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Can you believe that he never came down? Brian Griese threw 67 passes against the Chicago Bears, and they couldn’t take him down. It was the second most amazing statistic of the day.

No. 1: Griese wasn’t sacked. Not once!

“You’ll never see that again,” Bucs coach Jon Gruden said.

Bucs offensive lineman, Jeremy Trueblood, sat on a chair in the locker room. For the longest time, only his mouth moved.

“I’ve never felt this exhausted,” he said.

Granted, Trueblood wasn’t too tired to start that field scrum in overtime that led to a Bears personal-foul penalty that saved the day and led to the Bucs’ game-winning drive. But you get the idea.

“We’re all spent,” Trueblood said.

This line isn’t money yet. We still don’t know when it will all come together. Three games into this season and we know that when this line blocks well, the Bucs run well. Sunday came relatively historic pass protecting against a Chicago defense that brought all kinds of looks and blitzes, stacked gaps. It dared Griese to beat it.

Sometimes, he didn’t. In the end, he did. The only thing that is for sure: Nobody got to him!

Running back LaDainian Tomlinson knew it was coming. If San Diego kept relying solely on the arm of quarterback Philip Rivers to get them into the end zone, there was going to be some awfully loud squawking going on in town. So he was thrilled Monday night to finally touch that painted blue grass at Qualcomm Stadium, running in for two scores in the Chargers’ 48-29 win against the Jets.

“I almost forgot what it felt like,” Tomlinson said with a grin. “It was like, ‘Jeez, the next thing is the media is going to start getting on us about no rushing touchdowns.’ … I was happy to get a rushing touchdown to keep you guys off our backs.”

LaDainian, who had never started a pro season with three straight games without a touchdown, jumped over the line for a 2-yard score in the third quarter to give the Chargers a 38-14 advantage, and he added another pounding 2-yard run to make it 45-23. Still hampered by an injured big toe on his right foot, Tomlinson ran for only a 2.6-yard average on the night — 67 yards on 26 carries — but he got the work done in the red zone after some nice setup efforts by backup Darren Sproles (38 yards on five carries).

“Today was going to be one of those physical running days,” Tomlinson said. “Making one cut and going straight ahead is not a problem for me.”

Brett Favre played really bad for the Jets Monday night and when that happens, things can get pretty ugly. When Favre is playing well, he can make magic. But throughout his career, he mixes in the clunkers every now and then and that’s the Favre the Jets got on Monday night game. He looked so aged and slow and had no synchronization with his receivers in the Jets’ 48-29 loss.

Favre had a hard time shaking San Diego’s pressure up front. His second interception was way beyond Jerricho Cotchery and the Chargers only had to move 45 yards to turn the game into an embarrassing 31-14 at the half.

When the Jets traded for this “Hall of Famer”, they knew what they were getting: A star quarterback who can make every throw, but who when things aren’t going well tries to win games by himself, and bad things can happen.

It’s not unexpected that the Jets are 1-2 after playing the Dolphins, Patriots and Chargers. And with the softer part of their schedule coming up in the next six weeks, including games against the winless Chiefs and Rams and 1-2 Raiders, Monday night’s loss should not take them to a panic mode.

La’Roi Glover, defensive tackle of the Saint Louis rams said “It’s time to get a win; It’s time to play four solid quarters of football. It’s time for our playmakers to show up. It’s time for all of that stuff to happen.”

Few expected the Rams to win their season opener last week in Philadelphia. But no one expected such an incompetent performance, least of all the players.

“Not in a million years,” offensive guard Jacob Bell said. “I honestly thought it’d be the other way around.”If you told me this was going to be the score, and what would happen in the game, I would’ve bet a million dollars on it (not happening),” cornerback Tye Hill said. “I didn’t think it was possible with the team that we had gathered here.”

But it happened. The Rams’ team has played 219 regular season and postseason games since the move to St. Louis in 1995. But if not the worst, last week’s 38-3 loss to the Eagles was among the worst five or six showings for the “St. Louis” Rams.

But the more alarming thing is the fact that seven months of preparation and hard training went into what happened last Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.

Torry Holt, Saint Louis wide receiver said: “Guys have worked hard to get to this point, we felt good early on in training camp. Preseason, there were some things that we needed to shore up; we felt we did that. And then to go up there and not to play well was shocking.”

The fans felt the same way. Overreaction is part of life in NFL for fans and the media. But rarely has a Rams defeat created such a negative reaction from a fan base not only numbed by last season’s 3-13 record, but also worried about the possible sale (and departure) of their hometown team.

“I hope the fans don’t read too much into some of the articles being written about our lack of enthusiasm,” wide receiver Dane Looker said. “That’s just commentators on the sideline making comments; that’s writers making comments. To me it’s a little presumptive for them to say that, because they don’t really know exactly how we feel. You look at the tape; we went out there and fought as hard as we could.”

Giving full detail account of the Green Bay chaos, New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre said he was forced by the organization into making a decision, claiming he was conflicted on the day he made his tearful retirement announcement in March. Favre thought the Packers were going to ask him back in early May, when GM Ted Thompson flew to his home in Mississippi, but that turned into a bizarre meeting.

At the end of a very long lunch, Thompson told Favre they wanted to do something “special” for him and would take his locker to pieces at Lambeau Field and have it sent to him in boxes.

Favre couldn’t believe that!

“I’m thinking, ‘Way to get my ass out the door,’ ” Favre said.”I mean, that’s the craziest thing I ever heard of.”

Favre insisted he won’t derive any pleasure in trying to make the Packers look bad, although one source claimed that Brett wants to stick it to Thompson. “That’s his motivation,” the source said.

Without a doubt, Favre still has some bitterness toward the Packers, especially Thompson, whom he described as a painfully shy man, which he believes makes him ill-suited for a GM job. Favre confessed he was unsure throughout the spring in his many conversations with the Green Bay team, but he said it was no different than how he felt the previous three off seasons.

Brett knew his return wasn’t going to be smooth. He thought to himself, “How do I get myself out of this jam? I’m thinking, ‘Boy, this isn’t going to look good. Am I willing to deal with this?’ At first, I was like, ‘its best I just stay retired.’”

Finally, he figured out: “I still have the fire.” When he told to Coach Mike McCarthy his intention to return, he said that the Coach responds: “Oh, God, Brett, you’re putting us in a tight spot.”

The veteran quarterback still can’t grasp why Green Bay didn’t want him back.

“I think Aaron Rodgers will do a real good job, barring injury,” Brett said, “but if you’re a betting man and said, ‘Who gives us the best chance to win right now?’… This isn’t bragging, but I think I would. Aaron may play great, and they’ll look like geniuses, but to not welcome me back… I just assumed it was the fear of upsetting Aaron, not only now but in the future. To me, that’s ridiculous, totally ridiculous.”