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Kurt Warner kept fumbling, throwing interceptions and making odd decisions against the Giants, looking pitifully different from the MVP quarterback who terrorized NFL defenses.
He had a concussion. Coaches and team doctors had not detected the malady. It's brain shock. An injury caused by blows to the head. Football guys, hockey players and others in combative endeavors have suffered effects for generations.
Nasty shots to noggins cut short the QB careers of Steve Young and Troy Aikman. Head traumas can wobble, maim and even kill. Troubles can be far less clear than with a bum knee, separated shoulder or turf toe.
Medical knowledge about concussions is less than precise. Diagnosis can be tricky. Doctors need to know more about what occurs when a linebacker slams into a running back, causing wooziness or worse.
Something is being done.
Medical and engineering researchers at Virginia Tech are in the eighth month of studying effects of power smacks to the head. At every Hokies football practice and during home games of the fifth-ranked program, eight players wear helmets with sensors that provide information to computers on bangs both large and small.
"Hopefully, we can derive a pure injury tolerance that will allow a more accurate helmet design," said Dr. Stefan Duma, director of the university's Center for Injury Biomechanics. "Results so far are extremely complicated, and it is too early to make determinations. We are most hopeful."
So far, no players wearing sensor helmets have sustained concussions.
"Hits are measured on a G-scale," Tech trainer Mike Goforth said. "If there is a concussion, we want to know if it was one huge blow of 120-130 Gs or if it was a half-dozen smaller hits in the range of 6-7 Gs that caused the concussion.
"So far, with no concussions yet recorded, we've had sensors record around 100 Gs."
Studies are being funded by the National Institutes for Health as well as Simbex, a New Hampshire firm involved in searching for products that can better protect the head in athletics, car crashes and other endeavors.
We all should cheer.
VOICE OVERS: How about us, the media, scrubbing the cheap religious humor when mentioning Kansas City Chiefs tailback Priest Holmes or Nebraska quarterback Jammal Lord? ... Good for Sean Salisbury, the old quarterback who blabs for ESPN, accepting "there's no such thing as giving 110 percent. If you give 100, that's as high as it can be." ... Pat Haden, a Rhodes Scholar who also happened to be a terrific Southern California quarterback, showed a sharp sportscasting noodle on a Notre Dame telecast, saying the Irish have a "dialup offense when they badly need broadband."
FRIED SEA-BASS: In the beginning, Sebastian Janikowski was such a charming story. A family in Florida befriended the gifted soccer kid from Poland, introducing him to football, creating an opportunity for education, fame and wealth.
Janikowski went to Florida State, becoming the left-footed thunder in Bobby Bowden's renowned football shop. Janikowski had discipline deficiencies, plus a fondness for vodka, leading to a series of Tallahassee barroom skirmishes. He was acquitted on charges involving attempted police bribery and using a date-rape drug.
At 25, he still dares fate.
In his fourth season with the Oakland Raiders, known to northern Californians as "Sea-Bass," making a million dollars a year without having to get any real dirt on his silver and black uniform, Janikowski continues to behave immaturely.
Latest of the Janikowski antics was, according to Walnut Creek, Calif., police reports, getting into a bar tumble in the spiffy suburban town. Witnesses say Janikowski was taunted. But he reacted. Isn't he smart enough to understand there is a bull's-eye on him? Celebrities often get such teases, especially those known to erupt. When will the 255-pound athlete learn to turn away?
Janikowski always is getting off light. Amassing probations. He did pay a $1,292 fine to settle a drunken driving case that occurred Christmas Eve. His wrists must be crimson from all the slaps.
If the legal system is soft on Janikowski, is it not apropos for his NFL bosses to sting the punk placekicker? Oakland's team doesn't need this, especially now. After a Super Bowl embarrassment, a wretched summer and a 1-2 start to the season, including Monday night's crash in Denver, the Raiders could maybe use a sobering smack of discipline.
Worse yet, if something doesn't get Janikowski's attention, steering him away from saloon stupidity, how long before he gets himself - or others - killed?
Whatever happened to Al Oerter