It was a week for dumbing down around the NFL. There was the quarterback who played dumb, the lineman who says his new team really is dumb, another quarterback who was dumbfounded and a coach who couldn't decide whether his team was dumb or stupid.
We'll start with Warren Sapp, who may still be a Pro Bowl talker, but is no longer looking like a Pro Bowl player.
The former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, who signed a six-year, $36.5 million U.S. contract with the Oakland Raiders in the off-season, has been a bust with his new team.
Through nine games, Sapp has just 23 tackles and one half of a quarterback sack. Against the Carolina Panthers last week, Sapp didn't even have a tackle -- and he played most of the game.
The Raiders (3-6) have tried to compensate for the massive defensive tackle's waning talents by shifting him to different spots on the line but with little success.
Sapp hasn't exactly endeared himself to his new teammates, either. The sultan of the sound byte appeared on ESPN's NFL Countdown last week and said the way the Raiders have played this season gives "credence" to former coach Bill Callahan saying last year that the Raiders are "the dumbest team in America."
"I can't say the man was right because I wasn't here," Sapp said. "But we do some crazy stuff. We flat do some crazy stuff."
PLAYING DUMB
Chicago Bears quarterback Craig Krenzel was the man behind centre with the the 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes team that running back Maurice Clarett led to the NCAA championship.
But the Bears' rookie claims to know little or nothing about the free cars, easy grades and large quantities of cash Clarett claimed this week that he received in college.
"I don't know what's going on with the whole situation," Krenzel said. "We never did know a whole lot of the information; we never wanted to. And right now I'm here to talk about the Bears and Titans."
Krenzel should get used to the line of questioning, however. As explosive as Clarett's revelations were, this story isn't going to die. And ex-Buckeyes around the NFL are going to continue to hear about it.
DOES DUMB MEAN STUPID?
A year after Callahan called his team dumb and was skewered for it, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells called his team dumb and stupid and most nodded in agreement.
"I'm just saying, collectively we perform with a lack of intelligence," Parcells said about the 3-5 Cowboys, who are drifting from playoff contention. "I'm just using a shorter word for it. They're doing dumb things -- that's the truth."
Dallas quarterback Vinny Testaverde -- he of four turnovers last week and seven in the past two games -- refused to comment on Parcells' outburst.
But safety Roy Williams admitted the coach had a point, especially given last week's blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
"We have a stupid team, a stupid team that false starts, doesn't protect the gall and gives up big plays," Williams said. "We are a stupid team. We do stupid things that lose games."
NO DUMMY HERE
After turning the ball over four times in last week's loss to the Chicago Bears, New York Giants quarterback Kurt Warner expected there would be howls for his head.
He was right, as Jints fans are getting itchy to see Eli Manning, the top pick in the 2003 draft, in action.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised because I've been there before," Warner said, referring to losing his job to Marc Bulger over the past two years in St. Louis.
Warner intimated that the Rams situation stung more, especially considering he had led the team to a Super Bowl win. In New York, he knew it would be a matter of time, considering the investment his new team has made in Manning.
"I had the feeling that was my team," Warner said of the Rams. "I played so long there, it was more difficult.
"Here, I knew coming in this would be part of it. There was less room for me to have a poor game here. But I'm not going home and losing sleep over it."
