Posted by Will Brinson

Fiery Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith was reportedly yelling and screaming at Jimmy Clausen following Carolina's meltdown against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3, a loss fueled largely by Clausen repeatedly fumbling the ball, staring down receivers, and being unable to get Smith the rock.

Now, he claims that the reports that he was screaming at the rookie are silly and that the people reporting them are "jokes."

"It was said that I was just about to 'go off,' and I wasn't," Smith said after Wednesday's practice. "I thought it was interesting because here, I was obviously agitated and frustrated, but sometimes people think they know me better than I know myself. I think that's a joke, and I think the people that reported it are jokes."

Smith also added that Clausen did "as well as he could with the current situation" when asked about the rookie's debut.

And Clausen, for his part, also got the wide receiver's back when it came to discussing their sideline chatter against the Bengals.

"There really wasn't anything between me and Steve," Clausen said. "Like I told you after the game, it's just his competitiveness as a football player. He wants the ball. I think it's a good thing for your receivers to want the ball as much as they can get it."

Here's the order of events in Carolina with something like this: Steve Smith gets mad, Steve Smith does something aggressive in public, Steve Smith thinks people overreact about the thing he did when everyone sees it (note: we are right here in the scale of what Steve Smith does), teammate gets Steve Smith's back, Steve Smith finally realizes he did something a little wrong, Steve Smith apologizes.

Now, this situation is less serious since it's a rookie we're talking about, and Clausen doesn't really have much of a choice outside of playing along with whatever Smith wants; ignoring the only real receiving threat on the team as a young quarterback isn't precisely an intelligent move.

"I can't force anything," Clausen said. "I tried to force that one into him (Sunday), and it got intercepted. And that is what you get more times than making a completion. I have to be smart. Steve is a great player, and I want to get the ball to him as many times as I can, but I can't force it because it causes turnovers and interceptions."

And Smith might have a pretty good point about this being overblown; remember that there were rumors circulating early on during the offseason that Smith though Clausen was a "punk" and didn't particularly care for his attitude.

Whether that's true or not (Smith said it wasn't), it's going to remain the underlying stereotype for Clausen and Smith's relationship until they prove differently. Winning a game this season would probably help, too.

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Posted by Will Brinson

Givin Em the Business recognizes all the people that annoyed you from the week that was in football. Feel free to provide nominations either in the comments or by yelling at us on Twitter (@CBSSportsNFL) .

