The dumbest coaching move is this: you're trying to protect a lead, time running out in the game, and it's 3rd down. Your opponent has two time outs left. Rather than allow the quarterback to snap the ball with two seconds left on the clock and take more time off the clock, you let the play clock run down to one second and use a timeout. You, coach have saved your opponent five seconds. Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt was the latest team leader to commit this blunder. Fortunately for Whisenhunt, Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception allowing the Cardinals to seal a 21-14 win over Pittsburgh.

One day, though, this move will cost a coach and a team a win.

Onward with an assessment of NFL teams after the first of a four quarter season....

How'd that QB change work for ya, Lovie Smith? Brian Griese goes 34-52, 286 with 2 TDs. It's too bad Griese also tossed three picks, two in the red zone which effectively blew the game for Chicago. I wonder if Rex Grossman thought at some point during the game, "Damn I could have done this." Detroit 37, Chicago 27.

Marty Schottemheimer is sitting somewhere laughing his head off. While Michael Smith made excuses for the San Diego Chargers, saying they lost to a division rival - Kansas City - that handed them one of their losses last year and isn't as bad as they look and blah blah blah, and I don't want to tell the truth because I might alienate my sources on either team, I'll tell you the truth.

The Chargers are a very undisciplined and fractured football team that believed the preseason hype and all the accolades they received from last season. Though no professional athlete handles losses well, LaDanian Tomlinson is showing that he's not even publicly the gracious guy everyone makes him out to be. Tomlinson showed as much after the playoff loss to New England that ended San Diego's season last year. This season after each of the Chargers' three losses, LaDanian looks like he's on the verge of snapping. Dude, get a grip on yourself and put on a good face for the cameras. Then walk into Norv Turner's office and demand that the team gets back to what it did last season, which was getting you the damn ball.

St. Louis is officially a horrible team. They started out okay against the Dallas Cowboys but just completely rolled over as the game wore on. Rams defense? Ack! No Stephen Jackson? Ack! Offensive line? Ack! The Rams will be lucky to win five games this season.

Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox is a few more crappy team performances away from losing his job at the end of the season. On paper, the Panthers are a playoff team, meanwhile, on the field they have holes on both sides of the ball that makes them look like a soft team. Opposing teams are not afraid of Carolina at all. Tampa Bay took the game right at them and ran the ball down Carolina's throats. When they committed a safety closer to the front seven, Jeff Garcia picked them apart with passes. And unless wideout Steve Smith switches positions to quarterback so that he can touch the ball every play, the Panthers will not improve offensively.

If the team plays remotely close to this for the next couple of games, they won't win seven games.

Atlanta beat a depleted Houston Texans team, 26-16 for their first win of the season. Atlanta isn't quite as bad as I thought they were - not based on the Houston game, but how they've accounted for themselves so far this season. They barely lost to both Jacksonville and Carolina after a poor opening day performance against Minnesota. It's just too bad they don't have more than five winnable games on their schedule.

Hail to Brett Favre, the new QB king. Fav-ray cab shooore play dat dere game, dat Fav-ray can. Really, Brett Favre is the best quarterback I have ever witnessed. Throughout his career he's played gunslinger, gotten himself together through an addiction to painkillers and led the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl win, made a fair-to-middling team much better than it was, suffered through the pains of off-field reality and didn't lose it any more than anyone else would have, watched the team he plays for revamp itself while choosing to play the game he loves rather than whine his way onto another team or out of the game, and now he's reinvented himself as a venerable graybeard leader.

Yes, Favre has had his ups and downs as a QB and more importantly as a human, but he's come out the other end of the tunnel. The young players on the Packers appear to actually look up to Favre as an example of how you can grow up to be a man despite all the temptations to remain a boy.

Hail to the king. And hail to the 4-0 Green Bay Packers. In a stadium - the Metrodome - that has been a house of horrors for Favre in the best of times, he reeled himself in and played a beautiful game and the Pack got a "W" against the Minnesota Vikings, 23-16. Green Bay is for real.

Somebody puhleeeeze attack Peyton Manning! Pleeeeeezzzze! Damn I'm sick of watching teams play scared against Indianapolis, or come out attacking and as soon as Manning hits a big play or two, go into a, 'pleas don't hurt us too badly Mr. Manning" shell. Attack Manning like he's any other top QB. Even if you don't win, down the road all the pounding will take it's toll on Peyton, just like any other player.

Obviously, he's well prepared. Obviously he's super-accurate with his passes. Obviously his receivers run precise, if not predictable pass routes. But the defense must try its darndest to dictate play to the Colts or play beta dog to Manning's alpha offense.

