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)