After one Sunday, the NFL had a familiar look.

Four of the five upper echelon teams that played won, the only loser being Tennessee, which fell 16-13 in Buffalo in a road reprise of the "Music City Miracle."

As some suspected all along, the Ravens and Eagles played as if they might be this year's teams from nowhere -- as the Colts and Rams were last season.

The Steelers are still plummeting and the Cowboys looked as if they might be this year's 49ers, with Troy Aikman getting knocked out with his ninth concussion.

Washington, Tampa Bay, Indianapolis and Jacksonville all had ugly moments, but all won.

The Colts may have had the most impressive win of the bunch, simply because the game was in Kansas City, where the Chiefs had won their last 11 home openers and were feeding off the emotion of a pregame tribute to the late Derrick Thomas.

Uncharacteristically, the key play for the Colts was on defense -- an interception returned 27 yards for a touchdown by Jeff Burris.

The Redskins' 20-17 win over Carolina was most notable for the work of 37-year-old Bruce Smith. He had two of Washington's six sacks and manhandled Clarence Jones, Carolina's journeyman left tackle.

"Anyone who thinks that his tank is running on anything but full is wrong," Washington coach Norv Turner said. "He is a force."

Tampa Bay got the usual forceful play from its defense, a workmanlike job from quarterback Shaun King and won in New England. Banged-up Jacksonville got a break because its opener was in Cleveland.

Tennessee?

Credit its loss Sunday night in Buffalo to the emotion the Bills carried over from their playoff loss last season. The game was played with the intensity of a playoff contest and almost ended the same way last year's game did -- Derrick Mason was a shirttail away from breaking a kickoff for the winning TD in the final half-minute.

But for all those teams, things were sloppy. The always reliableFrank Wycheck dropped a TD pass for Tennessee that forced a field goal, and Eddie George dropped another pass when he took his eyes off the ball to look for a defender who was far behind.

"We made a lot of mistakes," said Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who at 24 has the wisdom of an elder statesman. "Those kinds of things happen on opening day."

Upstarts
The biggest surprise Sunday was the Eagles. They entered this season improved, but they delivered a shocker with a 41-14 victory over Dallas.

And now the Cowboys, with Aikman down, might turn into last season's 49ers.

The Eagles, meanwhile, have four straight games coming up that could leave them at 5-0 -- the Giants at home, at Green Bay and New Orleans, and at home to Atlanta.

Chances are they'll lose one or two simply because only the Saints are a bottom-level team and Philadelphia's probably not good enough to sustain a streak. But they could be 5-0 when Washington comes in Oct. 9.

The Ravens were considered a contender coming off their 5-2 finish last season. The 19-0 win in Pittsburgh demonstrated what they have -- a smothering defense and an offense that can be efficient if it avoids mistakes. It also demonstrates the plight of the Steelers, who have now lost eight of their last nine games.

Make the Ravens a playoff team unless a lot of funny things happen.

Hold that cliché
In a game delayed 23 minutes because of a thunderstorm, out of the Meadowlands came galloping a new nickname for the Giants' running tandem -- "Thunder and Lightning."

The thunder is Ron Dayne, the punishing rookie running back. The lightning is Tiki Barber, who is in his fourth year and had a 78-yard TD run among his 144 yards Sunday. They combined for 222 yards on the ground against the Cardinals and all three New York TDs.

But remember: This was Arizona, without Simeon Rice (holdout), Eric Swann (free-agent departure), Andre Wadsworth (injured.)

So while Barber and Dayne might win an Internet poll over Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside -- Glen Davis and Doc Blanchard at Army 50-plus years ago -- it may not last.

There are still 15 more games, only one against the Cardinals.