Pittsburgh's Hines Ward has been held to a single catch in nine NFL games this decade. Twice he had to wait as late as the fourth quarter for his first reception.

But Ward always managed to catch at least one pass, which is something Terrell Owens didn't do last Sunday. Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards threw five passes at Owens in a game against New Orleans, and he failed to catch any of them.

That brought an end to the third-longest pass-catching streak in NFL history at 185 games. It was the first time Owens had suited up for an NFL game and failed to catch a pass since October 1996 – the sixth game of his rookie season.

Owens fell six games short of the No. 2 spot on the all-time list, a 190-game streak by Marvin Harrison. Jerry Rice holds the record with receptions in 274 consecutive games.

With the Owens streak on the rocks, Ward has the longest current streak in the NFL at 165 games. He and Torry Holt of the Jacksonville Jaguars are the only players to have caught passes in every game they've played this decade. You have to go back to 1998 to find the last time Ward was blanked and 1999 for the last time Holt failed to appear on the stat sheet.

"It's an accomplishment to have caught a pass in that many consecutive games, but only if it helps us win games," said Ward, a former Super Bowl MVP. "My only focus right now is winning games, no matter how many passes I catch."

There are only five current players with pass-catching streaks of 100 games or more, including one tight end: Atlanta's Tony Gonzalez. A second tight end could join that fraternity in October. Jeremy Shockey of the New Orleans Saints has caught a pass in every NFL game he has played – all 98 of them.

Jason Campbell opened the 2008 season by throwing 249 consecutive passes for Washington without an interception. His first turnover didn't come until November. Only two quarterbacks managed to start and finish all three games this September without any interceptions: Denver's Kyle Orton and Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers has thrown 90 passes for the 2-1 Packers and Orton 88 passes for the 3-0 Broncos. Overall, Rodgers' streak stands at 149 passes without an interception and Orton's at 128. Both streaks started in the same game – when Rodgers' Packers played Orton's Chicago Bears in the 16th week of the 2008 season.

Three teams are changing quarterbacks today: Cleveland, Miami and Tampa Bay. The Browns and Buccaneers are benching starters and the Dolphins are going with Chad Henne because of a season-ending shoulder injury to Chad Pennington. Derek Anderson replaces Brady Quinn at Cleveland and Josh Johnson replaces Byron Leftwich at Tampa Bay. Henne and Johnson will make their NFL starting debuts.

WR Torry Holt welcomes the chance to play the Tennessee Titans today. He's seen them twice in his career, both times when he played for the St. Louis Rams. He caught seven passes for 109 yards and a touchdown in a Super Bowl victory over the Titans in 2000, then caught nine passes for 163 yards and a TD against them in 2005. Now that Holt is with Jacksonville, he'll get to see the Titans twice a season in the AFC South. Holt leads Jacksonville's wideouts with 12 receptions but is still looking for his first AFC touchdown.Brett Favre finally gets his shot at the Green Bay Packers on Monday. Favre will quarterback the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings against a 2-1 Green Bay team quarterbacked by Aaron Rodgers. The Packers had a choice between Favre, the NFL's all-time leading passer, and Rodgers in the summer of 2008 and chose Rodgers. That's been eating at Favre ever since. But there's a reason the Packers chose Rodgers: He's better at this point of their careers. He'll prove it Monday night. Minnesota is a three-point favorite. Go with the Packers in the upset.

■ Brian Westbrook has been a workhorse for the Philadelphia Eagles over the years, usually touching the ball 300 times per season on runs and receptions. That's a lot to ask of a little man (5-9, 200) – even if he is a Pro Bowl little man. But two things happened in September that have given Eagles coach Andy Reid reason to reassess: the play of Correll Buckhalter in Denver and the play of rookie LeSean McCoy filling in for Westbrook last Sunday. Buckhalter was Westbrook's longtime backup whom the Eagles allowed to join the Broncos in free agency. He's now the NFL's ninth leading rusher. McCoy was the team's second-round draft pick, and he rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown filling in for the injured Westbrook in last week's victory over Kansas City. McCoy may work himself into a rotation with Westbrook. "We can do that," Reid said. "I need to do a better job of that. I should have done it with Buckhalter, obviously. He's up in Denver gaining 100 yards every week. I probably should have played him a little more. I knew Buck was a good player. It's just a matter of doing it."

■ The 3-0 Giants visit the 0-3 Kansas City Chiefs today. If Giants coach Tom Coughlin fears a letdown, all he has to do is remind his team of the Cleveland game last season. The Giants took a 4-0 record to Cleveland to play the 1-3 Browns on a Monday night and were pummeled, 35-14. "You're going into a stadium [Arrowhead] with a fan base that is obviously known throughout the league as being tremendously supportive," Coughlin said. "You have a young football team [the Chiefs] and a new head coach [Todd Haley]. They went out and got the quarterback [Matt Cassel] they wanted. We know full well what history has shown us. We talked about last year's trip to Cleveland. We know full well about all that."

■ The Washington Redskins are 1-2, having suffered the ignominy of losing to the Detroit Lions last week. The Redskins have already fallen two games back of the Giants in the NFC East, and talk radio is buzzing about coach Jim Zorn's job security, or lack thereof. But there is no panic at Redskins Park, running back Clinton Portis said. "I don't think people feel we're far off," Portis said. "It's not like there's some bickering in the locker room and guys are like, 'This guy can't play...we need to get rid of him.' We know where we go wrong. That's why it's so easy to have hope. We know we're going to get it right. It's only a matter of time before the plays that we miss on, we hit." The Redskins play another winless team this weekend, the 0-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The winless Miami Dolphins today face a player very familiar to their brass: Terrell Owens of the Buffalo Bills. Vice president of football operations Bill Parcells, general manager Jeff Ireland and coach Tony Sparano were all in Dallas when the Cowboys brought Owens in. So they know what to expect from a player coming off his first game without a reception since 1996. "Any Terrell Owens is a dangerous Terrell Owens," Sparano said. "I've been around Terrell for a few years. He's a pretty rock-solid guy, so whether he's angry or whether he's not angry, when he gets the ball in his hands he's a dangerous guy. The guy has been doing it for a long time. He's made a lot of big plays in this league. That's a challenge to us."

■ Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco were the NFL's rookie sensations at quarterback last season, taking their teams to the playoffs. Now they get their first dose of the creative genius of Bill Belichick on back-to-back weekends. Belichick's New England defensive crew humbled Ryan last weekend, handing the Atlanta Falcons their first loss. Ryan was 17-of-28 for 199 yards with no touchdowns in the 26-10 defeat. Now it's Flacco's turn as the Baltimore Ravens visit Foxboro. "He's won a lot of games," Belichick said. "He hasn't lost hardly any [16-6 record]. I think that says a lot about managing the team, doing what you need to do to win, getting your team in the end zone, getting your team to perform better than the other team you're playing against. Both he and Ryan have done a good job of that."

■ If the Houston Texans are serious about contending for a playoff spot, they might want to start playing some defense. The 1-2 Texans rank dead last in the NFL in defense. The Texans have one of the NFL's best pass rushers in Pro Bowl DE Mario Williams, but they have only one sack in three games. They also have a franchise player in CB Dunta Robinson but have generated only four takeaways in three games. "We're a lot better than that," said Texans MLB Demeco Ryans. "It's not the system. Frank [defensive coordinator Bush] does a great job of putting us in the right position. But we have to have the right players playing hard and dominating when we're out there." The Texans will have that chance to dominate today with the NFL's 31st- ranked offense in town: the Oakland Raiders.