Drew Bledsoe is still the Dallas starter despite throwing three interceptions against the Jaguars on Sunday. Bill Frakes/SI

• We've seen it before and we'll see it again (but maybe not as much with Tony Romo waiting in the wings). Make Drew Bledsoe move around a bit in the pocket and he becomes a horrible decision-maker. It was Bledsoe who got the Cowboys beat with those three picks in Jacksonville on Sunday. In a game Dallas dominated in the first half, he sucked the momentum right out of the Cowboys. Terrell Owens can't be the difference-maker in Dallas if Bledsoe doesn't keep his team in the game.

• The Lions may have lost the first game of the Marinelli era, 9-6, to visiting Seattle, but look on the bright side, Detroit fans. The entire Lions coaching staff was fully clothed throughout the contest. And no, Detroit did not run any naked bootlegs.

• The curse of the Browns center lives on. Newly acquired Hank Fraley, the 117th guy to play the position for Cleveland since the start of training camp, had a memorable debut at home against the Saints. He gave up three sacks to New Orleans defensive tackle Brian Young, which were more than Young recorded in the past two seasons combined, a span of 31 starts.

Besides the Bermuda Triangle and Area 51 in Nevada, the next freakiest spot in all the world is the middle of Cleveland's offensive line.

• Billy Volek has to be thinking he could have done better than that. The Titans benched him last week in favor of starting newly acquired Kerry Collins, who preceded to throw two interceptions and complete only 17 of 38 passes for 223 yards in Tennessee's desultory 23-16 loss to the visiting Jets. Vince Young got his first shot, too, and threw an interception that blunted a promising Titans drive.

We hear Neil O'Donnell is getting loose in Tennessee just in case.

• It was just one game, but those were two pretty ugly fourth-quarter interceptions that Daunte Culpepper tossed against Pittsburgh. Let's just say he didn't convince us that his turnover-plagued first half of 2005 was an aberration.

• Maybe I'm the last one to figure this out, but it just dawned on me that we have ourselves a McCarthy era in the NFL, and just like the other McCarthy, Wisconsin is involved. Senator Joe, who rose to infamy in the 1950s for a Communist witch hunt, was from Wisconsin. Head coach Mike currently hails from Green Bay. How's that for big-picture NFL coverage?

• That Patriots front office never misses a trick. New England signed ex-Buffalo receiver/return man Jonathan Smith at the end of the preseason, just a week before the Pats were to open up against the Bills. New England cut receiver Bam Childress, who had a pretty decent camp, to make room for Smith, and added Childress to the practice squad.

After debriefing Smith all week about the Bills and their new coaching staff's playbook, New England released him last Saturday night, hours before the Buffalo game. Not coincidentally, the Patriots elevated Childress from the practice squad and he was one of three receivers active against the Bills. Predictably, Buffalo's coaches and players weren't thrilled with New England's rather blatant "scouting'' maneuver.

But rest assured, the Patriots don't care. They'll take any advantage they can get.

• The little-known player who stood out to me the most on the day I visited Steelers training camp in Latrobe, Pa., was second-year receiver Nate Washington. At least my eyes didn't deceive me. Washington made a heck of a play near the front corner of the end zone to come down with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Charlie Batch early in the second quarter against Miami, putting Pittsburgh up 7-0.

That was Washington's first career regular-season reception (he had one catch in the AFC title game at Denver), and the first touchdown of his NFL career. The collegiate free agent from Division II Tiffin University (near Toledo) is going to see plenty of action in Pittsburgh's three-receiver sets.

• I realize now it's going to take a while before I can see Steelers rookie receiver Santonio Holmes wearing number 10 without mistaking him for Kordell Stewart.

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