Lineup
FEATURES
PRO FOOTBALL
38 Opening Statement
Week 1 of the NFL season put Super Bowl contenders to the test, and the Chargers sent the simpering Bears home
By Alan Shipnuck
40 Dandy Again
Randy Moss sparkled in his Patriots debut. The question: Can he be stopped?
By Andrew Lawrence
45 Passing Marks
With a typical season, Brett Favre will surpass three of Dan Marino's records
By Peter King
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
51 Watch Out!
In scaring Texas, TCU showed the danger non-BCS programs can pose
By Austin Murphy
TENNIS
56 Without Peer
At the U.S. Open, champ Roger Federer left little doubt about how good he is
By S.L. Price
BASEBALL
60 Gnarly Hustle
Eric Byrnes is more than a high-energy novelty act for the NL's upstart contender
By Chris Ballard
NASCAR CHASE PREVIEW
Jimmie Johnson is the reigning Cup champ and 2OO7's winningest driver, but a second title won't come easy against the deepest field yet
by Lars Anderson P. 68
• Scouting reports on the 12 contenders
Departments
10 Leading Off
16 Letters
19 Players
•The best day for the best ever
• First Person: Ted Ginn Jr.
• The star-crossed Orioles
• Chris Chelios's old-time workout
34 Faces in the Crowd
98 Life of Reilly
A guide to winning the dating game from the new King of Cool, Tom Brady by Rick Reilly
Inside...
86 The NFL
• The new D in Big D struggles
90 Baseball
• No rotation is as deep as the Mets'
92 Olympic Sports
• U.S. gymnastics is back on track
94 College Football
• UCLA's no Pac-10 contender—yet
95 High School Football
• The nation's top two square off
Cover
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAMIAN STROHMEYER
INSET PHOTOS: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images (Federer);
Mike Ehrmann (Woods);
Peter Aiken/ Cal Sport Media (Rodriguez);
John W. McDonough (Chargers)
COVER FLAPS: Greg Nelson (McCoy);
John Biever (Favre)
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PHOTO
DARREN CARROLL (TEXAS-TCU)
TEXAS DROP 'EM Wide receiver Nate Jones of Texas (9) and TCU safety Steven Coleman battled for a pass that fell incomplete last Saturday in the Longhorns' 34--13 victory
PHOTO
NIGEL KINRADE/AUTOSTOCK (JOHNSON)