ABOUT FACE

Four weeks after throwing his offensive linemen under the bus, publicly complaining that he'd gain a lot more yards if he were playing somewhere else, Washington running back Clinton Portis was named the NFL's offensive player of the week after gaining 145 yards on 29 carries in the Redskins' 23-17 upset victory Sunday over the Eagles.

The former University of Miami star collected all those yards against an Eagles defense that went into the game as the No. 1 run stopping unit in the league, allowing only 53.8 rushing yards a game. His 27-yard carry in the third quarter was the longest run the Eagles have given up all year, and Portis is now the NFL's second leading rusher, with 514 yards. He trails only Michael Turner of the Falcons, who has 543.

Portis also called his own number on a run that sealed the Redskins' victory. Faced with a fourth-and-1 situation at midfield, he convinced rookie head coach Jim Zorn to let him carry the ball on a halfback draw from a shotgun formation. Portis gained three grinding yards for the first down with less than two minutes to play, and the Redskins ran three take-a-knee plays to run out the clock and improve to 4-1.

THREE UP

Baltimore defense: Ray Lewis has been the right reverend this season, seemingly baptizing himself in the Fountain of Youth. Other key cogs of the Ravens' defense, such as safety Ed Reed and cornerback Chris McAllister, also rediscovered health. Now they're No. 1 across the board -- run, pass and overall -- recalling their marauding days during the early part of this decade.

Kerry Collins: One of those increasingly common chintzy roughing penalties goosed the game-winning drive against Baltimore, but the 35-year-old substitute quarterback, backed up by a strong running game and defense, has Tennessee at 5-0. With all that Collins has been through and as often as he's yanked his career back from oblivion's edge, he's remindful of Rod Tidwell's line to Jerry Maguire: ``You are hanging on by a very thin thread and I DIG THAT about you!''

Reggie Bush: With five of 16 games gone, Bush is 75 percent of the way to tying the season record for touchdown punt returns and averaging 29.0 yards per return. Surely, that can't continue, right?

THREE DOWN

Pacman Jones: It's unclear what happened in that hotel Tuesday night -- nothing, shoving or a fight. But it's clear Jones and Denver wide receiver Brandon Marshall need to help each other with a pact: call each other as they head home, fix or order dinner, plop down on the couch, play some Madden on the Internet or something until bedtime. Maybe include a nice young woman if she likes to sit on the couch, too. Either way, keep your talented-but-can't-stay-out-of-trouble behind home until you outgrow acting up in public.

Ed Hochuli's crew: Just as players can have games and seasons during which they can't walk and curse coaches at the same time, so, apparently, can officials. Hochuli's crew once again botched two potentially game-changing calls during Monday night's marvelous duel between Minnesota and New Orleans. Even worse, one was a replay call on which Hochuli had video help.

League fines: Part of the NFL's appeal is speed and inherent violence. The league office might want to remember that when dishing out fines for helmet-to-helmet hits that are going to happen when 22 big, fast men battle for domination on a stamp of land.

BY THE NUMBERS

Now he's getting rowdy: Wide receiver Roddy White spent most of the first three years as Atlanta's portion of the generally dismal 2005 NFL Draft first round. Maybe White just needed time. Or maybe he just needed a decent arm delivering the ball downfield with accuracy. A look at the first five games in each of White's past three seasons.

YEAR	QB	REC	AVG/CAT	TD
2006	Michael Vick	8	8.6	0
2007	Joey Harrington*	21	12.2	1
2008	Matt Ryan	26	17.5	2

*Byron Leftwich replaced Harrington during the fifth game in 2007.

Tightening up inside the beltway: The only Washington bailout already showing positive effects actually is taking place in the Maryland suburbs, way out where the Redskins are making a bipartisan (offensive and defensive) effort at taking the NFC East after a snooze bar-slapping opening game loss to the Giants.

	GM 1	GMS 2-5
Yards per rush	3.5	4.5	Jason Campbell's completion pct.	55.6	65.6	Jason Campbell's yds. per pass attempt	4.93	7.42	Third down offense success rate	23.1	44.7	Rush yds. per game allowed	154.0	68.3	Time of possession	24:17	35:03

Or, maybe it's as simple as protecting the ball. Washington, which is 4-1, is only the third team since 1933 to have only one turnover through the first five games. Though the 1998 Bengals' record doesn't look impressive, it was one of only two times from 1993-2000 they won two of their first five games.

TEAM	GMS 1-5: W-L	GM 6	TO/GM 6-END	FINAL W-L
1960 Cleveland	4-1	3 TOs in 17-13 loss	2.29	8-3-1	1998 Cincinnati	2-3	1 TO in 44-14 loss	1.91	3-13

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