Before the NFL season began, the St. Louis Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers were the consensus favorites for the Super Bowl. One gaming establishment had the Rams at 2-1 and the Steelers at 6-1 for reaching the big game.

We now know, of course, that a St. Louis-Pittsburgh Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego is extremely unlikely. They have combined to win exactly one game of nine -- and that came in overtime. Thus, the current odds have been downgraded to doubtful; the Steelers are sitting at 40-1 and the Rams 50-1.

"I can honestly say the effort wasn't there," Rams head coach Mike Martz said Sunday after St. Louis was spanked by the San Francisco 49ers 37-13 to fall to an unfathomable 0-5. "When you show up in the NFL, you've got to show up to play."

	Samari Rolle and the Titans haven't been able to keep foes out of the end zone.

Bill Cowher, the Steelers' head coach, was similarly put out after Pittsburgh's 32-29 loss at New Orleans. The 1-3 Steelers have already lost as many games as they did last year -- with 12 yet to play -- and the Saints scored on seven of their first eight possessions against last year's No. 1-ranked defense.

"There were too many big plays," Cowher said Sunday. "I'm very disappointed in how we played defensively."

A month ago, the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans were viewed as contenders for the Super Bowl, at least in their own minds. Now they are both coming off four straight losses.

"We're not going to win any games playing like this," Jets head coach Herm Edwards said of his defense.

"Right now," said Jeff Fisher, the Tennessee coach, "we are not a good football team."

There have been a few other surprises this young NFL season, too. Certainly, few expected the Minnesota Vikings (0-4) and Seattle Seahawks (1-3) to be as bad as they have been. Conversely, how many thought the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints would start off 4-1?

It's all about the parity virus that has spread throughout the NFL in recent seasons. With the Minnesota Twin, Anaheim Angels, San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals in baseball's Final Four, maybe the disease has reached Major League Baseball, too. At the very least, parity keeps fans (and the media) guessing.

An accounting, now that the NFL has reached the quarter pole:

The arms race escalates; Don't forget to duck, Saddam

	Bledsoe

Tom Brady's current line: 146 completions on 216 attempts (67.6 percent), 1,566 yards, 13 TDs, 6 INTs, 97.1 rating.
Drew Bledsoe's line: 148 completions on 218 attempts (67.9 percent), 1,762 yards, 12 TDs, 5 INTs, 101.1 rating.

The numbers are frighteningly similar for the two former teammates. The Patriots' Brady, a GQ cover boy, has backed up his Super Bowl MVP performance. Bledsoe has more than justified the (slowly sinking) 2003 first-round draft choice the Buffalo Bills spent for him in April.

The defenses in Buffalo and New England are so dicey right now that Bledsoe and Brady -- assuming they manage to stay healthy -- might pile up some historic numbers despite the expected gruesome winter weather. Projecting the two players' statistics over 16 games:
Brady: 467 completions, 691 attempts, 5,011 yards.
Bledsoe: 474 completions, 698 attempts, 5,638 yards.

For the record, Warren Moon holds the league mark for completions in a season (404 for Houston in 1991), while Bledsoe owns the attempts record (691 for New England in 1994) and the Miami Dolphins' Dan Marino has the passing yardage mark, with 5,084 in 1984.

A serious run-on sentence
The other marquee offseason trade has also paid massive dividends for the team willing to take the gamble. The Dolphins parted with the 25th overall choice -- the Saints used it for defensive end Charles Grant -- plus a conditional third-round pick in 2003 to secure the services of Ricky Williams.

All the dread-locked one has done is carry the ball 118 times for 565 yards and four touchdowns. Only Kansas City's Priest Holmes (590 yards) has gained more. Williams is on pace to clear 1,800 yards, a logical achievement given his career trajectory -- 884 yards as a rookie in 1999, an even 1,000 in 2000 and 1,245 a year ago.

Perhaps only Bledsoe and Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis have been more valuable to their teams.

Two words: pizza delivery
As Williams will tell you, sometimes a change of scenery can make all the difference. For instance, how great did this Domino Effect coaching sequence work out?

1: Tampa Bay fires Tony Dungy and he signs on with the Indianapolis Colts, where he is currently 3-1 and tied for the AFC South lead with Jacksonville.

2: Tampa Bay hires Raiders coach John Gruden, who has the Bucs at 4-1, tied with New Orleans atop the NFC South.

3: The Raiders replace Gruden with offensive coordinator Bill Callahan, who leads the only undefeated team (4-0) in football.

Collective record: 11-2.

Maybe the Bengals should work out a three-way deal for Dick LeBeau with Detroit's Marty Mornhinweg and Minnesota's Mike Tice.

