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When the St. Louis offensive line hunkers into its collective three-point stance for the initial snap of Sunday's regular-season opener against Arizona, it will mark the first time the Rams' starting-unit quintet has worked together in a game since … well, since forever.

The holdout of "franchise" left tackle Orlando Pace, a potential career-ending back injury to right tackle Kyle Turley that landed him on injured reserve, and the release of center Dave Wohlabaugh because of surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip, kept three 2003 starters out for most of camp and eventually eliminated two of them entirely for this year.

There have been less-severe injuries as well, and reevaluations that dictated even more shuffling, and the Rams either signed or claimed on waivers six different reinforcements during camp. One of them, former Cardinals blocker Chris Dishman, who was all but ignored as an unrestricted free agent in the spring until the Rams dispatched an SOS, will start at left guard on Sunday afternoon.

SIDE LINES
On-Line New York Giants left defensive end Michael Strahan, the NFL's 2003 sack champion, has more sacks against the Philadelphia Eagles (17½) than any other team, and more sacks of Donovan McNabb (10½) than any other quarterback in the league. Watching the twice-annual slugfests between Strahan and Eagles right offensive tackle Jon Runyan, which have gotten ugly on occasion, is always compelling stuff. But there is another tete-a-tete in the New York-Philadelphia opener on Sunday that should also make for some interesting viewing. The Giants desperately need to protect quarterback Kurt Warner and, while their success in doing so will depend largely on the ability to block the various blitzes Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson will definitely bring, second-year veteran David Diehl is also going to need a strong performance. Diehl started all 16 games at right guard as a rookie in 2003 but, in the Giants' reshuffled lineup, he will start at right tackle this weekend. And that means, on occasion, he will have to block Eagles left end Jevon Kearse one-on-one.
The List Not since the 1996-97 seasons, when Jeff Blake was atop the depth chart, have the Cincinnati Bengals had a quarterback start consecutive season openers. The streak will reach seven years on Sunday, when Carson Palmer gets his first regular-season start. Here is the list of the Bengals' last seven opening day starters:
Starter
Carlson Palmer, '04
Jon Kitna, '03
Gus Frerotte, '02
Jon Kitna, '01
Akili Smith, '00
Jeff Blake, '99
Neil O'Donnell, '98
Stat of the Week The Cleveland defense statistically ranked 23rd versus the run in 2003, and much of the damage was done by Baltimore Ravens tailback Jamal Lewis, who faces the Browns in the Sunday season opener. In two games, Lewis carried 52 times for 500 yards and four touchdowns, and that included his record-breaking performance of 295 yards in a 33-13 victory on Sept. 14. In fact, had Cleveland merely limited Lewis to 100 rushing yards in each of the two division matchups, the Browns would have been a respectable No. 14 against the run. Only once in six meetings, however, has Cleveland held Lewis under 100 yards. In those six games, he has averaged 23.7 carries and 173.9 yards, and has run for 170 or more yards on four occasions.
Stat of the Weak It's pretty common knowledge that, when Kurt Warner opens on Sunday at Philadelphia, it will mark his first start since the regular-season opener of 2003. That, ironically, came against his new team, the New York Giants. What fans may not realize, however, is how long it has been since Warner was credited with a victory as a starter. His last win, in fact, was on Jan. 27, 2002, over Philadelphia in the 2001 NFC championship game. Since that game, and including Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner is winless in his last eight starts. By the time Sunday rolls around, it will have been 959 days since Warner's last "W."
The Last Word Whitfield "It's like leaving the opera. It was a great show, and I'll have great memories of it, but the curtain has closed. You applaud, and you go about your day, you know?" -- offensive tackle Bob Whitfield, on being released by the Atlanta Falcons after 12 seasons.

Tom Nutten, lured out of retirement two weeks ago, just one day before he was scheduled to leave for Germany where he was going to conduct some youth football camps, is a key backup. The No. 3 tackle is Greg Randall, signed by St. Louis after he was jettisoned by two other teams this spring. Second-year veteran Scott Tercero, who didn't play a single snap as a rookie in 2003 but lined up at three different positions in camp, suddenly is now a non-expendable reserve.

