Gotham Revels in Gridiron Greatness

With the completion of Week 3, the Big Apple is shinier than ever and the anticipation in Tampa Bay is higher than ever, while there’s nervousness in St. Louis and gloom and doom all the way from New England to Pittsburgh to Cincinnati to Chicago and on to San Francisco.

THE HOT SPOTS

It’s early in the season, but not too early:

* For New Yorkers to start dreaming of Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Fla., turning into the Battle of the Hudson.

Never before, not in the glory days of Joe Namath, not in the best days of Bill Parcells, have the two New York teams--the Giants and the Jets--started 3-0.

The Giants are 3-0 for the first time since 1994, the Jets for the first time since 1966.

And neither start this year looks like a fluke. The Giants are winning on football staples, a solid defense and an effective running game spearheaded by the flash and dash of Tiki Barber and the earn-while-you-learn production of Ron Dayne. The Jets are successful because of quarterback Vinny Testaverde’s ability to rebound from the Achilles’ injury that ended his season last year in the opener and because of effective defense and special teams.

In New York this week, Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Olympics are going to have to struggle to compete for front-page space with New York’s revived football darlings.

* For the Buccaneers to start dreaming of becoming the first team to play in a Super Bowl on its home turf.

Yes, Tampa Bay, also 3-0, is playing great defense. That’s about as surprising as Tony Banks fumble.

But the Buccaneers are also playing imaginative offense.

In Sunday’s victory over the Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay even scored on a touchdown pass to offensive guard Randall McDaniel. Is there nothing that Tony Dungy, that wild and reckless Tampa Bay coach, won’t try?

Buccaneer quarterback Shaun King is making fans forget Trent Dilfer.

OK, so actually it was Trent Dilfer who made fans want to forget Trent Dilfer.

* For the Minnesota Vikings to be assured that they can live without Randall Cunningham and Jeff George.

Quarterback Daunte Culpepper has shown that he can win with his feet and arm.

Sunday against the New England Patriots, Culpepper showed that he can also win with his head in boosting his team to 3-0. Facing the complex defensive scheme of the Patriots, Culpepper found new ways to win. He connected with old reliables Cris Carter and Randy Moss, but got his touchdown passes by hooking up with two relatively unknown targets--Johnny McWilliams and Matthew Hatchette.

THE SHAKY SPOT

If you could have told the St. Louis Rams a year ago that they would go on to win the Super Bowl and would then begin this season 3-0 with their third victory being their third consecutive win over the San Francisco 49ers, the smiles would have stretched to the top of the Gateway Arch.

So why is there so much nervousness in Ramland these days?

Because no matter how many towering touchdown passes quarterback Kurt Warner throws, he always seems to find himself coming back on the field needing another one.

While the high-powered St. Louis offense looks unstoppable, the high-maintenance St. Louis defense looks as though it would have trouble stopping Dilfer.

In three games, the Rams have given up 94 points, the second-highest total--along with the Dallas Cowboys--in the league behind the 115 surrendered by the 49ers.

The best show in the NFL must occur every day of practice in St. Louis when Warner gets to throw against his defense.

THE DEAD SPOTS

Nobody is eliminated in September, but nobody’s too optimistic in:

* New England. The 0-3 Patriots keep losing close games in a division loaded with talent.

It would help if they had an effective running game. It would help if quarterback Drew Bledsoe could come up with a big play when needed.

* Pittsburgh. The Steelers have suffered for a long time by sticking it out, frustrating season after frustrating season, with quarterback Kordell Stewart.

When he predictably self-destructed this season, they went to backup Kent Graham.

On Sunday, Graham suffered brain lock, getting sacked on the last play of the game instead of throwing the ball away to stop the clock and give Pittsburgh a chance for a routine field goal that would have allowed the Steelers to tie and force an overtime against the Cleveland Browns.

Instead, the Steelers are 0-2.

But what is most alarming in Pittsburgh is that a team coached by Bill Cowher could have such a last-minute breakdown. In good times and bad, the highly demonstrative and vocal Cowher has always maintained control over his players.

If that control is lost, surely the season is lost as well.

* Cincinnati. Every week Coach Bruce Coslet of the 0-2 Bengals draws a paycheck, the same question must be asked: Why?

* San Francisco. As the once-great dynasty crumbles, the questions grow louder.

How long will General Manager Bill Walsh, whose name is no longer followed by the “genius” label, stay?

How long will Coach Steve Mariucci last?

In which direction will Terry Donahue, who now works in the front office, move, up to replace Walsh or down to replace Mariucci? Or will Donahue simply move out?

Donahue, whose main residence is in Newport Beach, has wanted to be the San Diego Charger coach since he left UCLA and, subsequently, CBS.

The bad news for Donahue is that the Charger job may soon be open.