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EDWARDS SLUMPS: Browns receiver Braylon Edwards made the Pro Bowl last year with 80 catches for 1,289 yards and 16 TDs. But so far, Edwards has more drops (6) than catches (5).

EDWARDS RED HOT: Bills second-year quarterback Trent Edwards is 7-4 as a starter, including 2-0 this year.

MOSS TO SEE ACTION: The Broncos will finally use former first-round pick Jarvis Moss at defensive end on Sunday against the Saints. He’d been inactive the first two games.

SHANAHAN BULLISH ON HIS OFFENSE: Mike Shanahan on the Broncos’ offense, which leads the league with 80 points after two weeks: “We’ve got a chance to be as good as anybody. We’ve got a chance to be the best in the league.” Uh, Mike, you think you want to wait until at least, like, October to say something like that?

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE CHIEFS … SORT OF: On Sunday, it will be exactly 11 months since they won a regular season game. 11 months! They beat the Raiders 12-10 on Oct. 21, 2007 in Oakland. Last week’s 23-8 loss to the Raiders was their 11th straight.

EDWARDS STRUGGLES AGAIN: The Chiefs are 0-2 for the third straight year under Herman Edwards.

MCNABB STILL TURNOVER-FREE: Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb has thrown just one interception in his last 219 attempts dating back to last season. He’s now ahead of former Steelers, Jets and Titans QB Neil O’Donnell for the lowest career interception percentage in NFL history. McNabb is at 2.08; O’Donnell finished at 2.09.

GONZO ON THE RISE: Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzales needs 85 yards to surpass Shannon Sharpe (10,060) as the NFL’s all-time leading tight end in receiving yardage …

GREATEST JOB TITLE EVER? The Redskins have announced that former Pro Bowl defensive end Ken Harvey has been appointed Director of Responsibility, and will be an advisor in the development of responsibility initiatives focused on education and advocacy. (If someone can please translate that, let us know what you come up with.

All kidding aside, Harvey has a pretty tall task ahead of him.

“After playing in the league for many years, I believe I have an excellent read on the demands players face on a daily basis from teammates, management, friends, family and business associates,” Harvey said. “I think young people can benefit from that experience, especially young athletes.”

Harvey will take a lead role in the Redskins Charitable Foundation’s “Fourth and Life” program, which brings graduating high school football players to an annual day-long event at FedExField each spring. Redskins players are on hand to discuss social responsibility and how they prepare themselves for life after football. Harvey will also be involved in the foundation’s “Coaches in the Classroom” program, which funds academic “coaches” to support high school athletes in area schools.

Harvey played with the Redskins from 1994-98, and was a first-round pick of Arizona in 1988.

WALKER A STUD IN BUFFALO: One reason for Trent Edwards’ success in Buffalo is the blocking of right tackle Langston Walker, whose $5 million-a-year contract raised eyebrows when Buffalo signed him away from the Raiders last year. But he allowed just two sacks in 2007 and has alternated between left tackle and right tackle in the absence of Jason Peters, who only recently returned from a contract holdout. Walker faces his old Raiders team on Sunday.

TRASH TALK IN TENNESSEE: Matt Schaub is hoping things turn out differently this time against the Titans. The Texans quarterback started twice against the Titans last year, but didn’t finish either game because of injuries.

Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who laid a huge lick on Schaub in the second meeting last season, ripped Schaub after the first game. “I think [Schaub] is just scared of us. Maybe next year he won't play against us, he'll just sit that game out.”

Ouch.

Haynesworth was back at it this week in advance of the game. Asked by reporters if Schaub should be nervous about facing Tennessee, Haynesworth said: “I would be, honestly. A team that is as physical as we are and know that we go after the quarterback, he'd have to think about it.”

Schaub’s response? “It's just his personality. That's the way this game is. It's intense and you have some fierce rivalries. It's just people being people and competitors competing. Guys handle things differently. We're going to let our play talk. We're not going to get into all that stuff.”