One can pretty much forgive the St. Louis offensive linemen if, in the huddle on Sunday, they glance around and feel as if they are in the company of strangers. Just two players from the 2003 starting lineup, Pace and right guard Adam Timmerman, are in the same spots as a year ago. The release of Wohlabaugh forced Andy McCollum, the starting left guard last season, to switch to center for this year.

"From one day to the next, in camp, you never really knew who was (lining up) where," said veteran Grant Williams, who spent most of the preseason at left tackle, but will now switch to the right side, since Pace has signed his one-year qualifying tender and reported for duty. "It was almost like picking names out of a hat sometimes. But you know what, look around the league, OK? Maybe there weren't teams that had it like we did, but there are a lot (of teams) where the offensive lines weren't very settled."

Point taken. Around the league, offensive line units are in flux, and that could leave a lot of coaches in a bind. And some quarterbacks, perhaps, in traction.

The Oakland Raiders, in fact, still hadn't settled on which five players would start, and at what positions, as of Thursday evening. The New York Giants on Thursday moved guard Jason Whittle, acquired from Tampa Bay in a trade last week, into the lineup. And because of injuries, the Carolina Panthers were still uncertain about two starting spots for the Monday night opener against the Green Bay Packers.

By unofficial count, there are 61 new offensive line starters league wide for this week's opening games, and another 10 players starting in new positions. That means a hefty 44.3 percent of the 160 starting offensive line spots in the NFL have changed. The average of 2.2 line switches per franchise is the highest in the league since the dawning of the free agent and salary cap era. Over the previous five seasons, the average typically hovered between 1.8-2.0 changes per team.

This year, however, appears to be one in which the game of offensive line musical chairs has been amped up.

The defending NFC champion Panthers, for instance, have just two starters back from their Super Bowl XXXVIII lineup and just one of them, center Jeff Mitchell, in the same position as a year ago. Only two years removed from a Super Bowl title, Tampa Bay has three new starters. The Miami Dolphins, who probably need to qualify for the playoffs for coach Dave Wannstedt and general manager Rick Spielman to keep their jobs, are among the three franchises with four new starters.

By comparison, only three franchises will enter the '04 season with the same five starters intact from the lineup with which they exited the '03 campaign eight months ago. Little wonder that one veteran offensive line coach termed the situation "a travesty that no one seems to worry much about."

Indeed, when it comes to offseason player movement, very little is made of the transient element that has impacted offensive line play. The fans and the media tend to concentrate on skill-position players, particularly quarterbacks, changing addresses. But it is dramatic alterations on the offensive line, often times, that can change a franchise's landscape. In the years before free agency, offensive line units characteristically stayed together for six or seven seasons, but that no longer is the case.

Even the Kansas City Chiefs, where management did a marvelous job keeping intact the same offensive line for years, had a change this season, with former Philadelphia starting guard John Welbourn coming in at the right tackle spot to supplant John Tait, lured to the Chicago Bears for a monster contract in free agency.

The change in Kansas City means just one team, Green Bay, has the same starting unit with which it opened the season two years ago. You think iron man quarterback Brett Favre doesn't benefit from having the same steely quintet of bodyguards in front of him? Unfortunately, most of his peers may never know that same sense of security.

"You'd definitely like to develop (an offensive line) unit, and know those same guys are going to be there year after year, but that might not be practical anymore," acknowledged Houston Texans quarterback David Carr, who was sacked a league-record 76 times back in 2002. "Linemen are just like guys at other positions. It's going to be rare to see them start and finish their career in the same city. You'll probably never again see the kind of continuity that teams had on their offensive line years ago."