The Denver Broncos did one good thing to the Colts and that's run on their defense. However, it did not appear that Mike Shanahan made the proper adjustments at halftime, or perhaps he didn't have enough trust in Jay Cutler to switch to passing to set up the run instead of, as he did to open the game, run to set up the pass. Shanahan, for whatever reason, allowed the Colts defense to become comfortable. This gave Manning and crew the extra possessions it needed to ease away with a 38-20 win.

Good luck NFL.

Seattle looks very good, so far and San Francisco misses Norv Turner. Mike Nolan needn't worry, because if the Chargers keep going this season will mercifully bring to an end Turner's stint on the head coaching carousel and maybe he'll come back to the 49ers as their offensive coordinator, where he belongs.

In the next few weeks, Seattle needs to make sure they can effectively run the ball. As the weather changes the Seahawk offense will be bogged down just enough to need an efficient run game. I think Mike Holmgren can accomplish that goal, which means the NFC West will come down to Arizona and Seattle.

Oakland is in such a tough division that it will be tough for them to get to nine games and maybe sneak into the playoffs.

But.

Daunte Culpepper has something to prove and Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin has found a two-headed run game monster in Lamont Jordan and Justin Vargas. Culpepper has freed Jerry Porter and the rest of the Oakland receivers because they know the ball will be there, whether on deep or short pass patterns. Oakland's defense is very solid and, as the entire team gains more confidence in the offense, the defense will be even better.

Watch out for this team. If they get one AFC West signature win, they might just be the surprise of the NFL.

In a battle of the horribles, the New York Jets squandered away a sure win against the Buffalo Bills. Eric Womangini forgot he was playing against a rookie quarterback and forgot to come at Trent Edwards with myriad blitz packages. As a result, Edwards looked entirely too comfortable for a QB making his first start, and helped the Jets blow the game.

Buffalo stinks and so do the Jets. At least there's Miami to keep them from a battle for last place in the AFC East.

The Baltimore Ravens defense is beyond savvy; they're growing old before our eyes. Brian Billick is going to have to allow either Steve McNair or Kyle Boller to put some fear into opposing defenses. If he doesn't, we will witness the coming quick end to Ray Lewis and company. The defense is just under too much pressure to carry the team. I'm afraid they will struggle to get to nine wins.

What else did I see Sunday? Hmmm, Dallas is very, very good - the class of the NFC in quarter number one. Detroit is better than anyone expected; it's the revenge of Matt Millen. Tampa Bay has a serious defense and if the offensive line can keep Mr. Perma-Chip on My Shoulder, Jeff Garcia, afloat and upright, look for Chuckie's squad to return to the playoffs.

Minnesota is rudderless.

Pittsburgh's loss to Arizona showed Mike Tomlin exactly how much emotion must be maintained in the NFL to consistently win on the road. It also showed him that Troy Polomalu and Hines Ward are the two most important member of the Steelers team. Without them, that emotion needed to win on the road is sorely missing.

Maybe some of those young cats on Kansas City's defense grew up today.

Houston is not a deep team.

Philadelphia and the New York Giants are two teams in search of themselves. The Giants actually look closer than the Eagles do.

And no matter what happens in the New England-Cincinnati game, the Patriots, with Indianapolis, are the class of the NFL. And the Bengals need to, from here on out, forget all antics - yes, that means you Chad Johnson - and just play football for awhile. I single out Johnson because he has the potential to be the true leader of the Bengals team, ala Michael Irvin and the Dallas Cowboys. That means no more props, no more planned sideline celebrations, just bring your emotion and play the game.

It isn't that I dislike what you do, I laugh, too. However, not everybody can play at the level you do and still entertain the world. I have a hunch that you teammates will listen to you more than anyone else in the locker room and if you bring natural rather than planned celebrations to games and tell the other 52 fellas that it will take total concentration and togetherness to win, the Bengals will transform themselves into one of the best teams in the league.

That's all, Chad.

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Well, that's it's for the first quarter of the NFL season. Quarter two is separation time. It should be interesting.

addendum: I have to gloat a little, here. Everybody is suddenly - today - comparing Romo to Favre. I made that observation a week ago. You could see it last season, though Romo was getting dumped on for his arm angle and release point (and still is by Skip Bayless, which shows you how much he knows about the game) but he was trying too hard to play the way he knows how in a system not built for him and the talent around him.

Now that Wade Phillips tapped Jason Garrett, one of the bright offensive minds in the NFL, to take the shackles off the talent and attack defenses, Romo looks so Favre-like it's scary. He's inventive, fearless, and he has fun playing the game.

Okay, enough for tooting my own horn.... I'm sure there's something I've written about some player or team that will be turn out to be totally wrong in the coming weeks.