Kerry Collins

At this point, patience is needed. The Ravens are interested in a number of veteran quarterbacks, but it would be foolish to reveal their hand so early into the offseason. It's the game outside the game. Will they sign a potential unrestricted free agent such as Drew Brees, Charlie Batch, Jon Kitna, Josh McCown, Kurt Warner or Jeff Garcia? Or will they sign a possible salary cap casualty like Steve McNair, Kerry Collins, Aaron Brooks or Daunte Culpepper? A lot of things can and will change in the coming months, but early indications point to Collins being the perfect fit to become the Ravens' starting quarterback in 2006.

Raiders (5-9) at Chiefs (6-8) Time, TV: 5 p.m., chs. 13, 9 Line: Chiefs by 8 Lowdown: Both teams are playing out the string, although the Chiefs still can make 8-8. Raiders QB Kerry Collins (12 TD passes in the past four games) will take aim at the Chiefs' non-existent pass defense (No. 32). Chiefs RB Larry Johnson aims for his fourth straight 100-yard rushing game against Oakland's No. 24 rushing defense. The Chiefs have won three in a row. The pick: Chiefs Broncos (8-6) at Titans (4-10)

Seahawks soar Spurred by MVP quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who throws for 40 touchdowns and 4,000 yards, the Seahawks beat the Packers in the NFC championship game to reach their first Super Bowl. Then, just as he did in Green Bay to win his first Super Bowl title, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren beats the Patriots again to win his second. This time, it's a missed Adam Vinatieri field goal that decides the issue. No defense for Chiefs In a Week 8 rematch of their playoff shootout last season, the Colts beat the Chiefs again, this time by 49-48.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Bruce Smith and the Washington Redskins got what they so desperately wanted. Smith broke the NFL record for career sacks with his 199th, and the Redskins staved off a mounting tide of frustration and criticism by defeating the New York Giants, 20-7, yesterday at Giants Stadium for only their second win in nine games. The victory meant little except that Washington (5-8) beat New York (4-9) for only the second time in the teams' past seven meetings. Less than half of the announced attendance of 78,217 bothered to show up, much less stay for the duration of the game.

The punishment for attacking a teammate was not nearly strong enough. Bill Romanowski may have ended the career of second-year tight end Marcus Williams a week ago in practice, and all the Oakland Raiders did was send the linebacker to the corner until he promised to be good. Oh, they fined him an undisclosed amount and banished him from the complex for one day. Upon his return, a supposedly repentant Romanowski issued mea culpas all around. What, no penalty lap around the practice field?

LANDOVER - The Washington Redskins delivered a present to a team that desperately needed one. Armed with a chance to resuscitate their quickly fading playoff hopes, the Redskins ended those dreams by committing five turnovers that the New York Giants converted into 21 points in a 27-21 NFC East victory before 78,635 at FedEx Field. The loss eliminated Washington (5-8) from the NFC playoff race. Conversely, New York kept a faint glimmer of hope by ending a two-game losing streak and improving to 7-6. "The turnovers were crucially bad," said Washington coach Steve Spurrier, who is in danger of suffering his first losing season as a coach since his rookie year in 1987, when Duke finished 5-6. "We did some good things, but unfortunately, we turned it over."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The countdown has begun for the Washington Redskins. Desperately needing a win to remain in contention for an NFC wild-card spot, Washington could not shake loose from its offensive woes yesterday, and the New York Giants blocked a field-goal try by James Tuthill late in the fourth quarter to seal a 19-17 victory before a wet and cold crowd of 78,727 at Giants Stadium. The Redskins fell to 4-6 and 0-2 in the NFC East. They are three games behind the division-leading Philadelphia Eagles (7-3, 3-0)

Caught up in the moment and a fit of hyperbole, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens heralded tonight's kickoff of the NFL's 2002 season this way: "This is what everybody, God and country, has been waiting for." At least the football populace, anyway. Six days before the anniversary of Sept. 11 and nearly a year after they last visited the Meadowlands, the 49ers play the New York Giants tonight in the league's first nationally televised midweek season opener. The 8:30 start on ESPN will follow a 3 1/2 -hour music festival in Times Square that will feature Bon Jovi, Enrique Iglesias and Eve, among other performers.

When New York quarterbacks Kerry Collins (Giants) and Vinny Testaverde (Jets) surveyed ground zero at the World Trade Center last week, they were dumbfounded by the magnitude of the destruction. When they came away from the ruins, they both had dedicated themselves to a bigger family. "The way I look at it is, we're directly affected by this and we've got a lot to be thankful for and we've got a lot to play for because there's a spirit and a sense of community here that I think we can all draw from," Collins said.

The second quarter was a near repeat of the first. The Ravens relied heavily on their defense to keep the New York Giants off the scoreboard and used another big pass play to set up another scoring drive. The quarter started off with Ravens linebacker Jamie Sharper slamming Giants receiver Ike Hilliard into the ground on an incompletion as the game got increasingly more physical. But the Ravens had to avoid their biggest scare of the first half just five minutes into the quarter. Trying to escape a sack, Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer hastily threw the ball into the left flat, where linebacker Jessie Armstead picked it off and returned it 43 yards for a touchdown.