That dearth of stability might well be, in fact, the most significant negative promulgated by free agency and the salary cap. In recent years, franchises have doled out big contracts to retain their offensive tackles, but the guard spots, it seems, are forever in flux now. The conventional wisdom is that you can plug lesser-talented (read: cheaper) linemen or develop middle- and low-round draft choices into starters at the position. The upshot is that the offensive line, a unit that more than any other relies on continuity and cohesiveness, is now a revolving door around the league.

"If you can come to camp and look around, and you've got the same five guys together that you had the (previous) summer, it's a good feeling," said Jacksonville center Brad Meester, part of one of the few units returning intact from 2003. "It's also, I suppose, a rarity anymore."

Around the league

	Vermeil

One of the other areas of transition in the NFL this offseason was the kicking game, and the 2004 campaign will open with 13 new punters and six new kickers. Two teams, San Diego and Kansas City, have replaced both their kicker and punter. For the Chargers, such a move might not be all that crucial. But for the Chiefs, who figure to challenge for a Super Bowl berth and where coach Dick Vermeil places such an emphasis on special teams, the wholesale swap-out is a pretty dicey move. The Chiefs will go into the year with a couple specialists, kicker Lawrence Tynes (who beat out the venerable Morten Andersen for the job) and punter Steve Cheek (who bounced the shaky Jason Baker), who have never appeared in an NFL regular-season game. The fact they are kicking for a club with such lofty expectations certainly raises the ante for the youngsters and even Vermeil acknowledged he is rolling the dice a bit. "Obviously, I did what I felt we had to do, not only for the league opener, but also for the season," Vermeil said. "If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I've been wrong before and I've been right before."

On the subject of kickers, a little inside information on the release this week of Brett Conway, who was signed by Minnesota to replace Aaron Elling, and then was himself supplanted after three days by Morten Andersen: It seems that Vikings coach Mike Tice took off last Friday to attend the funeral of the mother of former defensive coordinator and longtime friend George O'Leary. In Tice's absence, Conway asked one of the Minnesota assistants if he could take a day off, to travel back home to Atlanta and pick up some personal belongings he had not brought with him to the Twin Cities. During the team's Saturday practice, in a two-minute drill, Tice called for the field goal unit, and discovered that Conway wasn't around. He was steamed, not only because of Conway's absence, but because he had yet to see his new kicker perform against a rush. In the audition that won Conway the job, he simply kicked field goals with no defensive front lined up against him. It was at that point that Tice decided to make the change, to dump Conway, and to sign Andersen as the third different placement specialist employed by the Vikings in one week. The Minnesota coaches acknowledge that, even kicking in a dome, Andersen will still struggle with the depth of his kickoffs, which has been a problem for The Great Dane over the last few seasons. So here's the plan: Andersen will handle the kickoffs for the first month of the season. And then by the team's bye week, on Oct. 3, some of the Minnesota linebackers currently nursing injuries should be physically recovered. When that occurs, the Vikings will likely release a linebacker, and then re-sign Travis Dorsch, who was with the team in camp and is currently on the practice squad, to assume the kickoff responsibilities.

Notre Dame head coach Tyrone Willingham is catching a lot of heat following the Irish's opening game loss at Brigham Young, a defeat that dropped his team to 5-10 in its last 15 outings. But one high-ranking NFL team official, who visited a Willingham practice this summer, remains convinced the embattled Notre Dame coach is still a guy who will remain on league short-lists for coaching vacancies. "I know what the critics are (complaining) about, but this guy is very level, organized, a great teacher, all the things we are looking for in our league. He's an impressive man," said the official. The team official agreed that the two most viable candidates in the college ranks remains Nick Saban of LSU and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, but insisted that he would not rate anyone but those two higher than Willingham if he was seeking a college coach for an NFL post.

