Week 4 Rewind - Records: The good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Cowboys beat the Rams 35-7 to improve to 4-0, with Romo throwing for 339 yards and three scores, and Greg Ellis making a triumphant return to the field.

But, there were 13 other games on the schedule in Week 4, and it’s time for a few observations and notes from those games.

- First and foremost, congratulations from one Mississippi boy to another, as Brett Favre broke Dan Marino’s mark for career touchdown passes on Sunday at Minnesota. Favre’s 16-yard touchdown toss to Greg Jennings with 4:56 left in the first gave Favre the record, with 421 scoring passes in 17 NFL seasons (you may as well erase 1991 though). He extended the mark to 422 with a 33-yarder to rookie James Jones (darkhorse Rookie of the Year candidate) in the fourth. Favre also had his second straight 300+ yard game, going 32 of 45 for 344 yards, in leading the Packers to a 23-16 win over the Vikings. More importantly than the record, Favre and the Packers keep their early-season unbeaten run going, and are 4-0 going into a showdown against the Bears. Green Bay has a team full of young talent, and it looks like Favre has been feeding off of them (or drinking from the fountain of youth - where is it Brett?!) with great success.

- The guy who most think will break Favre’s record somewhere down the line, is also leading a 4-0 team. Peyton Manning tossed three touchdown passes (and had a sneak for another) in a 38-20 win over the Broncos. The Colts are positioning themselves for another runaway year in the AFC South, while the Broncos, with the loss, fell back to 2-2 after dropping their second game in a row.

Why is that big? Because the Chiefs are now at 2-2 as well, after going into San Diego and knocking off the Chargers 30-16. Both L.J. and L.T. got off their early-season slides, rushing for 123 and 131 (and a score) yards respectively. But, it was the quarterback play that made the difference, as Damon Huard threw for 284 yards and two scores and leading the Chiefs to 24 unanswered second-half points, while Phillip Rivers threw for 211 yards, zero touchdowns, and was picked off twice.

The Chargers are now 1-3, and in serious need of some wins before that record gets ugly. Hey, A.J. Smith, is this what you wanted? The blow from losing several assistant coaches might have been softened if they had held on to the head man, but instead of holding on to him, the Chargers got rid of head coach Marty Schottenheimer as well, a guy who the Chargers’ GM had some well-documented issues with. I don’t have anything against Norv Turner in the least, but when you’re already in turmoil, you don’t need to make it any worse, as the Chargers’ front office did.

But, given the fact that the AFC West is so deep, then the Chargers will be in it for the long haul if they can start picking up some wins. But, hey, watch out for those Raiders, who are 2-2, after Daunte Culpepper led Oakland to a 35-17 win at Miami. You can’t blame the Dolpins for letting Culpepper go, when there weren’t any assurances about his health, or his effectiveness. But, it’s got to feel pretty good for Culpepper to go in there and show that he’s still got plenty left. The stats weren’t huge (5 of 12, 75 yards, two scores), but he did run for three touchdowns, and most importantly, got the win, which dropped Miami to 0-4.

At the bad end of the surprise spectrum, the Bears are also 1-3, after giving up 34 points in the fourth to lose 37-27 at Detroit. When I read that line, I thought it was a misprint, and then I read the boxscore. Usually, a 13-3 lead in the fourth would seem safe for the Bears, but it wasn’t. Oddly enough, the game turned on the one thing that Lovie Smith hoped he’d avoid by changing quarterbacks: an interception. The pick was returned for a 64-yard score, and the Lions were up for good at 17-13. Three touchdowns later, it was done, done, and done. The Lions are, all of a sudden, at 3-1, and Matt Millen appears to finally be earning some his pay. As for the Bears, a hot Brett Favre is looming, which isn’t good news for a defense that has lost several key members.

The Eagles and Bengals are also at 1-3. After scoring 56 points against the Lions, Philadelphia’s offense dried up in a 16-3 loss to the Giants on Sunday night. After obliterating the Lions defense, Donovan McNabb was only 15 of 31 for 138 yards and zero touchdowns against a Giants pass defense that had been struggling. Keep beating other, NFC East rivals - it only allows the Cowboys to run, run, run far away from you.

As for the Bengals, defensive ineptness and a robot called the New England Patriots doomed them last night. The Bengals are not a good enough team to overcome mistakes or off nights on offense. They may as well have David Klingler in there if they’re going to be this bad.

There are now only four unbeaten teams, after the Steelers lost to the Cardinals 21-14. Kurt Warner came off of the bench to lead Arizona again, but it was Matt Leinart who was in at the end, leading the Cardinals to a score that made it 21-7 late in the fourth. If you’ve got two good quarterbacks, why not use them (as long as they’re both playing well)? But, if it keeps up for a little while, and one starts doing markedly better than the other, then that can lead to a little bit of controversy. We’ll see what happens there.

Also in the AFC South, there was another surprise, as the Browns knocked off the Ravens 27-13. Baltimore did get 307 yards from Steve McNair, but he had to throw it 53 times, after Cleveland had taken a commanding 24-6 halftime lead. The Browns are now 2-2, and could very well be 3-1. Derek Anderson has thrown for 780 yards, eight touchdowns, and four interceptions in the last three weeks, in leading the Browns to two wins. Looks like Brady Quinn will have to wait a little while longer to become the starter, and it looks like that first-round pick may not be the #1.

That one looks to be up to several teams, including the Falcons and Bills. Atlanta and Buffalo did pick up their first wins of the season on Sunday, but there probably won’t be too many more for them. Give it up for Joey Harrington, who has been playing with some fire since the Falcons signed Byron Leftwich after the first two games. In the last two weeks, Harrington is 54 of 73 for 584 yards, four touchdowns, and no picks. On Sunday, he was 23 of 29 for 223 yards and two touchdowns, as the Falcons beat the Texans 26-16.

In Buffalo, the Bills picked up their first win by beating the Jets 17-14. J.P. Losman may not see his starting job again, if rookie Trent Edwards can build off of his successful first career start. The offense was woeful under Losman in the first three games, so it might be a welcome change. The Jets, meanwhile, are, well, not very good right now. That one makes the Patriots happy, as New England already has a three-game lead through four weeks.

In a division race that will be somewhat worth watching, the NFC South lead belongs to the 3-1 Bucs, who went into Carolina and knocked off the Delhomme-less Panthers (now 2-2) 20-7. David Carr only got sacked three times, and actually rushed for positive yardage, but he was also 19 for 41 passing. The Bucs lost Cadillac Williams and offensive lineman Luke Pettigout for the season on Sunday, but Michael Pittman (90 yards) and Earnest Graham (48 yards, TD) can fill in the hole left by Williams. Tampa has been a pleasant surprise thus far, but we’ll know in a few weeks if those injuries make a difference, or if Jon Gruden has another playoff team on his hands.

In another pivotal division clash, the Seahawks (3-1) went to the Bay Area and knocked off San Francisco 23-3 (2-2). They also knocked out Alex Smith with a shoulder injury, and that means that Trent Dilfer will start next week. Considering how badly Dilfer played on Sunday (12 of 33, 128 yards, two picks), it’s just as well that you have an injured Smith in the game, since he hasn’t been too effective for the most part so far, even when healthy.

This week, I’ll have first month/quarterly reports on the Cowboys, the NFC East, and the NFL, reviewing the first four weeks of action, and handing out some grades and a few presents.