WHO'S Hot WHO'S Not
WHO'S Hot
Matt Schaub
He's no Sage. With Houston trailing Miami 14--3 and Texans fans calling forbackup Sage Rosenfels—the same guy whose three late turnovers caused a Week 5loss to Indy—Schaub reversed his winless team's fortunes, throwing for acareer-best 379 yards and sneaking in for the winning TD. Running back AhmanGreen to the Houston Chronicle, "He was determined to win."
Noel Devine
With QB Pat White shelved, West Virginia needed Devine intervention and got it.The tailback (below) ran for 188 yards—92 on a fourth-quarter TD run—in a 17--6win over Syracuse. Now? The Big East offensive player of the week can savorWVU's' third straight W: No game till Oct. 23.
ColumbiaBaseball
Pride of the Lions. Alumnus Fernando Perez (right) is shining as a Ray (page38). The first ex-Lion to get up in the MLB playoffs in 17 years has a novelrésumé: He majored in American studies with an emphasis on creativewriting.
Jelena Jankovic
No. 1 makes three. The WTA's newly top-ranked player won her third straightevent by cruising through the Kremlin Cup final on Sunday. How does she do it?Jankovic: "I've been trying my best."
WHO'S Not
JaMarcusRussell
He's no Stabler. In coach Tom Cable's debut the Raiders' cannon-armed sophomoreQB fell to 1--5 in his career after a wild and fruitless Sunday. Russellcompleted 13 of 35 passes (NB: That's not so good), lost a fumble and threw aninterception, and save for some stone-handed Saints defenders, it could havebeen worse. "Patience," said Cable after the game, "iseverything."
Leigh Torrence
First the Redskins cornerback (below) got hot—he jawed face-to-face with Ramshead coach Jim Haslett—and then he got burned. Torrence's blown coverage onRams receiver Donnie Avery meant a 43-yard completion that set up St. Louis'sgame-winning field goal.
ColumbiaFootball
Recalling the shame. The Ivy leaguers, who lost a I-AA-record 44 straight gamesin the 1980s are now on a 12-game slide—their longest since that Hapless Era.They're 0--4 this season, which began with a too-many-men penalty costing themtheir home opener.
Marat Safin
Not so fast, comrade. Safin lost in Moscow to fellow Russian, 71st-ranked IgorKunitsyn. It's now 3 1/2 years with no title for No. 40 Safin. Even Kunitsynwas surprised, telling the BBC, "Everyone knows Marat is better thanme."
SI PLAYERS NFL POLL
Who is the most underrated quarterback in the NFL?
David Garrard, Jaguars 20%
Eli Manning, Giants 8%
Drew Brees, Saints 8%
Donovan McNabb, Eagles 7%
Matt Hasselbeck, Seahawks 6%
FAST FACTS
Players could not vote for a teammate.... Manning finished third in last week'spoll, which asked, Who is the most overrated quarterback in the NFL... Brees'ssuccessor in San Diego, Philip Rivers, led the overrated poll; in thisunderrated poll, QBs were partial to Brees, giving him 27.8% of their vote....Since 2004 the Jaguars are 22--13 in regular-season games that Garrard hasstarted.
[Based on a survey of 320 NFL players] • For more onthe poll, and to comment on it, go to SI.com/players.
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JOHN W. MCDONOUGH (RUSSELL)
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CLIFF WELCH/ICON SMI (TORRRENCE)
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MISHA JAPARIDZE/AP (JANKOVIC)
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GARY BOGDEN (PEREZ)
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JEFF GENTNER/AP (DEVINE)
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RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES (SCHAUB)
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MICHAEL J. LEBRECHT II/1DEUCE3 PHOTOGRAPHY (MANNING)
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BILL FRAKES (GARRARD)