	Gordon

He might not have the résumé of Chicago Bears veteran Anthony Thomas, the tailback the Dolphins most coveted over the past couple weeks, but most league personnel people feel Lamar Gordon was a very nice addition for running back-needy Miami. Desperate for a back to replace Ricky Williams, the Dolphins sent the St. Louis Rams a third-round pick in the 2005 draft for Gordon, a solid, young runner. One scout's assessment: "Runs a little high, but has power and is quicker than you think, and will make some big plays for you if you keep giving him the ball. I actually thought the Dolphins got him for a pretty decent price. Let's face it, everybody knew the pickle Miami was in, and they all kept raising the ante on a trade. And, basically, the Dolphins had an extra (third-round pick) because of the (Adewale Ogunleye) trade with Chicago, so what the heck." The Dolphins also get Gordon for a pretty reasonable price financially, too, since he has two seasons remaining on his original NFL contract at minimum salaries of $380,000 for 2004 and $455,000 for 2005. That's a lot less than they were paying Williams, from whom Miami is still trying to elicit an $8 million payback for breach of contract. The Bears' Thomas is entering the final year of his contract, with a salary of $514,500, and so Miami would have had to extend his deal, or run the risk of losing him in free agency next spring.

Since he is entering the final season of his contract, and the Bears will net nothing if they just allow him to play out the pact and go into the free agent market next spring, don't be too surprised if Chicago still swaps Thomas before the Oct. 19 trade deadline. Thomas acknowledged this week the rumors that he had requested a trade after the Bears signed tailback Thomas Jones in free agency this spring and declared him the starter. And the fourth-year veteran, and former rookie of the year, allowed he still wouldn't mind a change of address. We know of at least two franchises still keeping pretty close tabs on Thomas so, while a trade is a long shot, it is not inconceivable. Some of the other veteran players still being shopped in trade talks: Green Bay holdout cornerback Mike McKenzie, Washington starting wide receiver Rod Gardner, onetime Arizona starting offensive left tackle L.J. Shelton, Denver safety Sam Brandon.

Questions about why the Cleveland Browns are being so cautious with the "stinger" suffered by Lee Suggs in the final preseason game, and why the second-year tailback may be held out of Sunday's opener? As reported by ESPN.com last year, and confirmed once again this week, the former Virginia Tech standout suffers from cervical stenosis, which, in layman's terms, means he has an abnormally narrow spine column. The condition has shortened or ended the careers of some players in the past. That doesn't appear to be the case with Suggs, but the Cleveland medical staff is going to err on the side of caution, and will be very thorough in its treatment before clearing Suggs to return to the field.

Because of a quadriceps injury, New Orleans starting quarterback Aaron Brooks logged just 28 snaps in the preseason. That is one fewer snap than his famous second-cousin, Falcons starting quarterback Michael Vick, got in the exhibition games. But the Saints brass is certainly hoping that Brooks stays healthy. Word is that the team is really down on backup quarterback Todd Bouman. And while New Orleans isn't quite in love with No. 3 quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan, there are whispers that the third-year pro, who played well in the NFL Europe League this spring, might actually be the guy who'd step in if Brooks was sidelined for a few games. One more Saints item: Discussions over a long-term contract for right defensive end Darren Howard, who signed the one-year qualifying offer for a "franchise" player at his position this spring, are pretty much dormant. It's not like there hasn't been dialogue, just not much progress. The Saints still like Howard but, with the emergence of rookie Will Smith, the team's first-round draft pick, it will not be all that surprising if New Orleans allows the more veteran player to depart next spring in free agency. Smith was, by far, the best rookie among the 16 franchises we visited in camp this summer and Saints defensive coordinator Rick Venturi is busy drawing up schemes (like incorporating some 3-4 fronts that deploy Smith as a standup linebacker) to enhance and expand his role.

Sounds as if Tom Condon of IMG Football, whose clients include Tim Couch, is very seriously considering an injury grievance for the quarterback, who was released by the Green Bay Packers last weekend. Couch will visit with noted Birmingham, Ala.-based orthopedic specialist Dr. James Andrews on Monday in an effort to determine the source of pain in his throwing arm. Couch missed all or parts of 12 practice sessions in camp, and one preseason outing, because of pain in his elbow and shoulder. Packers officials have conceded they never ordered an MRI exam because Couch allegedly told them his arm was just sore from a lack of offseason throwing. Andrews will conduct a thorough examination of Couch's arm and results figure to be available by mid-week. There is a strong suspicion the arm problems date back to Couch's college career. And it is quite possible now that Couch, the first overall choice in the 1999 draft, will be forced to sit out the entire 2004 campaign. The Indianapolis Colts are interested in signing him, but only if his arm is sound. If there is an injury grievance, the Packers will have to count half of Couch's $625,000 base salary for 2004 against their salary cap until the issue is settled.

