By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
Published October 9, 2005
Over the past five seasons, at least one team with a losing record through four weeks of the season has finished as a division champion. One, the 2001 Patriots, won the Super Bowl. The streak will reach six straight, thanks to the sorry NFC North, which is led by the 1-2 Bears:
STAT OF THE WEEK
Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers has made all 16 field-goal attempts this year, an NFL record for the first four games of the season.
BOUNCE-BACK CHAMPS
New England, coming off a humiliating home loss to the Chargers, has not lost consecutive games since 2002. Quarterback Tom Brady is 5-0 after a loss with eight touchdowns, one interceptions and an average passer rating of 100.4. Also, he's 8-0 in domes heading into today's game at the Georgia Dome. "Are we proud that we're 2-2? No," Brady said. "But we've got 12 more games. That's a lot of football. We won't be throwing in the towel, I can promise you that."
STAR BEHAVIOR
In seven games against the Cowboys, receiver Terrell Owens has 34 catches for 487 yards and seven touchdowns, plus many exciting moments. In 2000, Owens celebrated scoring a touchdowns by running to midfield at Texas Stadium and posing on the star. Later in the game, when he attempted a repeat performance, he was blindsided by George Teague. Last season, Roy Williams horse-collared Owens, breaking his leg and sidelining him until the Super Bowl.
HOMECOMING GAME
Washington running back Clinton Portis returns to Denver today to face his former team for the first time since being traded in March of 2004. It marks the 12th time in history a player who rushed for 1,500 yards for a team will play against that team. Portis rushed for more than 1,500 yards in each of his first two seasons with the Broncos. Among the others to do so, Eric Dickerson had the most success - 116 yards for the Colts against the Rams in 1989 - and Emmitt Smith the least - minus-1 yard for the Cardinals against the Cowboys in 2003.
THAT'S QUITE A TIP
When Adam "Pacman" Jones finally joined the Titans in late August, players and coaches said the No. 6 overall pick would have to pay a lot of dues to overcome ill will caused by his lengthy holdout.
Is $14,240.15 enough?
Following precedent set by the team's previous first-round picks, Jones picked up the dinner bill for most of the defense at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Nashville last month.
"I thought it was going to be like $3,000," Jones said. "I was like, "Wow.' I think they kind of knew though, because everybody was smirking when the dude brought the tab out."
NUMBERS GAME
San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith, who makes his first start today against the Colts, wears No. 11, which is fitting because the past five No. 1 overall picks have chosen jersey numbers in ascending order.
2001 Michael Vick No. 7
2002 David Carr No. 8
2003 Carson Palmer No. 9
2004 Eli Manning No. 10
Smith wore No. 7 in high school to honor his favorite player, John Elway, but it wasn't available when he got to Utah. By the time No. 7 was free, people identified him with No. 11, so he stuck with it.
"I want to create my own way in the NFL, not take a number that was associated with another player," Smith said. "I want the number 11 to remind people of Alex Smith."
- information from the Arizona Republic, Boston Globe, Contra Costa Times, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Nashville Tennessean was used in this report.
