If the Chiefs have a chance to pull off one of the upsets of the year in Week 1, they need to take advantage of the Patriots' secondary--which is clearly the weak point of the club that went 18-1 last year.

The best way to do that would be to spread the Patriots out, force the undersized group to figure out a way to defend Dwayne Bowe and try to take advantage of nickel back Deltha O'Neal, who was just signed by the team in the past week.

But there's one problem with that plan (well two if you aren't sold on Brodie Croyle)--to do it, you have to have enough wideouts to spread out the Patriots. With the news that Will Franklin and Maurice Price are out for Sunday's game, the Chiefs will dress only three wide receivers.

While Bowe will be able to get some mismatches, it's hard to imagine Devard Darling (20 catches in four pro seasons) or Jeff Webb (31 catches in two seasons) giving the Patriots nightmares. So even though the Patriots weakness is their pass defense, it's likely to be the Larry Johnson show on Sunday.

The Vikings aren't real worried about putting some material up on the Packers bulletin board. They're more worried about making sure Ryan Grant doesn't embarrass them on Monday night.

The Packers running back was the only ball carrier to top 100 yards against the Vikings last year--and only one of two to do it in the past two years. So Pat Williams and some of his teammates are willing to put out a guarantee.

"That's been on my mind all summer," Williams said. "He's the only guy who got 100 yards on us. But that ain't going to happen this Monday night."

It might fire up Grant a little bit to hear that, but the Vikings should have the defensive line to back up the talk. Linebacker Ben Leber was even willing to go a lot further than Williams' vow.

"When we say stop the run, we're not just saying stop the run," Leber said. "We literally mean it. We want to hold people to 40, 50 yards. That's the kind of standard we've already set. That's not being unrealistic."

After today's loss to Georgia Tech, Boston College quarterback Chris Crane was asked what happened on his first interception. And in his explanation, he also explained why Georgia Tech defensive end Michael Johnson is going to be a high first-round NFL draft pick in April.

"They started bringing pressure from the field," Crane said. "I tried to throw over a 6-foot-7-guy and I didn't realize it."

NFL scouts absolutely love Johnson's 6-foot-7, 260-pound frame and the long wingspan that Crane wasn't able to avoid when Johnson tipped a pass that was intercepted. He's a great athlete and showed today against Boston College -- when he also had a tackle behind the line of scrimmage -- that he's a very good player.

The reason I question whether he's one of the truly elite players in the 2009 draft class, though, is that he came off the bench as a situational pass rusher in his sophomore and junior years and didn't become a starter until this season. That tells me that Georgia Tech's coaches don't see Johnson as a complete player, even though NFL scouts seem to think he'll become one.

Attempting to compare Olympic gold medals and NFL touchdowns is an apple-orange type debate. One is a four-year culmination of hard work (unless you're a backstroker, then you just need to learn how to swim on your belly like everyone else) condensed into several hundred seconds celebrated on a world stage. The other is a week's worth of hard work condensed into several seconds celebrated on a ... Oh.

Well, maybe they are kind of similar, value and frequency aside. Which would explain why pool-pals Michael Phelps and Braylon Edwards are making a bet on quantity, which was confirmed by an NBC halftime report during the Notre Dame - San Diego State game.

The foot injury wasn't a complete loss. Edwards used the time on his couch to catch up with swimmer Michael Phelps' chase for history at the Olympics.

Edwards and Phelps have University of Michigan ties and struck up a friendship. Edwards bragged before Beijing that he would more than double Phelps' gold-medal total with touchdown catches. After Phelps' record eight golds, Edwards needs to set another franchise record.

So, as you can see, they actually made this bet before the Olympics. Whoops, Braylon.

Back in June, when the news was still relatively fresh, CBSSports.com's Clark Judge spoke to various personnel types to help explain why Shaun Alexander's NFL career was probably over. Short story: "soft runner" label + Curse of 370 = forced retirement.

And two and a half months later, Alexander's still looking for work, although the Associated Press reports that the 2005 NFL MVP has no plans on getting on with life after football, and he expects to be signed any day now.

...[T]he 31-year-old Alexander believes his signing is imminent with one of a handful of teams that have provided "a constant flow of calls," including his hometown Cincinnati Bengals. So imminent, his extended family members in Northern Kentucky are suggesting a new name.

In Seattle, Alexander wore No. 37. ... "They want me to be Tres Siete," Alexander said Friday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, laughing at the twist on the Bengals star receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson now being officially recognized as Chad Ocho Cinco, to match his uniform number 85 in Cincinnati.

