• Unsurprisingly, the comments on my "Tebow was impressive" article were all like "WHAT GAME DID YOU WATCH?!? HE PLAYED AGAINST SECOND- AND THIRD-STRINGERS!" That's true. But you know what? Tebow is so freaking amazing that he's inspiring media members to ask him for autographs -- according to Alex Marvez on Twitter , two members of the press walked up to Tebow after the game and asked for his signature. That's a big no-no (doi), because not only do you immediately shred any sense of objectivity about the person you're covering, but it's a clear-cut case of abusing the access that press members have. Next thing you know, they'll start serving us delicious food at games too! No, but seriously, this is embarrassing; a quick Twitter-poll reveals that most people agree what they did was quite annoying, etc.

• Bonus -- SB Nation's Joel Thorman has video of Tebow scoring and ergo proving how awesome he is.

• Also, Tebow was a helluva lot better than Curtis Painter, who is one Peyton Manning injury away from leading the Colts to a 2-14 record. I mean, he could be the first quarterback to get booed in a home preseason game if he keeps this up.

• Of course, all the Tebow love in the world won't change the top spot on the Broncos' depth chart -- Dave Krieger of the Denver Post writes that "it's not close" when it comes to how far ahead Kyle Orton is. That's true, but as a I mentioned last night, it would be somewhat surprising if Tebow didn't hop Brady Quinn for the No. 2 spot in Denver.

• Not everything on Sunday night was about Tebow though -- the Bengals played too. Josh Kirkendall of Cincy Jungle thinks the difference was "night and day." Joe Reedy's Good/Bad/Iffy list at the Cincinnati Enqurier is similarly tilted towards a strong performance by the Bengals..

• There were three No. 1 overall quarterbacks involved in the San Francisco - Indy tilt, with David Carr, Peyton Manning and Alex Smith all getting action during the game. That may be a fact that interests only me. (And it only interests me because I have a weird obsession with Carr, aka "Mister Mittens." )

• Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News has a handy "10 things to watch" list for the Jets preseason opener. You'll never believe it, but a Darrelle Revis-less defense's play is near the top. On a fairly random note, my girlfriend (who does NOT care for football) watched "Hard Knocks" and freaking loved it. Downside: she asked if it was okay to cheer for the Jets in 2010. I begrudgingly said yes.

• Kent Somers notes that Larry Fitzgerald -- he of the recently sprained MCL -- was prepping to have his best season ever as a pro and wants people to not "write him off." Geez, Larry. That's a lot to ask. From what I hear, he's going undrafted in almost every fantasy league after this injury.

• Could Dwayne Jarrett be "getting it" in his fourth year as a pro? Apparently he's sounding "almost serious" and "almost professional" which is, um, good news? If I were John Fox I would have strangled him a while ago.

• Chicago Breaking Sports has video of Jay Cutler stating that the Bears were just "a few blocks away from some big runs." Yeah, and I'm just "a few hundred thousand dollars away from being a millionaire." (10 to be exact.)

• Javier Arenas, and not Dexter McCluster, could be the "next great Chiefs return man" according to Randy Covitz of the Kansas City Star . Or, perhaps the Chiefs won't even have to go on offense because Arenas and McCluster will score on every return this season. Seriously though, this team has home run weapons.

Posted by Andy Benoit

ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinkas points out an interesting fact about the NFC South. Since the NFL’s divisional realignment in 2002, 12 times has a last-place team finished first in its division the following year. Six of those 12 times involved the NFC South. All four NFC South teams have accomplished this feat. In fact, it’s happened every year with the exception of 2008:

• 2003 Carolina Panthers. Went from 7-9 to 11-5 and reached the Super Bowl.
• 2004 Atlanta Falcons. Went from 5-11 to 11-5.
• 2005 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Followed a 5-11 season with an 11-5 year.
• 2006 New Orleans Saints. Jumped from 3-13 to 10-6.
• 2007 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Went from 4-12 to 9-7.
• 2009 New Orleans Saints. Followed an 8-8 season with a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl championship.
For what it's worth, the Bucs finished last in the NFC South last season.

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Jets offensive linemen Matt Slauson and Vladimir Ducasse are both competing for the starting left guard position. Slauson has the edge right now, but he was a sixth-round pick in ’09. Ducasse, a second-rounder in ’10, figures to be the future.

Former USC Trojan took another positive step in his football rebirth last night, impressing Seahawks coaches and fans with his 51-yard touchdown reception and run-blocking against the Titans/

Falcons followers have been paying close attention to rookie linebacker Sean Weatherspoon. The first-rounder started ahead of Mike Peterson at weakside linebacker in Atlanta’s preseason debut.

Josh Freeman was 4/4 passing, including a touchdown strike to Sammie Stroughter, in page/MIA">Dolphins" target="_blank">Tampa Bay’s preseason opener against the Dolphins.

Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic, has a great headline for his column today: “Matt Leinart Blessed by a lack of competition”. Leinart did not look great in Arizona’s preseason opener.

One of the best offensive tackles in the game, Baltimore’s Jared Gaither, continues to battle the injury bug. On Saturday the Baltimore Sun reported that Gaither has been diagnosed with a tear in his back and could miss 2-3 weeks. Gaither had foot problems during the offseason and also suffered serious weight loss early in training camp.

Though he didn’t look particularly great against the Ravens Thursday night, there has been some buzz about Panthers rookie receiver Brandon LaFell. Now, his fellow rookie, Armanti Edwards, is getting some hype.

Packers rookie Morgan Burnett drew passing grades in his preseason debut filling in for injured starting strong safety Atari Bigby. The key for the athletic playmaker is to prove he can be physical.

Former and current Packer tight ends Mark Chmura and Jermichael Finley have been exchanging public barbs like a couple of junior high schoolers (actually, on further thought, given some of their passive-aggressive undertones, the barbs are probably more of an early high school level). We haven’t paid much attention to it, but if you want to read some details, you can click here.

Jack Del Rio still doesn’t seem too high on safety Reggie Nelson.

Jets and Giants open their new stadium tomorrow night. Given that it’s the New York market, does it seem like there is slightly less hype for this $1.6 billion venue than you’d guess?

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