Although the Bucs keep insisting that quarterback Chris Simms probably ruptured his spleen in the second half, most NFL observers believe Simms was injured in the first quarter when sandwiched by the Panthers' defensive tackle Kris Jenkins and linebacker Thomas Davis.

Simms, who had his spleen removed Sunday night, hasn't said when he thought he was injured. The Bucs have been making a case against the Panthers' Al Wallace, who has been upset over the accusation that his fourth-quarter tackle caused the injury. The NFL has fined Wallace $7,500 after revealing that he should have been penalized for roughing the passer on the play in question.

Panthers GM Marty Hurney said that his team left Tampa without knowing the severity of the injury.

"The only thing I know," Hurney said, "is that no one will ever again accuse Simms of not being tough. That was a courageous performance against us. You could tell how much he was hurting."

Wallace thought he sacked Simms on the bootleg pass. "He had fooled me earlier on that play, but this time I read it right," Wallace said. "I thought I sacked him until I heard the crowd noise." Simms completed a pass to Mike Alstott on the play.

Jenkins said that Simms started holding his side after his first quarter tackle.

"I don't know if that was the play or not," Jenkins said. "I just know he started holding his side a lot in the first quarter. To score a touchdown like he did and play almost the entire game, well, that shows a lot of guts on his part especially if he got hurt early in the game."

The Bucs sound like they are going to become the 11th NFL team to have only two healthy quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. Rookie Bruce Gradkowski will get his first start next week in New Orleans and the team expects Luke McNown (torn ACL last spring) to be activated from the physically unable to perform list on Oct. 17. Tim Rattay is the backup. The Bucs have a bye this week and haven't placed Simms on injured-reserve. They have only two games (Saints and Bengals) before McCown returns.

The bigger question in Tampa is whether or not the team will offer Simms a long-term contract or if he's possibly played his last game for the Bucs. If Tampa Bay continues to lose and slip out of playoff contention, why would Simms even consider playing in December when he's possibly cleared to play again?

Home, sweet home

When he was a teenager, Jacksonville quarterback Byron Leftwich used to sneak into old RFK Stadium to watch the Redskins. This Sunday's game in Washington will be Leftwich's first in his hometown.

"I knew the man who took tickets at one of the gates," Leftwich said this week. "He told me that if I ran past him, there was no way he could catch me. And so I ran."

Leftwich is mindful that he's going against Mark Brunell, who is still a favorite with some fans in Jacksonville. It was Leftwich's arrival and club's unwillingness to assume a huge Brunell contract that led to him landing in Washington.

"I know if I lose this game," Leftwich said, "those Brunell fans will let me hear it."

Getting ugly

The situation in Tennessee is getting somewhat ugly for respected head coach Jeff Fisher. There is now a FireCoachFisher.com site where you can visit and purchase a T-shirt asking owner Bud Adams to do exactly that.

The Titans are off to an 0-3 start and rookie Vince Young is probably a few games away from starting. Adams, to his credit, installed chief operating officer Steve Underwood in Nashville, to serve as a middle man between Fisher and GM Floyd Reese. Many believe that Underwood has Fisher's back on most issues.

Reese is in the final year of his contract and the speculation persists that despite a potentially horrible final record on the field this season that Fisher will return and Reese will not.

'GM didn't want me'

Saints quarterback Drew Brees finally said this week that the only reason he's not playing in San Diego this season is because Chargers GM A.J. Smith didn't want him.

"He's the guy who drafted Phillip (Rivers) and my shoulder injury gave him the excuse to play Phillip this season," Brees said. "I think Marty Schottenheimer and a lot of players wanted me to stay there, but the general manager didn't want that."

Brees said he's happy to be in New Orleans, but had once figured that he would finish his career in San Diego.

Warner's future in doubt

The good news in Arizona is that Brenda Warner hasn't made any phone calls to the local radio talk shows. But there's no question that her husband, Kurt, is dangling in the wind.

Only in the NFL can a quarterback go from being Player of the Week (Warner was after a victory over San Francisco) to being booed by the home crowd after a costly fourth-quarter fumble cost the Cardinals an opportunity to beat his old team, the Rams, last Sunday.

Warner will start Sunday in Atlanta against the Falcons. He's 6-0 vs. Atlanta.

But it seems certain that head coach Denny Green will start rookie Matt Leinart next week against Kansas City if Warner continues his turnover streak (six in the last two games) against the Falcons.

Happy Hasselbeck

There is no doubt that Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck loves his new four-receiver formation. After using it 10 times in the first two games, coach Mike Holmgren used it 24 times last Sunday against the Giants.

"Most of the places I look with that formation, we have mismatches," Hasselbeck said. "Sometimes it's in two or more spots and that makes my job that much easier.

The key Sunday night in Chicago will be whether or not the Bears can rattle Hasselbeck before he finds an open receiver.

Points about penalties

Well, there were 78 false start penalties called last weekend and for the season the total count is 171, by far and away the league's No. 1 penalty. Offensive holding is a distant second at 116. Mike Carey's crew has called the most penalties after three weeks, 20.7 penalties per game. The fewest? Walt Coleman's crew has called only nine penalties per game followed closely by Ron Winter's crew at 9.7. They are the only crews under double digits.