Bruce Gradkowski completed 20 of 31 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions in his first NFL start last Sunday at New Orleans. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Q: Whose injury might wind up being fortuitous for his team's long-term fortunes?

A: The Bucs in New Orleans on Sunday lost their fourth straight game to open the season, cementing their worst start since Tony Dungy's first squad went 0-5 in 1996. But Tampa Bay may have found itself a quarterback for the future in rookie Bruce Gradkowski, a sixth-round pick from (Holy) Toledo. Starting in place of the injured Chris Simms, Gradkowski was a cool customer against the Saints, completing 20 of 31 for 225 yards and showing a natural ease and understanding of Jon Gruden's offense.

Simms signed a one-year, $2.1 million deal with Tampa Bay in March, and it was expected that the Bucs would talk long-term contract with him this year as his development progressed. But all of that may have changed when he ruptured his spleen in a Week 3 loss to Carolina -- an injury that could wind up costing him the rest of the season. If Gradkowski prospers in the next two months, Simms' stock could plummet, as he plays Drew Bledsoe to the rookie's Tom Brady impersonation.

And don't forget, nobody in the NFL falls in and out of love quicker with quarterbacks than Gruden, who is an inveterate collector of arms.

Q: Which future-looking personnel move should be made now?

A: Aaron Rodgers for Brett Favre in Green Bay. Sorry, Brett, but it's time to put the team's long-term needs ahead of what amounts to your (non)victory lap in Titletown. The more the Packers can find out about Rodgers this year, the more they'll know where they stand at the game's most pivotal position heading into 2007.

Favre said it best himself, after Green Bay's loss to St. Louis at Lambeau on Sunday, a game in which his fumble cost the Packers a chance to tie or go ahead inside the final three minutes: "You've to try to find positives in all these negatives. I wonder, sometimes, what I'm doing here.''

So do we, Brett. So do we.

Q: Which head coach is a short-timer in his current position?

A: Nobody has earned the right to have their job jeopardized more than Oakland's Art Shell, but normal standards do not necessarily apply to the Raiders' coaching situation. After all, if you fire Shell after one season, which has to be a strong possibility given the disarray in Oakland, you have to go out and find someone else to take the job -- and that problem is how you got Shell back for a trip down (bad) memory lane to begin with.

Which brings us to Tennessee's Jeff Fisher. The Titans' longtime head coach is well respected within the league and would be popular if he were to be thrown back into the job-candidate pool, but all the signs of the Titans needing to go in the proverbial "new direction'' appear to be aligning. Owner Bud Adams already has said he won't fire Fisher midseason, which is roughly the same as saying he's as good as gone the day after the Titans close up shop.

Fisher has been on the job since 1994, which is remarkable longevity for this day and age. And the Titans' problems go deeper than what kind of handle he has on his team. But most every NFL coach comes with an expiration date on his tenure, and Fisher's time in Tennessee appears almost up.

Q: Which underachiever is the league's biggest disappointment thus far?

A: Three teams that made the playoffs in 2005 are currently under .500: the Super Bowl-champion Steelers (1-3) in the AFC, and Tampa Bay (0-4) and Washington (2-3) in the NFC. But it's Miami's lack of building on that six-game season-ending winning streak of last year that rates as the biggest letdown of 2006 so far.

The Dolphins, picked by at least one national sports publication to become the first team to play the Super Bowl on its home field (you know which one), are 1-4 and have played only three decent quarters of football all season. Miami already has lost to the likes of Buffalo at home and Houston on the road, and barely survived a visit from winless Tennessee.

Miami's offensive line has been shaky at best, its defense is getting older by the minute, and the problems at quarterback have been well-documented. Even the addition of respected coordinators Dom Capers and Mike Mularkey hasn't worked. In short, coach Nick Saban's entire program appears to be enduring a sophomore slump.