It has been a productive offseason for agent Drew Rosenhaus and things got even better the past couple weeks when he was retained by Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin and Jacksonville defensive tackle Marcus Stroud, both among the league's best young players at their respective positions. In fact, Stroud has emerged as one of the best interior players on the defensive side of the ball, period. Rosenhaus has already approached officials from both teams about upgrading his new clients' contracts. The Arizona brass has been very public in agreeing that Boldin, a second-round pick in 2003 who went on to earn rookie of the year honors, is deserving of a sizeable bump. Whether or not the Jaguars are ready to do something with Stroud's contract remains to be seen. Suffice it to say Rosenhaus isn't the most beloved guy in the agent community but, as most team officials concede, he has dramatically increased his already considerable sway this offseason, by reeling in new veteran clients like Boldin and Stroud and young cornerbacks Lenny Walls of Denver and St. Louis' Travis Fisher.

	Levens

There is still a pretty good chance that tailback Dorsey Levens, released last week by the Philadelphia Eagles, will re-join the team this month. The Eagles did not want to be liable for Levens' full base salary for the year, which would have been guaranteed if he was on the opening day roster, and hope he can take a few weeks to improve his conditioning. It's a good bet that several "vested" veterans, players with four or more seasons accrued toward the NFL pension plan, will be signed next week. Teams simply do not want to be on the hook for those players' full base salaries and, after opening day, the guarantee goes away. Look for the Tennessee Titans to add wide receiver Kevin Dyson, who began his career with the team, but was released by San Diego last week. Teams will also look at versatile defensive lineman Billy Lyon (Minnesota), tight end Mikhael Ricks (New York Jets), tailback Lamar Smith (New Orleans), safety Kwamie Lassiter (San Diego), and wide receiver Antonio Freeman (Miami), among others. The release of Freeman was somewhat surprising, in that Dolphins officials allowed he could still contribute as a slot receiver. Agent Joel Segal said that Freeman definitely wants to continue playing. "He was a little bit blindsided because, even after the Dolphins traded for Marty Booker, it looked like 'Free' would still be the 'slot' guy," Segal said. "He's still in great shape, even the Dolphins will tell you, and he can help somebody."

Punts: Nice move by Falcons vice president of football operations Ron Hill, who some people forget is still in the organization, early this week. The Falcons, who needed a tight end, were torn between putting in a waiver claim on Darnell Sanders of Cleveland or on Tennessee's Dwayne Blakley. So Hill suggested claiming both, figuring that Atlanta might get at least one of them. Instead, the Falcons were awarded both players, and that really upgraded their tight end corps and allowed veteran Eric Beverly to return to his natural position on the offensive line. … Contract extension talks with defensive end Shaun Ellis have stalled and so New York Jets officials have redirected their attention now to offensive tackle Kareem McKenzie, another of the club's pending high-profile unrestricted free agents next spring. … Bills officials are impressed with the speed in which journeyman quarterback Shane Matthews, signed less than two weeks ago after backups Travis Brown and J.P. Losman were both injured, had assimilated the Buffalo offense. … It now appears as if Minnesota tailback Onterrio Smith, who is facing a four-game suspension for a repeat violation of the NFL substance abuse policy, might get to play in the first two games of the season before his appeal is heard. That would be a real boon to the Vikings, who could get starter Michael Bennett back from injury shortly after that. … The Dolphins apparently had a suitor or two for quarterback Jay Fiedler during the offseason. They kept him instead and, of course, Fiedler bested A.J. Feeley for the starting job in Saturday's season opener.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.