NFL Week 4

Blast from the past

1 Did you catch the Philadelphia Eagles in that cornea-burning yellow and blue? Well, there won’t be any cartoonish throwback uniforms this week. The Minnesota Vikings are the only ones in throwbacks this Sunday, and theirs are just purple jerseys with white lettering, and white pants with purple and gold stripes. The Cincinnati Bengals, meanwhile, will be wearing their traffic-cone orange jerseys Monday night against the New England Patriots. They’re 6-0 in those.

Not too Schauby

2 Word is, the Dallas Cowboys want to give quarterback Tony Romo a deal similar to Matt Schaub’s six-year, $48-million contract with the Houston Texans. But with the way Romo is playing -- no NFC quarterback has been sharper -- Dallas will probably have to sweeten that offer to something north of $60 million. With games against St. Louis and Buffalo on the docket, there’s a good chance the 3-0 Cowboys will still be undefeated heading into their Week 6 home game against New England.

Bill-a-check

3 That Patriots-Cowboys game, a possible Super Bowl preview, will feature receivers Randy Moss and Terrell Owens, stars who have completely reinvented themselves this season. Not only are they playing fantastic football, but they sound like the consummate team players. It helps, of course, that Romo and Tom Brady are off to such terrific starts. Then, there’s the Bill factor -- Moss clearly loves playing for Belichick, and Owens is no longer the focus of Parcells’ laser-beam stare.

The Norv of them

4 Are the darkest fears of San Diego fans coming true? Was the franchise too quick to replace Marty Schottenheimer with Norv Turner? Three games into the season and the Chargers have already matched their 2006 loss total. LaDainian Tomlinson looked despondent after the Green Bay debacle and acknowledged there’s a win-now urgency in the locker room. A glimmer of hope with Kansas City coming to town: Tomlinson burned the Chiefs for 199 yards and two touchdowns at Qualcomm last season.

Red alert

5 After a suspension sidelined him for the first two games, Kansas City defensive end Jared Allen made an impressive return Sunday, collecting two sacks, forcing a fumble and deflecting a pass. The entire Chiefs defense -- particularly the line and linebackers -- played well in the 13-10 home victory against Minnesota. Hey, it’s not the glory days of the 1990s, when Derrick Thomas & Co. would swallow teams in a sea of red, but it’s a start.

Orange crushed

6 Denver has the league’s top-ranked pass defense, but look at the quarterbacks the Broncos have faced: J.P. Losman, Josh McCown and David Garrard. On Sunday, they try to stop Peyton Manning, something they haven’t been able to do in the past. Phillip B. Wilson, who reports on the Colts for the Indianapolis Star Tribune, crunched these numbers: Excluding a meaningless game in which he barely played, Manning has completed 81 of 98 passes for 1,180 yards with 12 touchdowns and one interception in his last three games against Denver.

Brian’s song

7 Fed up with the wobbly Rex Grossman, fans in Chicago are chanting louder than ever for backup Brian Griese. But even though Griese is likely to get more reps this week, there’s no guarantee he’ll start Sunday at Detroit. Bears Coach Lovie Smith has said he wants to evaluate things at the quarter pole, and his team isn’t there yet. Besides, with the way the Eagles had success stretching the field against Detroit, the cannon-armed Grossman might be a better fit this week than Griese, who tends to spread around short passes.

420 and counting

8 After tying Dan Marino’s career touchdown record with three against San Diego, Brett Favre can break it Sunday at Minnesota. Even though he’s struggled in the Metrodome over the years, Favre has 49 touchdowns against the Vikings, tied for second-most against any opponent. The record Favre cares most about anyway is 3-0.

Western shootout

9 The San Francisco 49ers are the only NFC team with two victories within their division, having already knocked off Arizona and St. Louis. They play host to Seattle on Sunday, with a chance to get a big head start in the AFC West with a victory. Thing is, San Francisco has yet to get its offense rolling, and Frank Gore -- like San Diego’s Tomlinson and Kansas City’s Larry Johnson -- so far is a shadow of the running back he was last season.

Caged Cardinal

10 When Matt Leinart struggled Sunday, Arizona Coach Ken Whisenhunt did the shuffle, replacing him with Kurt Warner -- who almost brought the Cardinals back. It’s clear that Leinart is Arizona’s starter, for now and the future. But how quickly is Whisenhunt going to be reaching for Warner when the Cardinals play red-hot Pittsburgh on Sunday? And if Arizona does pull the plug on Leinart again, how will that bode for his confidence?

-- Sam Farmer