Rank	Who	Why
1	Garrett Hartley	As someone who picked the Falcons upset the Saints and eventually to win the Super Bowl (yeah, I'll be reminding you until their next loss), I love Hartley for helping me look good. But as someone who loves his job yet wishes he could get paid six (or more) figures to swing his leg back and forth and kick a football 29-yards through a really wide gap between two poles, well, Garrett Hartley, you are a total loser.
2	Shaun Smith	The story of Shaun Smith and his affinity for grabbing other men's junk has been fairly well chronicled over the past few weeks. But not well enough -- if there's a guy out there who plays football for a living and spends most of his time amidst other piles of men and he just so happens to frequently punch/yank/grab/pull/etc other man parts, well, he needs to be fined. Or sent to jail or Singapore or something. Last I checked, "given 'em the business" is like three life terms there.
3	Jay Cutler	The Packers deserve some blame for an ugly Monday night game, but look to the left at this picture -- it is Jay Cutler, in the words of the guys at KSK, acting "triumphant after throwing [a] masterful pass interference penalty." And that accurately describes the CUTBRAH and the Bears this season, except they're somehow 3-0, which makes them eleventy billion time more insufferable.
4	Mike Singletary	You know what? I've always thought Singletary is a good coach, but that's mainly because he does really funny stuff 50 percent of the time and spends the other 50 percent of the time yelling at his players in a manner that causes them to respond. But it might be time to stop blaming other people (Jimmy Raye) and just admit that Singletary is at fault with the Niners failure.
5	Dez Bryant's Dinner	t's not like spending $54,000 is even a big deal. Seriously, people. Once you start blogging for a living, you make it rain with 55 GRRR at least once a week. (It's because living in a basement and not paying for pants is secretly the most genius money-saver of all-time.) Anyway, who cares about this dinner. Why are we wasting all of our time talking about it? It's funny. They're rich. He's young. WHAT-EVER ... just let's end this so no one ever has to hear Herm Edwards talking about the limits ($1,500?!?!) on his credit cards again.
6	Jimmy Clausen	It became infinitely easier to hate on Clausen when he appeared to have a Power Glove and/or mittens on. After all, the last Panthers quarterback to sport Mittens? David Carr. Not a good precedent to set for the rookie. But then you see the entrance he made (pointing to the crowd, jumping through smoke) and compare it to the exit and you have to think that maybe he could really work on humility a little bit more, you know?
7	Darrelle Revis	The Jets keep winning ... without him. Which is bizarre, considering he's by far their best player, and annoying, considering we spent the entire offseason debating how much he's worth as a premier cornerback since he decided to hold out and act like the Jets couldn't live without him. Now he's not practicing again, and might not play this weekend, which just makes it all that much more obnoxious that we held our breath for so long.
8	Marcus McNeill	Welcome back, guy! Good thing you decided to hold out, because, boy, did you really show A.J. Smith what-for. Not only did you manage to not play a large portion of the season, but you also managed to lose a ton of money and end up playing this year for nothing!
9	Lovie Smith	Yup, picking on someone else who is 3-0. That's because Lovie's coaching decisions thus far this year are completely inexplicable. It's one thing to be "aggressive" when it comes to making fourth down decisions, it's another thing to be "completely idiotic." Lovie's been the latter at least two (and maybe) three times this season, eschewing a field goal that would tie the game -- twice! -- in favor of trying to extend a red zone drive. Lucking out with a win after whiffing those can't last forever.
10	Sebastian Janikowski	Eh, why not bookend this week's edition with kickers? It was that kind of week after all. The weird thing is that Janikowski said he felt better than ever while warming up against the Cardinals. Clearly he was wrong about something, because he ended up whiffing a game-winner from inside 35-yards which, if you have the biggest leg in the NFL and just happen to be the highest-paid kicker in the league, is the most inexcusable thing you can possibly do.

Dey Took Er Jobs takes a look at the various job controversies around the league. If you don't get the title, you don't watch enough South Park .

Posted by Will Brinson

The Buffalo Bills, probably the most quarterback-desperate team in the NFL over the past 10 or so years, made the surprising decision to cut Trent Edwards yesterday. He is jobless and homeless right now, but -- thank goodness for that Stanford education! -- certainly not unemployable.

Still, don't feel that sorry for him. After all, by 4:00 PM EST today, when the NFL process all the waiver claims on Edwards , he's going to have a new job and it will likely be in a place that is less like Buffalo potentially more productive for his future.

That's the beauty of getting kicked out of Buffalo: the grass is always greener, even once you've been on the other side for 10 years. Of course, if you're Edwards, you have to be disappointed that the gig didn't work out -- after all, he was drafted by the Bills out of Stanford and given plenty of opportunities to win the starting job and resurrect the franchise. Clearly, that didn't happen.

So knowing that he'll end up somewhere, the question becomes "Where does he get his second chance?"

According to the NFL, the teams with the worst record this year will have priority on waiver claims, and assuming that multiple teams with the same record make a claim on Edwards, a tie will be broken "based on current strength-of-schedule of the involved clubs or by lot if a tie still exists."

Let's say that all the 0-3 teams make a claim as well as the Vikings, Seahawks and Jets. The order would be thus: 49ers/Browns (7-2 opponent record), Lions/Bills (6-3), Panthers (5-4), Jaguars (4-5), Vikings (4-5), Jets (6-3) and Seahawks (2-7).

According to Jason LaCanfora , though, "no winless teams" made a claim on Edwards, thereby eliminating six teams from consideration and wasting about 15 minutes of my time, primarily because I'm horribly bad at math.

Out of those teams, the 49ers are most surprising (see below), but, considering that LaCanfora has a knack for being correct and also happens to work for a media outlet owned by the organization who takes the waiver claims in from the teams, it seems that one fo the 26 other squads will be going after the former team captain in Buffalo.

The Vikings haven't been rumored insofar as I can tell but they still make sense, especially if you buy into the theory that Brett Favre might get hurt. (Oh, and the theory that everyone's scared of having to put Tavaris Jackson into the game.)