The Oakland Treat

	Rice

The Raiders are certifiably the oldest team in the NFL. They have six players who were born before Super Bowl I was played.

The oldest is wide receiver Jerry Rice, who turns 40 on Sunday when Oakland visits the St. Louis Rams. Expect big things -- and not just because the Rams have allowed an average of 25 points per game.

"The big four-oh," Rice says. "I want to do something special that day. It's not every day you turn 40."

Consider yourselves warned.

Save (and a beauty)
Three teams -- Jaguars, Cardinals and Ravens -- changed the complexion of their seasons with back-to-back wins. Jacksonville (3-1) beat the Jets and Eagles, Arizona (3-2) handled the Giants and Panthers, and the Ravens (2-2) stunned the Broncos and then beat the Browns.

Is contraction still an option?
The AFC North is one ugly division. Baltimore leads with a 2-2 record, followed by Cleveland (2-3), Pittsburgh (1-3) and Cincinnati (0-5). That's an overall record of 5-13, the worst in the league.

The funny thing? The Steelers, only a game out of first, could still win the division with an 8-8 record. Maybe even 7-9.

Best in show
The AFC West, meanwhile, has been terrific so far. Oakland, Denver, San Diego and Kansas City have combined for a 15-4 record, the best in the NFL. The last-place Chiefs have a 3-2 record, which would be good for first in the NFC East or, of course, the AFC North.

Fish out of water
The Miami Dolphins completed September with a typically robust 3-1 record. Over the last decade, the Dolphins have suffered only one losing record in September while producing an overall mark of 25-8.

Does anyone hear that sound of the other shoe dropping?

The December record (18-23) has been less than stellar. The Dolphins have managed just two winning records that month in their last 10 seasons.

Prescient picks

	Brooks

Give yourself a hand, fantasy fans, if you had Chicago linebacker Rosevelt Colvin (with a league-high seven sacks) and Carolina defensive end Mike Rucker (six sacks) trashing quarterbacks on your dream team. Ditto for Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks (three touchdowns) and Kansas City safety Greg Wesley (a league-high four interceptions).

Air Lockett
So far, Washington Redskins head coach Steve Spurrier has wisely resisted the temptation to play himself at quarterback. It turns out the real solution to the Redskins' revolving door at quarterback is wide receiver Kevin Lockett:
Lockett: 1/1 (100 percent), 14 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, 158.3 rating.
Patrick Ramsey: 20/34 (58.8), 268 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 103.6 rating.
Shane Matthews: 55/90 (61.1), 558 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs, 84.4 rating.
Danny Wuerffel: 8/14 (57.1), 82 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 34.5 rating.

Best defensive performance
Steelers linebacker Joey Porter had 12 tackles (11 solo), three sacks and two interceptions in the Week 2 loss to the Raiders.

Best offensive performance
Pick one: Bledsoe at Minnesota in Week 2 (35-for-49, 463 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) or Bledsoe versus Chicago in Week 4 (28-for-36, 328 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs).

Sweetness/Smith update
Dallas running back Emmitt Smith needs only 233 yards to break Walter Payton's all-time rushing record of 16,726 yards. At his current rate of 61 yards per game, that would mean the record would logically come Nov. 3 at Detroit.

Fat chance. Watch for the Cowboys to try to get Emmitt the record in the Oct. 27 game against Seattle at Texas Stadium.

Channeling Jim Mandich and Mark Bavaro
Contrary to reports, the tight end position in the NFL has not become extinct. Three rookies are waking up the echoes of Mike Ditka and John Mackey.

The Dolphins' Randy McMichael, who was drafted in the fourth round (No. 114 overall) out of Georgia, has 16 catches for 230 yards and two touchdowns. The Giants' Jeremy Shockey, the No. 14 pick taken out of Miami, has 16 catches for 209 yards and a touchdown. Daniel Graham of the Patriots, the No. 21 pick from Colorado, has been injured but has managed four catches for 32 yards and a touchdown.

Of the 18 tight ends drafted back in April, eight have caught passes for their teams. Seattle's Jerramy Stevens, the No. 28 overall pick out of Washington, has seven catches for 49 yards.

Comeback champions

	Edwards

Former University of Georgia running backs Robert Edwards and Garrison Hearst have cornered the market on perseverance.

Hearst, the 49ers running back who has won the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award twice, helped talk Edwards through a difficult offseason. Edwards, who nearly lost his leg in a Pro Bowl flag football game after the 1998 season, made the Dolphins roster. After missing three entire seasons, he scored two touchdowns in Miami's opener.

Edwards is the early favorite for this year's comeback award.

Greg Garber is a senior writer at ESPN.com.