When I first saw Miami coach Nick Saban attempt to toss the red challenge flag after TV replays appeared to show Pittsburgh tight end Heath Miller was out-of-bounds prior to scoring the game-winning touchdown, I thought he was concerned with style points. He looked tentative and unsure before tossing the flag on the field, nowhere near any official. Hence, no one saw the red flag.

"It looked to me like he wasn't or his coaches upstairs weren't totally sure that they should be challenging the call," Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio said Friday. "One time I must have thrown that thing 50 yards, right into the other team's huddle. That's what you have to do. Even when we had the buzzer system, I never used that. I always threw the flag and made sure the referee saw it. They allow you to leave the (sideline) box and run onto the field just to make sure."

That was basically what Mike Pereira, the league's head of officiating, said after Thursday night's botched instant replay challenge by Saban. The buzzer system went bye-bye two years ago.

Had the roles been reversed on Thursday night, everyone knows that Bill Cowher would have run onto the field and hit the referee with it.

It's impossible to say that the failed challenge cost Miami the game, but Saban's weak attempt helped every head coach in the league prepare for their next challenge. No one will make the same mistake this weekend when the remainder of the regular-season opens. The refs better duck.

Plenty of room

With the salary cap raised to $102 million this season, it was no surprise to see that most NFL teams have a lot of cap room heading into the season. In fact, 10 teams, lead by Jacksonville, have at least $8 million or more in salary-cap space. The Jaguars are $12.7 million under the cap.

New Orleans has $11 million, Arizona $10.5 million and Minnesota, Houston and New England each have $10.3 million. I guess that means that the Patriots could pay Deion Branch if they wanted to and still have plenty of room. It has to be worrisome to the NFL Players Association that teams like New England and Houston, two of the clubs worth more than $1 billion and both generating revenues among the top 10 in the league, would be keeping the cap money and not spending it.

The teams with the least amount of space are Miami ($550,452), Atlanta ($897,916) and Oakland ($1.127 million).

Turn, turn, turn

There has been a lot of turnover in the league the last couple of years. Green Bay is obviously rebuilding and retooling its roster. But the Philadelphia Eagles are considered a playoff contender, and they've had major turnover. Two years ago, the Eagles were in the Super Bowl. Well, since that game, the Eagles have only 22 of the 53 players who were in Jacksonville. They have only 13 of the 22 starters who played New England in that championship game.

Big savings

David Givens, who signed a big free-agent contract with the Tennessee Titans in the off-season, saved himself $20,000 this summer. How's that?

Well, Givens first offered Titans receiver Tyrone Calico $10,000 for his jersey No. 87. Calico said no, and Givens was forced to wear No. 89.

Later, Givens, who wore No. 87 in New England, offered Calico $20,000 for the number. Again, Calico said no.

But Givens will be wearing his customary No. 87 this Sunday against the New York Jets.

How's that? Givens got the number for free when Calico was cut by the Titans last weekend.

Good seats still available

We all know that the Minnesota Vikings have traded away their star power and it's starting to show at the ticket window. From the day they drafted Randy Moss, the Vikings have had 86 consecutive Metrodome sellouts. Well, the record is in danger this season.

The Vikings claim to have 1,000 tickets available for next Sunday's home opener against the Carolina Panthers. In fact, they have tickets available for all eight of their home games. To help sell those Carolina tickets, the Vikings have announced that Packer fans who want to purchase tickets to the Green Bay game in Minneapolis must also purchase Carolina tickets. How's that for ticket blackmail?

Minnesota's average ticket price is $71, the sixth-highest average in the league.