The Jets are considered a team that would be heavily interested in having Edwards on board -- but probably only to steal secrets from the Bills in anticipation of their upcoming ... HAHAHAHA, sorry. Okay, actually because they'd prefer to have someone more lively than Mark Brunell to step in if Mark Sanchez is injured or falters.

And the Seahawks make absolute sense because Edwards is a cheap third option when should Matt Hasselbeck suffer an injury and they realize that Charlie Whitehurst isn't cut out to run their offense.

***
Why the Niners didn't make a claim is beyond me -- they're a team who needs to find an offensive identity, having been continually perplexed by the inconsistency of Alex Smith, who looked to have "arrived" during a close loss to the Saints in Week 2, only to have "checked out for the duration" against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Oh, and they're the only 0-3 team,

Edwards would provide them an option that's not David Carr to either push or replace Alex Smith. And look, Mike Singletary just fired his offensive coordinator only a few days after publicly defending him and acting outraged that anyone would question whether Raye knew what he was doing (um, he didn't, duh).

Plus, they could've claimed Edwards and Singletary could have done the whole "just for depth" and "Alex is our starter" dance, only to put him in the game after Smith's second interception in the first quarter against the Falcons in Week 4.

***
The Cleveland Browns decision not to pursue Edwards isn't as odd, I suppose, although Jake Delhomme hasn't looked great when he's been healthy, and while Seneca Wallace is a Mike Holmgren favorite, outside of tossing a bomb past an out-of-place Eric Berry, he hasn't been that great (370 yards, two TDs and a pick in two games).

But the decision not to spend a roster spot on adding a potentially gimpy donkey to their stable of already ugly horses is understandable, except that unless Delhomme can stay healthy, Cleveland's one bad break away from putting McCoy under center and really slapping a postage stamp to the season.

***
An argument could be made that the Panthers need to at least make a run at Edwards as well, but he's really nothing more than Matt Moore sans familiarity with the team and coaching staff.

The bigger problem for Carolina might be that John Fox already regrets his blatantly panicked decision to put Jimmy Clausen under center after an 0-2 start that only got uglier in a home loss to Cincinnati.

The good news is that the Saints -- as shown by Atlanta plowing through them in the Bayou -- are vulnerable against the run, and if there's one thing the Panthers should do well, it's pound the rock. They haven't been great about it thus far, but that's because they're staring down stacked boxes on nearly every play as teams refuse to respect whoever's under center.

That could change this weekend -- weather won't be a factor (see: three fumbles by Jim-Jim), and if Clausen can take his progression blinders off, quit staring down his receiver every play, the Panthers could be primed for a "where did that come from oh right it's the matchup" upset. You heard it here first.

***
The Jaguars would actually be an ideal situation, at least for Edwards. He'd face relatively limited competition -- by all accounts, Jack Del Rio wants to replace David Garrard in the starting lineup, he just doesn't have the bodies to do it after Luke McCown went down with an injury ... immediately after replacing David Garrard .

And let's face it, that offensive line has been putrid thus far; putting Todd Bouman, who is either 18 or 45 years old and who has backed up big names like Kyle Boller, Jamie Martin, Gus Frerotte and Quinn Gray en route to being signed by the Jaguars FOUR DIFFERENT TIMES , won't end well.

***
The notion that Ben Roethlisberger might not start when he returns from suspension following the Steelers' bye in Week 5 has been tossed around in the media. Like, kind of a lot.

And Charlie Batch has been very good in replacing Ben, at least, you know, relative to what everyone expected from Charlie Freaking Batch. But let's not lose our minds just because we (read: you) kind of want to see Roethlisberger punished by karma and riding the pine. He's by far and away the best quarterback option for Pittsburgh, and Mike Tomlin is going to start him as soon as he's allowed to.

If the Steelers happen to be undefeated at that point in time, well, watch out NFL.

***
Quickly ...

- Peyton Hillis didn't just put the whole "Eric Mangini hates  Jerome Harrison" conspiracy theory to bed, he shoved about 15 Ambien in its mouth and then wrapped it in a Snuggie.

- Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles, as much as I'd like to think so, aren't in a battle for a job. They're just two running backs with different style co-existing in a system that just so happens to make one of them less valuable. And the less valuable guy just happens to be Charles, who's more talented.

