As The Ball Bounces: Week 4

Bob George

Oct 3, 2007 at 3:00am ET

Don Cockroft was the next great Browns kicker after Lou Groza. He took over for Groza in 1968 and did not leave Cleveland until 1980. In between, Cockroft provided some very steady kicking for the Browns in his 13 seasons. He booted a 57-yarder in 1972, made all of his 45 conversions in 1969, and in 1972 hit on 22 of 27 field goal attempts. He was also the punter for the Browns during the same span, leading the league in net average in 1970 and in punting yardage in 1972. He steps into one, straight on, and it sails end over end to the seven-yard line.

Scott Linehan needs some anger therapy, and soon.

Give Trent Edwards just a little more time before you anoint him as the next Tony Romo.

Maybe Lovie Smith should give Jim McMahon a call and see what shape he's in. Any shape would be better than what Da Bears have right now.

Oh, and give poor Lovie some loves. Who was that birdbrained reporter who suggested that Smith bring in a consultant? Just get them a quarterback.

Let's see what momentum Arizona can generate from that nice win at home against Pittsburgh.

Brett Favre: "I'm no Dan Marino!" That be true. Favre has a ring, Dan-o doesn't.

Buffalo knocking off the Jets means the Patriots already have a three-game lead in the AFC East. Someone needs to look up the earliest division clinching in NFL history.

Please, David Carr, don't spit the bit in Carolina. Show them what you got. No more stinkers like Sunday.

Geek of the week: "I guarantee we will beat the Raiders!" Shut up, Joey Porter. By the way, he also hails from the same city which plays home to Carr, Stephen Neal, and Yours Truly. Porter's the one we talk about the least.

Ty Law and Bill Belichick dance pretty bad, but not as bad as Kevin "Evolution of Dance" Youkilis and Jonathan "Riverdance" Papelbon.

By the way, good luck, Fenway lads. Bring it home again.

What are you supposed to do if you try to stop Peyton Manning and find out you cannot stop Joseph Addai?

Or (gulp) Kenton Keith?

Man, does San Diego want Marty Schottenheimer back, or what? One Charger fan told me that "14-2 and no Super Bowl beats what's happening right now!" Too bad the Bolts can't get a coach who can win in both the regular and postseason.

It sure is looking like Norv Turner should never be anything more than an offensive coordinator.

Daunte Culpepper sticks it to Miami. That was sweet.

Listening to Brian Billick after losing to Cleveland makes one think of a kid breaking a window right in front of his father: "Um, well, I guess…er…uh…I mean…" That pretty much sums up that loss succinctly.

Patriot Nation will soon find out how really good Tony Romo is. It's sort of like temporarily being in the state of Missouri, in that he'll simply have to show me.

Back to school: We could have done without all those penalties, UMass. At least lose with dignity. I mean, these BC Eagles are ranked nationally. This wasn't like losing to Appalachian State - whoops, forgot about Michigan.

Back to school II: Hope Charlie Weis has some thick skin. Coaching in South Bend, Indiana is not for the meek.

Net points can be wacky. Detroit is 3-1 but is -7 in net points. On the other hand, Minnesota is 1-3 and is +8.

How much entitlement does 0-4 Miami feel now?

Ouch. Donovan McNabb was sacked 12 times by the Giants, tieing a league record. Wonder if he began to feel as squeamish as he felt in the closing moments of Super Bowl XXXIX?

And who lead the way with six sacks? Michael somebody? Heck no! The immortal Osi Umenyiora, that's who. And you thought it was hard to spell Houshmandzadeh.

Anyone who tries to legislate those quick timeouts to try and throw kickers off are for the birds. Two problems with this: What if the special teams coach sees too many (or too few) men on the field at that moment? And, what if, after the timeout, the guy misses the field goal, then hits the second? Especially if the latter happens someday, you will never hear one peep regarding this subject anymore.

Tit for tat: After showing up David Carr, Matt Schaub couldn't turn the trick against his old chums in Atlanta.

Which also begs the question: Has Joey Harrington finally found his niche?

Remember him: Tom Brady is not the best quarterback in NFL history. Neither is Joe Montana. Otto Graham is. Let's begin with the old AAFC (All-America Football Conference), which begat the Browns, Colts and 49ers. The league existed from 1946 to 1949. Graham came into the league as a rookie out of Northwestern in 1946 for that inaugural AAFC season. Four AAFC seasons, and the Cleveland Browns won all four league titles. In 1950, the Browns joined the NFL along with the other two aforementioned teams. Picking up right where he left off, he led the Browns to the NFL Championship Game in all six of his NFL seasons, winning titles in 1950 and 1955. Oh, and none of those titles were won with Jim Brown, the greatest running back in history, as he would not join the Browns until 1957. Every year of his career, he played in his league title game. Graham retired after winning the 1955 title, cementing his legacy as the greatest champion the NFL has ever known.

The Bengals need more than Marvin Lewis cussing them out. Perhaps a few more arrests are in order. The Bengals seemed to play better when their guys were getting busted.

Nice of Carson Palmer to stand up and admit he was wrong for yelling at Chad Johnson. Sorry, dude. Your only mistake was in not taking Ocho Cinco's head off. Showing up your quarterback on national television makes Johnson the NFL's biggest heel, for right now.

All that great defense, and the Patriots now get Rodney Harrison back. Hoo boy.

Tom Brady and ESPN's Suzy Kolber talked at length about Bill Belichick and his slices of "humble pie". What in the world will go down at Foxborough this week, given that the Patriots fell four points short of their point quota?

38 laps around the field? 38 clapper pushups? 38 minutes of up-and-down drills?

Nah. More like 38 hours of meetings this week, starring Bill "The Cleveland Browns are the best team you've seen this year!" Belichick.

Or it could be 38 hours of meetings this week, starring Bill "I hate Cleveland with a passion, I will kill all you guys if you lose to them!!!" Belichick.