Blitz Package

The Chargers had a bye this weekend, so we'll tackle some of the other football action:

• We were shocked to learn that the University of Miami was involved in a brawl during its game against Florida International. And it was a particularly nasty brawl, even by Miami standards. It might have been the ugliest thing we've seen in Miami since Joan Rivers walked into the offices of McNamara/Troy.
• The Miami brawl has been getting a lot of airtime since Saturday night, but if ESPN really wanted to impress us, they'd dig into the video vault and find footage of "The Rock" going into the stands during a Miami-San Diego State brawl several years ago. Perhaps Saturday night's brawl was just the players' way of auditioning for roles in an upcoming epic featuring "The Rock."
• It's always fun to try to get into the heads of TV suits who decide which NFL games get shown to a higher percentage of the country. For the early game Sunday, CBS gave us the Texans-Cowboys masterpiece. And we're pretty sure the reason for this wasn't David Carr. Was America demanding to see the Cowboys, who haven't been "America's Team" since Charlene Tilton was hot? Did we really need to see the Texans, who will be "America's Team" when the other 31 teams fold? No, the CBS suits decided the nation needed more T.O. -- because we didn't get enough Terrell Owens coverage all week. If T.O. would've had one of his sideline meltdowns, you can bet CBS was ready to show it from every angle possible. But T.O. went out and had three touchdowns, which means we can start getting used to more and more Cowboys telecasts now.
• Bengals fans might have to hold off on making Super Bowl reservations. Carson Palmer and the Bengals, everybody's trendy Super Bowl pick just a couple weeks ago, somehow lost to the Bucs, who entered the game 0-4. Cincy has now lost two in a row and suddenly doesn't look all that special at 3-2. Perhaps most alarming is that the Bengals' normally high-powered offense was held to one touchdown and 13 points for the second straight game.
• Cincinnati receiver Chris Henry began serving his two-game suspension for violating NFL policies on conduct and substance abuse. The NFL has policies on conduct?
• The Ravens knew the chances of Steve McNair staying healthy the whole season were slim. The 78-year-old quarterback left with a concussion and sprained neck in the first quarter against Carolina and Ravens fans everywhere cringed as Kyle Boller took over. Boller responded by throwing three touchdown passes, but like most games involving Boller, it was still a loss. At 4-2, Baltimore is the shakiest-looking first-place team in the league.
• We go back to David Carr for our quote of the day. After throwing two interceptions in the Texans' loss to the Cowboys, who were a .500 team entering the game, Carr said: "Against a team like this, you have to be perfect." Did Carr think Aikman, Emmitt and Irvin were suited up?