- The only awesome thing about drafting Kevin Kolb in fantasy leagues is that you had to pick up Michael Vick. That's worked out quite well.

- I really thought that Chan Gailey was trying to showcase Marshawn Lynch to increase his trade value. And even if he was, in the process, Lynch has just become the best running back in Buffalo (once again).

- Kevin Smith returns this week and Jahvid Best is injured ... it shouldn't matter, but that's what Wally Pip probably said too.

- Yeah, I'm really pumped about the "Garrett Hartley versus John Carney" lede in this column next week too, thanks for asking.

Got a link for the Hot Routes? Shout at us on Twitter (@CBSSportsNFL) .

• Jim Schwartz is rather improbably one game away from the worst 20-game start by a head coach in Detroit Lions history, according to Tom Kowalski of the Detroit Free Press . This isn't improbable because the Lions are good, clearly. It's improbable because Schwartz is, in my estimation, a very good head coach who'd done a pretty good job making lemonade out of the rotted out lemon seeds that Matt Millen left hanging around the greater Detroit area. Additionally, Schwartz has dealt with injuries to Matthew Stafford in two straight seasons, a total lack of an offensive line and one of the worst defenses in NFL history last year. The simple fact that he's won a few games is actually impressive; even if he starts off with the worst record in Detroit history (through 20 games) it seems unlikely that the cautious optimism permeating the Lions organization and fanbase these days will cease to exist.

• Jimmy Clausen's fumbling (he technically had three on Sunday; two which were lost) is something he's working on, which is nice to hear. But as Darin Gantt points out (and something I mentioned offhand on the Approval Matrix yesterday ), the power glove looking thing that he was wearing Sunday certainly invokes images of David Carr. That's no good.

• Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic believes that the Cardinals need to change quarterbacks "immediately" even though they're 2-1. There's no argument against the fact that Derek Anderson isn't "great" or even "good" but right now he's at least winning (even if it's not deservedly), and considering how high Ken Wisenhunt is on BYU product Max Hall, you'd certainly think that if he thought he could get the job done as a starter, he'd be getting the opportunity.

• The possibility of Michael Vick getting injured after such a hot start has to be terrifying to Eagles fans. Bleeding Green Nation points out that Vick is "still taking too many hits" which is probably symptomatic of a porous offensive line. But Vick also holds the ball longer than a normal quarterback too, and that creates some danger. (Like that he might also score rushing touchdowns for my fantasy team!)

• Should the Saints panic after losing to the Falcons? Nah. At least Jeff Duncan of the Times-Picayune doesn't think so anyway. I'd tend to agree, although there are some problems with the team.

• Ryan Grant wanted to know if he could tweet during the Packers-Bears game on Monday night. Apparently, that's totally legal -- Brian McCarthy of NFL PR let him know (via Twitter, duh) that as long as he wasn't on the sidelines or locker room, he was fine to hit up the social media during games.

• Sebastian Janikowski is getting right back on that horse. Or tee. Or something -- he's not freaking out about his miserable Sunday , even though he claims to have had his best warmup session of all-time. And Tom Cable has his back too, which he kind of has to, since Al Davis gave KOWSKI so much freaking money.

• Jason Gay writes at the WSJ that it's time for Mark Sanchez "to give up his blanky ." It's a baby metaphor theme.

• Did the Dolphins blow a chance to "make a statement in the division?" That's what the Phinsider believes -- I'm inclined to agree, especially considering the way in which the defense got pure-tee shredded by the Jets on a nationally televised game.

• And of course it's not a party without some discussion of the junk-grabbing Shaun Smith -- Arrowhead Pride has video of the "incident" and a nice little recap of Smith's awkward little problem.

Posted by Will Brinson  

Our affinity for graphs and charts and purty pictures knows no bounds, so (with a nod to the smartypants at  NY Mag ), we present our first-ever NFL approval matrix. Suggestions, complaints and intellecutual property lawsuits may be directed to us on Twitter (@CBSSportsNFL) .

Click to  embiggen .

Posted by Josh Katzowitz

- Chad Ochocinco, as has become his wont, hosted 85 Charlotte diners/strangers at a steakhouse Saturday in Charlotte. One estimate said the bill might have been about $5,500.

