For NFL, It’s Stars and Stripes

Ty Detmer had a great game for Cleveland.

Too bad he plays for Detroit.

Detmer had a seven-interception game Sunday in a 24-14 loss to the Browns, and if you think that’s abysmal, consider the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. They lost, 21-10, to Cincinnati, the team with the NFL’s worst record over the last 10 seasons.

“I saw that score before our game and was like, ‘Wow,”’ said St. Louis safety Kim Herring, who earned a ring with the Ravens last season. “I think I might be giving some guys back there some crank calls this week.”

The NFL resumed its normal schedule Sunday after postponing last week’s games because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, but normality was in short supply. Oh, there were some predictable outcomes-the Rams beat the 49ers for the fifth consecutive time, 30-26; the Dolphins edged the Raiders, 18-15, in Miami-but a lot of the games had people rubbing their eyes and re-checking the scoreboard.

“So far it’s been a weird season,” Herring said. “Just with the whole tragedy in New York, the canceled week, the replacement refs. For me, this is much expected. Might get a little weird, who knows? Hey, Cleveland might be going to the Super Bowl.”

And what about San Diego? The Chargers beat Dallas, 32-21, to improve to 2-0, already doubling last season’s victory total. Meanwhile, winless Minnesota is getting next to no production from its three stars: Daunte Culpepper, Cris Carter and Randy Moss. All three refused to talk to reporters after a 17-10 loss to the Bears at Chicago.

“You could just see it in their eyes they were getting frustrated,” Bear cornerback R.W. McQuarters said. “I think the whole defense got the best of all of them.”

The Vikings are 0-2 for the first time since 1984, but the strangest development of the day was Cincinnati beating Baltimore, easily the biggest upset of the season. Bengal believers? Only 49,632 showed up for the game, the smallest crowd in the two-year history of Paul Brown Stadium.

“We’re building something here,” Cincinnati’s Takeo Spikes said. “I just kept reminding everybody that [Raven quarterback Elvis Grbac] was the guy who said he didn’t want to come here, that he had a better chance to win in Baltimore.”

OK, so Cincinnati had the NFL’s worst record over the last 10 years. That doesn’t mean it’s the Siberia of the NFL, as Raven tight end Shannon Sharpe has taken to calling it. Even he had some kind words afterward for the Bengals and quarterback Jon Kitna, who threw for one touchdown and ran for another in the victory.

“Kitna made some plays for them-he didn’t kill them like the quarterback position has in years past,” Sharpe said. “And their defense came out ready to play and took it to us. I’ll give them credit. I’ve been in this league for 12 years, and that’s as good as I’ve seen a Cincinnati team play, from top to bottom.”

The Bengals were in seventh heaven, but don’t mention that number to Detmer. His interception total was one short of the NFL record, set by Jim Hardy of the Chicago Cardinals in 1950. Detmer, making his first start since replacing Charlie Batch as the starter, even elicited sympathy from his former Cleveland teammates.

“It hurts that it’s Ty,” said safety Percy Ellsworth, who picked off one of the seven. “I’d be partying all night long if it wasn’t Detmer.”

Detmer’s counterpart, Cleveland’s Tim Couch, threw three touchdown passes-one to an offensive lineman-to give Brown Coach Butch Davis his first victory.

The Rams are getting quite accustomed to victories over the 49ers, who have not beaten them since 1998. Most of these St. Louis players weren’t around when San Francisco owned the Rams, sweeping them eight seasons in a row.

“It’s big,” running back Marshall Faulk said of the current streak. “I think it means a lot to some of the guys who have been here awhile. They really take it to heart.”

In Jacksonville, the Jaguars lost running back Fred Taylor-who left the game in the second quarter with an injured left leg-yet improved to 2-0 by bumping off Tennessee, 13-6.

It didn’t take long for Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning to get back in the flow. In a 42-26 romp over Buffalo, he threw for 421 yards, 19 short of his career high, and tied a personal best with four touchdown passes.

The Dolphins, who haven’t lost a home opener since 1993, beat Oakland when quarterback Jay Fiedler drove them 80 yards in the waning moments and scored on a two-yard run with five seconds to play. “You couldn’t get a better ending,” teammate Zach Thomas said. “It was great for the fans especially, for everybody to go home happy and get back to normal.”

There was plenty of sentiment and patriotism on the league’s first day back after the terror attacks. At 3Com Park, tiny American flags were distributed at the entrances, and a giant version was unfurled for the singing of the national anthem. Players from both teams gathered around the flag. “It was still hard being out there,” St. Louis tight end Ernie Conwell said. “To be honest, just coming out there today, I was praying that my mind would be clear. Flying out here was a distraction-just thinking about what those people must have felt when they were in the plane-and even when planes were flying overhead, everybody was looking up. I think it was still in the back of our minds. But once we started playing, it was all football.”

In Foxboro, Mass., where New England lost to the New York Jets, 10-3, the honorary captains were the four brothers of Patriot guard Joe Andruzzi-all New York firemen. They participated in the coin toss. Jimmy Andruzzi got out of the second World Trade Center tower that collapsed about a minute before it happened. Brothers Billy and Marc responded to the scene later.

It was an emotional day all around the league.

Said Dolphin defensive end Jason Taylor: “You had to wipe the tears away and play football.”