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For Steelers, season began in Week 3

The first two weeks of the season took place. Honest. Just don't expect the Steelers to remember them.

After their fourth win in five games, the Steelers are trying to make everyone forget the opening two weeks when they were pushed around by the Patriots (30-14) and Raiders (30-17).

Not only have they won three straight, but they are doing it impressively, outscoring opponents 93-35 during that span. And they are doing it with NFL castoff Tommy Maddox as the starting quarterback.

Now the Steelers are looking like the Super Bowl contenders they were expected to be all along. They are first in the AFC North and have a chance to distance themselves from the second-place Browns (4-4) when they travel to Cleveland on Sunday.

"This is the best we could have been right now," cornerback Dewayne Washington said. "The confidence is up on the team; the morale is up. It's going to be tough to beat us."

THE NEW PAPER CHAMPIONS?: The Panthers, Patriots and Bears are on a downward spiral, but no team's slide is more shocking than the Raiders'.

They've lost three straight and look nothing like the team that dominated the league at the start. A big problem is red-zone scoring. The Raiders piled up 26 first downs and 417 yards, but scored one touchdown in losing to the Chiefs.

"Down in that area, we're not generating points," Raiders coach Bill Callahan said. "And that's a concern."

At 4-3, the Raiders say getting their next win seems more and more difficult.

"That fifth win is just kicking our (tails)," guard Frank Middleton said. "If we can ever get past five wins, I feel we can probably do something."

WHAT ABOUT A GIFT CERTIFICATE?: What do you give someone who just became the league's all-time leading rusher? How about a new Lamborghini?

Emmitt Smith's wife, Pat, surprised the Cowboys star with a blue one after Smith broke Walter Payton's all-time mark Sunday. The car was waiting outside Texas Stadium to take the couple home after the game.

ONLY THE LONELY: Things just keeping going from bad to worse for the Bengals, who are finding new ways to agonize their fans.

Instead of getting blown out as they did regularly at the start of the season, the Bengals got everyone's hopes up Sunday by taking a 14-0 lead against the Titans, only to lose 30-24 after bungling a fourth-and-goal run from the Titans 1 in the final minutes.

Afterward, though, Bengals coach Dick LeBeau seemingly offered the proverbial guarantee for Sunday's game against the expansion Texans.

"We had every opportunity to win, and next week we will win," he said.

Of course, that was before the Texans beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville.

YOU NEVER KNOW: Sunday was a day for backup quarterbacks. Eleven saw action as starters or relievers. The Ravens' Jeff Blake, replacing injured starter Chris Redman, perhaps had the best performance, going 29-for-50 for 298 yards and a touchdown, but also had three interceptions in a losing effort.

STILL GOING FOR THE RECORD: Smith broke Payton's rushing record but he's still short of another Payton milestone: career 100-yard games. Smith has 75, two shy of Payton's record.

NO, THROW IT TO ME!: Don't look now, but there are indications that Raider star receivers Jerry Rice and Tim Brown aren't all that chummy these days. Nothing like a three-game slide to bring out the ugliness, even in future Hall of Famers.

Brown and Rice have subtly complained about not getting enough balls thrown their way, the implication being the other guy is getting too many.

Brown vented publicly last week and finished with 13 catches for 144 yards Sunday against the Chiefs. Afterward, Rice whined about not being in a rhythm after catching five passes for 45 yards, plus a crucial fumble.

Quarterback Rich Gannon didn't want to hear anything about his receivers not getting enough catches.

"We threw it 55 times today. There's plenty of throws out there for everybody," he said. "So, I'm not going to get into who gets the ball."

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

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