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Three rookie QBs took the helm on Sunday and were all impressive despite failing to lead their teams to victory.

The big-name rookies spent a lot more time in the spotlight than Terrell Owens. On a Sunday that was supposed to be dominated by Owens' return to Philadelphia, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Vince Young had much more impact for their teams. And Bush was the deciding factor for the Saints. Bush returned a punt 65 yards for his first professional touchdown, lifting New Orleans past Tampa Bay 24-21.

Larry Johnson gave the Kansas City Chiefs quite a scare. The Pro Bowl running back was injured on a facemask tackle at the end of a 78-yard pass play late in Kansas City's 23-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Johnson broke free down the left sideline after catching a short pass from Damon Huard.

Matt Leinart's great start wasn't good enough, and Larry Johnson's bad day had a big but painful finish. Johnson, who rushed for just 36 yards, rumbled 78 yards with a screen pass to set up Lawrence Tynes' 19-yard field goal with 1:36 remaining. The Chiefs rallied from 10 down in the fourth quarter to beat the Arizona Cardinals 23-20 on Sunday.

Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald left in the first half of Sunday's game against Kansas City with a right hamstring injury. Fitzgerald was hurt late in the first half, shortly after catching a 5-yard touchdown pass from Matt Leinart. His return was questionable when he left after having two catches for 15 yards.

After dismantling the Seahawks on Sunday, the undefeated Bears are atop the rankings for the first time.

RB Laurence Maroney is the latest example of how good the Patriots are at building their team through the NFL draft.

Just imagine how good the Atlanta Falcons will be on defense when John Abraham returns. For the third time in four games, the Atlanta defense didn't allow a touchdown. In fact, cornerback DeAngelo Hall scored one of his own Sunday with a 36-yard interception return and the Falcons cruised past the Arizona Cardinals 32-10.

Tom Brady and Eli Manning are among the players that need to step up their games.

Find out which agents negotiated the best and worst deals for this year's first-round picks.

The surprising thrashing of the Falcons on Monday night has catapulted the Saints into the rankings' top 12.

The Arizona Cardinals played for 18 years at a college stadium in Tempe. Now the University of Phoenix, the nation's largest private university, will pay the NFL team $154.5 million over the next 20 years to put its name on the Cardinals' new home. The "University of Phoenix Stadium" label was unveiled at a news conference outside the $455 million structure in suburban Phoenix on Tuesday.

Marc Bulger and Kurt Warner took turns trying to fumble the game away Sunday. Warner succeeded. The Arizona quarterback, who threw three interceptions, fumbled a snap at the Rams 18 with 1:46 to play and Will Witherspoon recovered to allow St. Louis to hold on and beat the Cardinals 16-14. Arizona's Antonio Smith recovered Bulger's fumble at the St.

With their stingy D and improved offense, the Jags have matured into a team capable of playing deep into January.

The Arizona Cardinals are hoping their newfound home-field advantage can help them restart an offense coach Dennis Green labeled "inept" on Monday. One week after Kurt Warner was voted NFC offensive player of the week in Arizona's season-opening victory over San Francisco, he was blamed, in part, by his coach for the offense's struggles in Sunday's 21-10 loss at Seattle.

A capsule look at teams in the NFC. For details, select a team for Sporting News' exclusive teams reports.

Standards have risen so high in Seattle that some members of the Seahawks aren't happy -- despite being 2-0. None of those would be on defense. "Everybody expects us to be the team that was in the Super Bowl," running back Shaun Alexander said after a 21-10 win Sunday over Arizona. "This is only the second week.

The Arizona Cardinals made cornerback David Macklin inactive for their game at the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, one week after they benched him for ineffectiveness. Macklin had started 32 of 33 games since he signed with Arizona in 2004. But the right cornerback dropped a possible interception on the third play of last week's 34-27 win over San Francisco, then missed a tackle on 31-yard touchdown...

NEW YORK (Ticker) - After undergoing two shoulder operations, Chad Pennington's future appeared to be in doubt. Maybe no one can appreciate winning an NFL Player of the Week Award more than him.

Despite still dealing with some injuries, the Big 3 in the AFC North were quite impressive during Week 1.