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Life without Chucky? Good so far for Raiders

It's too early to tell whether coach Jon Gruden is worth all of the cash and high draft picks the Bucs gave up to get him from Oakland. But this much is clear: The Raiders are doing fine without him.

Oakland (3-0) blew out its third consecutive opponent (52-25 over the Titans) and has outscored the opposition 113-59, including four non-offensive touchdowns. It is the league's highest-scoring team (37.7 points a game) and most pundits' new No. 1 squad.

Less than six minutes into Sunday's game it led the Titans 21-0 even though Oakland's offense had run one play.

"It's really hard to create any kind of flow when you don't really get off the bench in the first quarter," grumbled tackle Lincoln Kennedy.

But before anyone starts nominating Bill Callahan for coach of the year, check out the Raiders' schedule. Their next seven games are at Buffalo, at St. Louis, San Diego, at Kansas City, San Francisco, at Denver and New England.

Maybe after that stretch, they'll wish they had Gruden back.

HONEST, THEY HAVE IT ON TAPE: Give props to safety Lee Flowers, who promised in an ESPN interview before Sunday's game that the Steelers would beat the Browns. In fact, Flowers jokingly offered to bet his $1.6-million house on it.

NEXT TIME, TAKE A KNEE: The bonehead award of the week has to go to the Giants for trying that sideline pass with 14 seconds left in the first half when they led the Cardinals 7-0.

The pass, from the Giants 32, was picked off and returned for a touchdown, ultimately leading to the Giants' loss.

"I will never in my life ever take a chance to try to be aggressive again," coach Jim Fassel said.

SPEAKING OF BONEHEADS . . .: The runner-up award goes to the Panthers for not putting more effort into finding a better kicker than Shayne Graham, who missed a tying 24-yard field goal in the final seconds against the Packers.

The Panthers found this guy at his house in Dublin, Va., on Friday. They brought him in Saturday, when he practiced briefly with the kicking team.

"I have no idea right now what the coaches are thinking and if I'm going to be given another call in the morning to turn in my playbook," Graham said.

CLINGING TO FAINT HOPES: The Rams have big problems, especially with quarterback Kurt Warner out 8-10 weeks with that broken pinkie finger on his throwing hand and a road game against the rival 49ers up next. But all is not lost. The Rams can find hope in the fact that the 1992 Chargers started 0-4 and made the playoffs.

IS RICKY WILLIAMS LISTENING?: It's no secret how to attack the Patriots, who play at Miami on Sunday. The Patriots gave up 217 yards to Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson last weekend and 180 yards to Priest Holmes the weekend before.

AT LEAST THEY ARE CREATIVE: Poor Cleveland. One week the Browns lose a game they had in the bag when a player removed his helmet on the last play, drawing a penalty that allowed the Chiefs to kick a winning field goal. Then Sunday the Browns lose thanks in large part to a weird rule that allowed the Steelers another chance at a field goal after the first one was blocked.

"I've learned a lot about this league in four games," Browns rookie linebacker Andra Davis said.

NEW LOOKS?: Sunday may have signaled the dawn of new eras for two quarterbacks.

It looks as if Tommy Maddox, who rallied Pittsburgh from a 13-6 deficit late in the fourth quarter, is going to guide the Steelers instead of Kordell Stewart, who was benched against the Browns. And don't be surprised if Vinny Testaverde develops the slowest healing shoulder bruise in history.

With the 38-year-old Testaverde ailing, the Jets (1-3) see it as the perfect time to give Chad Pennington his shot. Testaverde is expected to be healthy by Sunday, but the Jets will keep him on the sideline in order to get a better look at Pennington.

Testaverde, 0-for-4 when he left Sunday's game, is 53-for-82 for 485 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Pennington is 26-for-47 for 352 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.

"I thought about it all last night and this morning and that is the direction we need to head in: Chad is the starting quarterback," coach Herman Edwards said.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Panthers linebacker Mark Fields, talking about the team's missed field goal with 16 seconds left that would have tied the score at Lambeau Field: "Who knows? Maybe (legendary coach Vince) Lombardi came up somewhere and kicked the ball off to the side."

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

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