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Just look at who's 2-0 and who's 0-2

These are strange times we live in. Two weeks into the season and the league is standing on its head -- the unexpected the norm, the predictable the unpredictable.

Except when it comes to the Bengals and Lions, who at 0-2 are right where everybody figured they would be.

But who thought the Rams would open 0-2? Or the Steelers would too? Or, for that matter, Carolina would be 2-0 with 36-year-old Rodney Peete at quarterback?

This is parity at its best. In Week 3, the 0-2 Vikings are favored to beat the undefeated Panthers. And the winless Rams are the pick over the 1-1 Bucs at Raymond James Stadium.

Go figure.

This is what we can tell so far: The Broncos (2-0), Bills (1-1), Chargers (2-0) and Saints (2-0) may be much better than we thought. The Bears (2-0) still are playing with the same rabbit's foot in their pockets that they had last season.

And the Patriots deserve far more respect around the league. Frankly, they look as good a bet as any to get to the Super Bowl. Again.

TRIVIA QUESTION: The Chargers have given up the fewest points (nine) through Week 2. Which team has allowed the second fewest?

MILESTONE: Colts running back Edgerrin James' 138-yard rushing effort Sunday against the Dolphins was his 25th 100-yarder in 40 career games, a league record. Former Oilers star Earl Campbell held the mark with 25 in 41 games. James also broke Eric Dickerson's club record with his 25th career 100-yard game.

TEMPER, TEMPER: Coach Marty Mornhinweg apparently is feeling the heat in Detroit after losing to Carolina. After the game, Mornhinweg gave a brief statement then stormed off without answering questions from reporters.

It was the Lions' 10th straight road loss dating to last season.

TRUE STORY: Sunday against the Browns, Bengals running back Corey Dillon had to come out of the game momentarily because his pants were too tight and were cutting circulation in his legs, causing them to cramp.

AND YOU THOUGHT YOUR BOSS WAS BAD: Steelers special-teams coach Kevin Spencer, who held the same position with the Raiders in the mid 1990s, said Raiders owner Al Davis is demanding. He called Davis the most committed man he has ever met and said it wasn't unusual to get phone calls from Davis in the middle of the night about his football decisions. "If you stayed with your reasoning, it had better work on Sunday," Spencer said.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: This one comes from Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck, discussing the ramifications of his team's loss to the Cowboys: "They were embarrassed last week losing to an expansion team (Houston). Now we're embarrassed because we lost to the team that lost to an expansion team. I guess ESPN will be all over our (butt) this week."

JUST ASKING: Did you see Arizona running back Thomas Jones had a career-high 173 yards Sunday against Seattle? Considering Michael Pittman hasn't come close to getting 100 yards in a game, did the Bucs get the wrong running back in free agency?

DID YOU KNOW?: The Bengals are 0-2 for the third time in the past four seasons.

INTERCEPTING VICTORY: The Colts-Dolphins game came down to the final play, but the Colts should have known just before the half that they weren't going to win. That was about the time quarterback Peyton Manning threw his third interception. The Colts are 0-8 when he has three interceptions.

TRIVIA ANSWER: The Panthers, with 14 points allowed.

-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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