Miami(0-3) plays host to Oakland (1-2) this afternoon. Miami scored 28 points last week against the Jets but still managed to lose 31-28. The offense, at least for one week, appears to be coming together. Except Miami was playing the 28th ranked defense in the NFL last week. Will Miami soon return to their bumbling ways on offense?

Note- Oakland is ranked 27th in defense.

Much of the talk this week revolves around former Dolphin Daunte Culpepper getting the start. The bigger issue for Miami is the dismal play of the team’s defense so far this year. Supposed to be the team’s strength, instead the unit is ranked 29th in the NFL. That makes for a bad combo when the Dolphins play the 3rd best rushing team this week. Will Raider RB LaMont Jordan have a field day today?

Like the Dolphins history with the New York Jets, Raider-Dolphin games are usually determined by who has home field advantage. I’m going against that factor, for I don’t know how Miami can contain Jordan. My prediction- Oakland 27, Miami 24.

Some how I knew this was coming.

NEW YORK - A New York Jets season-ticket holder filed a class-action lawsuit Friday against the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick for “deceiving customers.”

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., by Carl Mayer of Princeton Township, N.J., stems from the Patriots being caught illegally videotaping signals from Jets coaches in New England’s 38-14 season-opening win Sept. 9.

“They violated the integrity of the game,” Mayer’s attorney, Bruce Afran, told The Associated Press. “This is a way of punishing Belichick and the Patriots.”

Mayer is seeking more than $184 million in damages for Jets ticket holders.

Belichick was fined $500,000 by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and the team was fined $250,000 for violating a league rule that prohibits clubs from using a video camera on the sidelines for any purpose — including recording signals relayed to opposing players on the field. New England also must forfeit a first-round draft pick next year if it makes the playoffs or a second- and third-rounder if it doesn’t.

“They were deceiving customers,” said the 48-year-old Mayer. “You can’t deceive customers.”

But how were Jets fans Patriot customers? The Jets are who the fans bought the tickets from. If Mayer’s clients sued the Jets, the team may not want to sell them tickets any more.

I wonder if I could sue Theodore Bikel then. Some years ago, my wife and I saw the stage musical version of Fiddler on the Roof at the local playhouse. Because of a musicians strike, the only music that night was supplied by piano. Bikel had fun with the Tevye dream sequence line in the show. “There were even musicians.” I didn’t pay one hundred dollars for my wife and I to see ‘Piano on the Roof’!

Mayer and Afran, who consider themselves public interest lawyers, have been thorns in the side of New Jersey politicians for years, filing lawsuits and demanding investigations to advance their grievances. They are well known in the state but generally have had little success in their causes.

Both have lost bids for elected offices, and Mayer once served as a presidential campaign adviser to Ralph Nader.

Now we know these lawyers are crackpots. Anyone who can advise Ralph Nader to run for President is certifiable.

Ouch!

KILLENARD, Ireland — Marc Warren was back playing in the Seve Trophy tournament on Friday, the morning after he injured himself by accidentally smashing a chandelier with a golf club in his hotel room.

The Scotsman said he tried a practice swing with a 5-iron in his room Thursday night and hit a glass chandelier which smashed into pieces over him.

Warren was taken to a hospital where he received stitches for a deep cut in his abdomen. He also had minor cuts on his arms and head.

“There was plenty of blood and a towel I held to my stomach was covered when I arrived at the hospital,” Warren said. “But the only thing that hurt was the scratch on my head. I feel fine about playing today.”

Mr. Warren may be hurting in the wallet also. Hotel owners, my late father was one, don’t appreciate customers destroying hotel property.

Memo to Marc- Stick to practice putting on hotel rugs.

Via ESPN: Hurt Rams RB Jackson out at least week.

So much for JuJo v. Jackson, eh? (Fans may recall that Parcells could have taken Jackson, but traded down and eventually took Julius Jones).

Jackson has a partial tear of his left groin (and that doesn’t sound like much fun, I must say).

The Rams are rather banged up:

The 0-3 Rams learned they lost Jackson a day after guard Mark Setterstrom was lost for the season with a torn left knee ligament and cartilage damage. Setterstrom is the second lineman the Rams have lost this season, after seven-time Pro Bowl tackle Orlando Pace sustained a season-ending shoulder injury in the opener.

And starting QB Marc Bulger is playing with two broken ribs and is wearing a sleeve to protect his bruised knee.

Dallas should (and I say should) crush the Rams this weekend.

So reports the Cowboys Blog@ the DMN

Behind New England and Indy, which is fair.

The whole set of rankings is here: NFL Power Rankings/a>.

Via the AP: Reports: Bears to bench QB Rex Grossman.

Not that Brian Griese is much better…

Backing up what I said last night: Monday Morning QB (cont.)

I think this is my advice to officiating czar Mike Pereira after viewing a day of football Sunday: You have got to talk to your crews this week about some of the biggest phantom calls in recent times. They were all over the place, particularly from Ron Winter’s crew Sunday night. A phony interference call on Terrell Owens and a terrible illegal-block-in-the-back call on Jason Witten … those calls just can’t be supported on video. And they weren’t the only ones Sunday.

The officiating was just horrendous last night.

Why is this special? The former #1 player in women’s tennis gave birth to her first child barely three months ago.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia - Lindsay Davenport won her first singles title after almost a year’s absence from the tour, defeating Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 Sunday to capture the Bali Open.

Davenport was playing her first singles tournament since having a baby in June. And the 31-year-old Californian eliminated some strong opponents en route to this title: second-seeded Hantuchova, top-seeded Jelena Jankovic and fifth-seeded Eleni Daniilidou.

“I’m a little bit in shock,” said Davenport, who won this event in 2024. “It’s just overwhelming and exciting. I swear this is probably the first tournament I’ve played in four years where I didn’t have anything wrong with my lower extremities.”

Davenport, ranked No. 1 in 1998, has won three Grand Slams in addition to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics. Her previous title came in Zurich, Switzerland, nearly two years ago.

She had not competed on the WTA Tour since reaching the Beijing quarterfinals in September 2024, when she lost to Amelie Mauresmo. She gave birth to her first child — a son, Jagger — with husband and former tennis player Jon Leach.

Tiger Woods, who became a father this year, got twenty times the attention Ms. Davenport got. It isn’t really fair either. Any father out there knows, the mother carries the greater load when it comes to parenting before and after birth. Pro athletes who can succeed at both have my admiration.(Trivia time- Name the last two LPGA Hall of Fame inductees that are also mothers?)

Congrats to Lindsay on proving she can still win at pro tennis.

This is one of the worst ref crews I have seen in some time. There were two rotten calls in the first half (a block in the back that wasn’t and an offensive pass interference that wasn’t) and one non-call: Dallas WR Patrick Crayton was held near the end zone right before Dallas’ first half FG, but it wasn’t called.

And then there was the screw up at the end of the half wherein Dallas should’ve been given the ball.

Awful.

Update: Wasn’t that a horsecollar on Julius Jones at the end of the 3rd quarter?