Dispatches

The quietest retirement in recent history by a significant player: last week's exit by Bucs tackle Paul Gruber, who gave up his comeback from a broken right leg he'd suffered in the 1999 regular-season finale. His exit should have commanded much more fanfare. In the early '90s, when Tampa Bay was among the league's worst teams, Gruber was one of the five best left tackles in the game....

The hoopla over Brett Favre's sore elbow obscured the Packers' loss of cornerback Mike McKenzie, their best defensive player, for four to six weeks. He suffered a left knee injury in the second quarter of an opening-day loss to the Jets....

The Bengals drew the largest crowd in franchise history for their first game at Paul Brown Stadium, but it was still about 1,500 short of capacity. Then they went out and lost to the lowly Browns 24-7....

Excellent sign for the Giants: Kerry Collins completed 72.5% of his throws on Sunday in a 33-18 win at Philadelphia. It was the most accurate passing day by an Eagles opponent since 1989....

The Lions picked on Redskins cornerback Deion Sanders to the tune of seven catches for 75 yards and a face-mask penalty in a 15-10 victory. "Worst I've played in my career," Sanders said....

In his new book, The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL, Bill Parcells complains with surprising vitriol about the NFL's suspension of Jets nosetackle Jason Ferguson in midweek last November—after the team's game plan was in place—instead of on a Monday. "This league hates me," Parcells writes, adding, "Every time they get a chance, they try to stick it to me."