MACK THE KNUCKLEHEAD: Evidently, Elbert Mack didn’t get the memo. You know, the one that said you’re not supposed to go out and injure your fellow players. Mack was suspended without pay for a game after his second flagrant violation of player safety rules. He launched himself at Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and made helmet-to-helmet contact.

It was the second time in three weeks that Mack was disciplined for whacking a quarterback. He was fined $5,000 for unnecessary roughness against Texans quarterback Alex Brink in the Bucs’ final preseason game against the Texans.

COMEBACK CENTRAL: Week 2 saw eight teams overcome fourth-quarter deficits to win. That was the third most comeback wins on a single weekend. Week 5 of the 1990 season and Week 2 of the 1997 season both featured nine fourth-quarter comebacks.

CAN’T WIN FOR LOSING: As if Rams coach Scott Linehan doesn’t have enough on his mind, he wound up providing bulletin board material for this week’s opponents. Linehan, who is on the hot seat after a dreadful 0-2 start, said of facing the Seahawks on the road: “In my mind we're going to beat Seattle,” Linehan said. “I’m not making any guarantees. You can call it what it is. But in my mind, we’re going to beat Seattle and we're going to right this ship.”

Memo to Linehan: You might want to keep comments like that to yourself.

In a conference call with Rams beat reporters Wednesday, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said Linehan’s quote was already posted on a bulletin board in the Seahawks’ locker room. And when Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, who is also struggling at 0-2, was asked about it, he said. “I think every coach has a certain confidence level. More often than not, they don’t talk about it publicly.”

Holmgren paused a moment, then added, “I’ll probably mention that.”

The feeling here is that Linehan will be fired later this month if he loses at Seattle and then again at home to Buffalo. The Rams have a bye week after playing the Bills.

ACTION JACKSON: Eagles rookie receiver DeSean Jackson has made quite an entrance to the NFL. He became just the second player in NFL history to start his career with two 100-yard receiving games. But he also incurred the wrath of his coaches and teammates when he hot-dogged it after a long catch against the Cowboys. After heading for what appeared to be a sure touchdown, he celebrated prematurely and tossed the ball away before crossing the goal line. The Eagles wound up scoring on Brian Westbrook’s one-yard run, but Andy Reid told Jackson in no uncertain terms he can’t do that again. So did his teammates. “We told him you can’t afford those kinds of mistakes,” Westbrook said. “I think he understands that, and I think that’s something he will grow from and get better from.’’ Jackson can become the first player in NFL history to start off with three straight 100-yard games.

STILL HOPE AT 0-2? With 10 teams off to 0-2 starts, things certainly look bleak. But bouncing back is not impossible. Consider: Since 1990, 19 teams that started off 0-2 still reached the playoffs, including last year’s Super Bowl champion Giants. (graph)
That said, you can eliminate half of this year’s 0-2 teams from playoff consideration, even if it’s still mathematically possible. Realistically, the Lions, Rams, Bengals, Chiefs and Dolphins. The teams we still think can get something done the rest of the way: Minnesota, Seattle, Jacksonville, San Diego and Cleveland.

QUARTERBACK QUANDARY: The Chiefs will be starting their third different quarterback in three games, an NFL rarity. It’s only happened three other times in NFL history (1976 Rams, 1988 Browns and 1997 Jaguars). Up next for the Chiefs after Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard: second-year pro Tyler Thigpen.

And get this: The last time a quarterback drafted by the Chiefs won a game for Kansas City was on opening day in 1987, when Todd Blackledge, drafted in the first round in 1983, was the starter. That is a mind-numbing statistic that underscores just how desperate the Chiefs are to find a winner. Other winning quarterbacks in Chiefs history were acquired via trade (Joe Montana, Trent Green and Steve DeBerg), or as free agents (Len Dawson, Bill Kenney, Dave Krieg, Rich Gannon, Elvis Grbac, Steve Bono).

Comments (1)

The Director of Responsibility can't possibly be successful for the simple reason that it's a well known fact that the Responsibility gene (along with the genes for Common Sense and Self Discipline) is on the X chromosome, and in order to effectively demonstrate as well as adjudicate Responsibility on a consistent basis, one needs to have TWO copies of the gene.

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