And things continue to get worse in Alex Smith's professional life. Two weeks ago, the 2005 first-overall pick got the news that he had been demoted to second-team quarterback behind journeyman J.T. O'Sullivan, all while enduring a constant verbal barrage from offensive coordinator No. 4 in his NFL career, Mike Martz.

And today we learn that Smith will be listed as doubtful on the 49ers injury report for tomorrow's opener against the Cardinals.

From the Sacramento Bee's Matt Barrows:

There's been a late development on the injury report. Alex Smith injured his surgically repaired right shoulder this week and is doubtful for tomorrow's game. That means Shaun Hill will be the back-up and that Michael Robinson would be the emergency back-up. I'm told that it was a non-contact injury but there are no other details about the injury at this time. Here's a quote from Mike Nolan:

"Yesterday Alex Smith sustained a non-contact injury to his surgically repaired right shoulder. He will be consulting with his surgeon in Birmingham for treatment recommendations. At this time there are no specifics to the injury or a timetable. "

The reactions were swift and, well, reactionary following the Redskins' uninspired performance against the Giants on Thursday night. As always, the expectations are high, even with Joe Gibbs now doing the Lord's work, and his successor, Jim Zorn, never having even coordinated an offense much less coached up an entire team.

Still, with owner Dan Snyder's history of throwing around money for big-name players like he's Elliot Spitzer patronizing the services of the Emperors Club VIP, expectations are bound to be artificially inflated.

It's probably unfair to think quarterback Jason Campbell would have fully grasped Zorn's West Coast scheme in just a few months, but even the most measured observer had to be taken aback at what passed for offense against New York.

The Washington Post's Jason La Canfora writes that Zorn, who was able to sit through an entire film review without puking his guts out, had some thoughts on how to improve things going forward:

Apparently, Drew Rosenhaus, agent to the stars (and Olindo Mare), has decided that Anquan Boldin is, in fact, unhappy about staying with the Cardinals. Even though it seemed that he was for it before he was against it before he was he was for it. That all changed when Plaxico Burress signed his new deal, except Rosenhaus insists it has nothing to do with the latest flip-flop:

"Anquan's position right now has been well-documented," Rosenhaus said. "He's not interested in doing a new contract with the team. That (Burress' deal) will have no bearing on his situation."

There are similarities between Burress' situation and Boldin's. Rosenhaus represents both players. Both had three years remaining on their contracts but wanted extensions that would put them among the highest paid receivers in the NFL.

Interesting. I wonder if Boldin wondered why his agent could negotiate a new deal for another client but couldn't make it happen for him. Whatever, Rosenhaus says that Boldin ain't coming back to Arizona when his contract expires: "Essentially that bridge has been blown up ... He's looking to play as hard as he can for the club, for his teammates, but the sooner he is traded the better."

There were two facts about the Green Bay Packers' preseason that you might find startling.

For starters, an offensive line that has prided itself on protecting Brett Favre for so many years didn't do a very good job with Favre's replacements in the preseason. Aaron Rodgers, Brian Brohm, and Matt Flynn were sacked a combined 16 times in four games, the most sacks allowed by any team in the preseason.

Meanwhile, the Packers defensive line struggled to generate much of any push against their opponents. The defense picked up just two sacks, which ranked last in the NFL.

Yes, it's just preseason, but the Packers clearly have a little bit of work to do in the trenches.

Luckily for them, so does Minnesota.

For 18 games last year, Josh McDaniels' offense in New England was a well-oiled machine, inflicting pain and embarrassment on any defense that had the audacity to cross its path. The Patriots scored at least 30 points in 13 of their first 18 games (never scoring fewer than 20) and at times resembled somebody playing a game of Madden with the difficulty set to beginner.

Then, in the Super Bowl, in a somewhat shocking development to everyone except Plaxico Burress, the Patriots offense was shut down by a relentless New York Giants pass rush, registering only 14 points in the teams only loss of the season. According to Christopher L. Gasper at the Boston Globe, that game, and performance, is still sitting with McDaniels, and he's looking to do something about it.

Judging by McDaniels's mannerisms answering that question, he is motivated by the way the offense sputtered in the Super Bowl. He is eager and excited to correct his mistakes, starting tomorrow at Gillette Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Not satisfied with an offense that was nearly perfect last season, the 32-year-old McDaniels spent the offseason tinkering and tweaking and rethinking the playbook to counter any so-called "blueprint" the Giants may have laid down and to find new ways to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers