-side 'backer most of his career.

And tied with whom, you ask, chidingly? Yep, the same Philadelphia Eagles team that everyone, including us, was prepared to bury just two contests into the season. Despite enough injuries to overwhelm Hawkeye Pierce, the Eagles have now won seven of eight, and the frightening aspect for everyone else in the conference should be that Andy Reid's club is starting to get healthy again. Both on the field and off. Free safety Brian Dawkins, the spiritual leader of the defense, returned to the starting lineup Sunday for the first time since the season opener. It probably won't be too much longer until cornerback Bobby Taylor is back. Quarterback Donovan McNabb has been more effective than earlier in the season and threw for 314 yards on Sunday.

In scatback Brian Westbrook, the resourceful Reid seems to have uncovered a runner with whom he feels comfortable. Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson is turning loose the mad hounds again. It really is a remarkable cut-and-paste job that Reid, who inexplicably seems overlooked in this Year of the Coach, has promulgated with his team. The onetime M*A*S*H unit now is mashing opponents instead, and maybe the Eagles, with all their early-season woes, will indeed make it to a third straight NFC championship tilt.

The schedule maker hasn't done Philadelphia any favors, since its final six games are against teams still in the postseason chase, including a contest at Carolina in two weeks and a home game against the Cowboys a week later. But given what the resilient Eagles have been through to this point, and with all the momentum they are gathering, there is a mounting perception that Philadelphia is peaking at the right time. Their early-season plight seems to have galvanized the Eagles and, while there are still flaws, it now appears the team was the NFL equivalent of Mark Twain. Indeed, all reports of the club's demise certainly seem premature.

It was probably just a matter of time until the Cowboys' mistake-prone offense caught up to them. It was likely just a matter of time, as well, until the Eagles caught up to the Cowboys, and now they are ready to pass them.

Vikings taking on water
Remember how we noted, when the Minnesota Vikings lost consecutive games after winning their first six contests of the year, that there was no need for panic? Recall how, at that juncture, we pointed out that coach Mike Tice could right the Vikings' ship with a three-game stretch that included matchups with San Diego (Nov. 9), Oakland (Nov. 16) and Detroit (Nov. 23)?

Well, two weeks into what was supposed to be a cupcake schedule that went swimmingly, Minnesota is barely treading water now, and Tice better remove that omnipresent No. 2 lead pencil from behind his right ear and start ciphering out (as the ol' country savant Jethro Bodine would say) some winning game plans. The losing streak has reached four. The Green Bay Packers, who may have driven a spike into the coffin of the defending Super Bowl champion Bucs on Sunday, lurk just one game behind. Had the Packers just gotten a defensive stop late in last Monday's home loss to the Eagles, they would be tied for the NFC Central lead, and the sound you would have heard in the background was Vikings owner Red McCombs shuffling through his short list of possible coaching replacements.

As it is, you can bet McCombs isn't exactly thrilled at what is suddenly a season teetering on the brink of implosion. In the Vikings' first three losses of the season, the defense caved, with opponents able to run at will against the Minnesota front seven, especially to the flanks. But in Sunday's defeat to an Oakland team starting Rick Mirer at quarterback, and with steroid allegations all around the Raiders, the Minnesota offense floundered. Daunte Culpepper had three interceptions, fumbled thrice, and lost two of the bobbles. Randy Moss, step-up guy that he is, had four catches for 25 yards.

Tice keeps saying, after every loss, that his team is "close." Alas, it may be close to the edge, and ready to go over it. The defense was never quite as good as it played the first six games, but coordinator George O'Leary did a masterful job as he camouflaged the shortcomings. But now, with the high-octane offense sputtering as well, there could be legitimate reason for concern. Before moving beyond this game, kudos to the Oakland starting secondary, which not only held Moss in check, but also registered 23 tackles, three interceptions, one forced fumble and six passes defensed.

Packers line comes up big
Some people contend that "living well" is the best revenge. But for the Green Bay offensive line, blocking well on Sunday was the ultimate revenge for the cheap-shot hit that Tampa Bay defensive tackle Warren Sapp laid on Packers right offensive tackle Chad Clifton a year ago. In the week of preparation, Clifton, whose career was threatened by the unusual pelvic injury, termed the event "ancient history."

Yeah, right, Chad. If you don't think the memory of that hit, authored while Clifton had his head turned and was running upfield following a Brett Favre interception, wasn't some source of motivation for the Packers, then you don't understand how the NFL works.

The Packers didn't allow a single sack, snapping Tampa Bay's record streak of 69 consecutive games with at least one quarterback scalp. More significant to the big picture, Green Bay dealt the Bucs their sixth loss of the season. It might be too early to write off the Bucs as just another Super Bowl one-year wonder -- especially since there is only one team, Tennessee in the season finale, on their schedule that currently owns a winning record -- but Tampa Bay seems to be lacking something. Sapp by the way had just two tackles, and there has to be a special knack, we're guessing, for making a 330-pounder disappear like that.

Magic runs out
Memo to the good folks at the Hall of Fame: Uh, you might want to furlough those artisans who were hard at work starting to fashion the Doug Flutie bust. Then again, Flutie did pretty much play like a statue Sunday afternoon.

In San Diego's loss at Denver, which dropped the un-turboChargers to 2-8, Flutie applied "bust" in an entirely different context altogether. Flutie passed for a measly 70 yards, turned the ball over four times, and engineered an offense that totaled 96 yards. Heck, the Broncos had possessions of 85 and 86 yards, for gosh sakes.

Was that someone paging Drew Brees over the public address system? Notwithstanding last week's four-touchdown performance, including a pair of scoring runs, we've never quite understood the infatuation with Flutie on the part of some of our media fraternity brothers. It's great to root for the underdog -- the American way to champion anyone who outperforms his modest skills, no matter the vocation. But all of the Flutie Fixations, the plaudits from the large legion of Doug Disciples, has been maddeningly overdone. His supporters like to suggest that, were Flutie ever given a full season to demonstrate his wares, he would show everyone just how really good he could be. And we say, politely, baloney. The guy is what he is, a human roller coaster, a player who alternately provides you giddy butterflies and stomach-churning nausea.

There is talk that Flutie will consider returning to the CFL, the scene of his greatest career triumphs, to finish out his career. Our take on that: To paraphrase Horace Greeley, go North, old man. In this space last week we noted that, if the Chargers have determined that Brees isn't the quarterback of the future in San Diego, football historians need to revisit the 2001 trade in which the team surrendered the rights to Michael Vick. Well, there's apparently no need to dredge up the deal anytime soon. As usual, Flutie stirred up his annual quarterback controversy (fill in the name of any city in which he has played), and then gave even his staunchest supporters pause. If coach Marty Schottenheimer was counting on Flutie to save his job, he backed the wrong quarter-horse.

On the road again
If the surging Cincinnati Bengals are to enact a worst-to-first turnaround for the fifth time in franchise history (1970, 1981, 1988, 1990), they will have to weather a daunting three-game road trip. Not daunting, mind you, because of who the Bengals will face. Just challenging because, history has demonstrated, such stretches away from home can undo a lot of progress. The Bengals are just 1-3 on the road this season and now face dates at San Diego (Nov. 23), Pittsburgh (Nov. 30) and Baltimore (Dec. 7).

Sure, extended road trips in the NFL aren't like long sojourns in other sports, because you get to come home in between. But this is a young Cincinnati club, with a fragile psyche, unaccustomed to the heady status it currently holds in the standings.

"We've just got to put our heads down and play them," said safety Mark Roman after Sunday's emotional victory. "Not many teams ever have to play three straight (on the road), but this is the hand we were dealt, so you just play it out and see what happens."

Think coach Marvin Lewis isn't paying for the shortcomings of his predecessors? The upcoming Bengals stretch is the lone three-game road trip on the NFL schedule this entire season. Noted one Cincinnati official: "That's what happens when you're as bad as we have been."

Browns go on offensive

	Holcomb

For one week, at least, Cleveland Browns coach Butch Davis proved his decision to jettison leading wide receiver Kevin Johnson was a successfully calculated move.

The top three Browns wideouts -- Quincy Morgan, Andre Davis and Dennis Northcutt -- combined for 18 catches, 289 yards and three touchdowns -- as quarterback Kelly Holcomb torched an Arizona defense that had been playing deceptively well. Davis and Morgan both went over the 100-yard mark and Holcomb threw for 392 yards.

Good news for Davis and the Browns: they face Pittsburgh -- the team Holcomb blistered last year in the playoffs -- next week. By the end of that game, Johnson could be just a distant memory in the minds of the Browns and their fans.

Punts

Now that the Atlanta Falcons have fallen to 2-8, courtesy of Sunday's overtime defeat at New Orleans, it extends one of professional sports most ignominious records. In the 38 years of its existence, Atlanta has never posted consecutive winning seasons, a dubious accomplishment no one can match. And that record, by definition, will now stretch to at least 40 years. The loss also means, in all likelihood, that coach Dan Reeves will finish his Falcons tenure with a losing record. Reeves is 51-59-1 in his seven years with the franchise, and there are only six games remaining. Take away the two winning years he posted, in 1998 and 2002, and Reeves to this point has averaged but five victories in his five other seasons. More than half his 51 victories in Atlanta (26 to be precise) came in '98 and '02.

Raiders future Hall of Fame wideouts Jerry Rice and Tim Brown had just one catch each, for a total of 45 yards, in Sunday's victory over Minnesota.

After griping last week that he didn't get enough "touches" in Indianapolis' upset loss to the Jaguars, tailback Edgerrin James got a club record-tying 42 "touches" versus the Jets. That means James is now averaging 28.6 "touches" per contest in 2003. His average coming into the season was 26.8. So, uh, shut the trap, huh, Edge?

Jets wideout Santana Moss had a touchdown catch in a sixth straight game.

The Broncos did not punt at all on Sunday, just the third time in franchise history that has occurred.

Carolina kicker John Kasay missed two field goals on Sunday, snapping his streak of successful conversions at 22.

When Atlanta kicker Jay Feely missed a 54-yarder in overtime Sunday, it was his first unsuccessful try ever in a road dome. Feely has had all sorts of problems at the Georgia Dome but was 12-for-12 indoors on the road.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Click here to send Len a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.