- Today will be another big day for Jets CB Antonio Cromartie. With Darrelle Revis out of action, somebody has to be accountable for Dolphins playmaking WR Brandon Marshall. For better or worse, that person will be Cromartie.

- Indianapolis WR Pierre Garcon did not travel with his teammates to Denver today. Along with Anthony Gonzalez, also out for today’s game, the Indianapolis WR corps has taken a big hit.

- Patriots DB Bret Lockett was arrested early Saturday morning outside of a club in Providence and charged with failure to move and disorderly conduct. Good news for New England: Lockett is on IR anyway and isn’t eligible to play this season.

- A nice story here on the hell Dolphins TE Kellen Winslow puts himself through so he can play. One reason he does so: he’s scared of failure.

- A New York Jets fan named Lynda Fowles has a message for Braylon Edwards: smarten up, and next time, call a taxi. The reason Fowles is relevant to this discussion: she’s been paralyzed from the chest down since 1977 after she was in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.

- Starting today in Carolina will be nothing new for QB Jimmy Clausen. He was in a similar situation at Notre Dame – a young QB and a bad team.

- Looks like Tony Dungy finally got around to visiting the Jets. The organization confirmed Dungy met with coach Rex Ryan, but declined to release any other details. Apparently, Dungy will talk about it on TV today. Hopefully, you can contain yourself until then.

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS Feed .

Posted by Will Brinson

It's Friday, people, and there's no reason to think you should be sitting at your desk and actually working. Instead, you should be pretending to do work and actually listening to podcasts in preparation for NFL football this weekend.

Fortunately, Andy and I are here to help you out by providing a full-on preview of every single game. Except for Oakland-Arizona. That's the "game that shall not be named" because of it's total lack of awesomeness.

Anyway, we debate whether or not the Falcons can beat the Saints, we wonder why I'm stupid enough to keep picking the Panthers especially when Jimmy Clausen is starting, whether an 0-3 start can get Wade Phillips canned, and talk some Michael Vick.

Plus, we make some sort of stupid bet about Packers-Bears that should be more dangerous for one of us. Anyway, check it out below and don't forget to subscribe via iTunes .

If you can't view the podcast, click here to download .


For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow  @cbssportsnfl   on Twitter   and subscribe to our  RSS Feed .

Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Last week, I brought you some of my favorite weekly picks from the brains of whoever makes the prop bets for bodog.com (this is a pretty cool job, but man, that would be a really cool job).

This week, I’ve got a new batch. Maybe I should start a weekly feature called, “For the gambler in you.” How much you wanna bet that I’ll do that?

Will a team from Texas win Super Bowl XLV?

Yes 4/1

No 1/6

At 4/1, I might be inclined to put my money on that, though I don’t think it’ll happen. Wait, the San Antonio Spurs are eligible to play, right?

How many games will Kevin Kolb start from Week 4 onward in the 2010 NFL Regular Season?     
  
Over/Under 2

Too many possible factors to go with the under here. Vick could get injured, he could get benched, Andy Reid could change his mind again before Sunday.

Completion % - Jimmy Clausen (CAR)

Over/Under 54%

There are quite a few backup-QB-turned-starter-this-week prop bets, but this is a pretty good one. Until Clausen proves me wrong, I’d take the under. His first year playing at Notre Dame, it should be noted, he recorded a 56.3 completion percentage.

How many sacks will Clay Matthews record in the 2010 NFL regular season?          

Over/Under 20  

This is a tough one. I don’t think he’ll break the NFL record of 22.5, but I’d have a hard time putting him at the under as well. So, if I had to spell it out in a mathematical equation, maybe I’d say: 22.5>Matthews>20. 

Which of these NFL coaches will be fired first during the 2010 NFL regular season? 
         
Eric Mangini 3/2

John Fox 2/1

Wade Phillips 3/1

Brad Childress 5/1

I was asked this week if I thought Phillips would be fired mid-season, and I said I doubted it because I think the Cowboys will (somewhat) turn themselves around. But if they don’t – if they start 2-6 or something like that – I wouldn’t be terribly shocked for Jerry Jones to give Phillips the mid-season pink slip. So, I’d go with him. 

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @cbssportsnfl on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS Feed .