About a decade ago, National Football League (NFL) commissioner Paul Tagliabue made it his mission to establish a league with more parity than any other major American sport. Dynasties like the Pittsburgh Steelers' "Steel Curtain," Super Bowl champs four times in the 1970s, were relics of the past. Only the Broncos (1998-99) and Cowboys (1993-94) managed to repeat over the past decade, and it seems unlikely that any team will accomplish that feat in the decade to come.

With just 17 weeks of play all season and seven postseason contests, the NFL is the league most attractive to the major television networks. While baseball games can linger for hours if a pitcher's duel has stagnated both offenses, fans see the potential for a bone-crushing hit or crucial interception in every play. CBS and Fox have a captive audience, and the astronomical dollar figures they annually shell out to the NFL and its owners gives Tagliabue the leverage necessary to maintain his stranglehold on the league's relatively low salary cap.

In January 1998, CBS Sports president Sean McManus agreed to pay $4 billion over eight years for the right to televise AFC games. According to Richard Sandomir of The New York Times, McManus had no choice but to reach into his deep pockets and make the investment.

"Losing pro football had decimated CBS' sports programming, eroded its relationship with viewers and advertisers and damaged network morale," Sandomir said.

In no other sport do team executives work harder to crunch salary numbers and restructure contracts. In the era of colossal signing bonuses, job security is now at a premium in the NFL (just ask former Patriots safety Lawyer Milloy).

But as Week 3 proved, parity is more pervasive than ever before.

Here are five games from Sunday's action that demonstrate why there are no longer any automatic wins in the NFL.



Browns 13, 49ers 12:



San Francisco fans still don't understand what Steve Mariucci did to deserve his unceremonious firing after last season's playoff loss to the Bucs, and now they can start taking out their frustration on new coach Dennis Erickson.

The Browns ventured west on Sunday and came away with their first win of the season, as quarterback Kelly Holcomb recovered from a dismal first three quarters to salvage the crucial victory.

After compiling just 113 yards of total offense over the first three quarters, Holcomb - playing for the ineffective Tim Couch -orchestrated two touchdown drives, the second of which capped a 91-yard surge.

Holcomb made the first Browns-Niners meeting in a decade a memorable one, completing 25 of 38 passes for 222 yards.

After the loss, the San Francisco media flocked to their favorite sound bite artist, 49ers malcontent Terrell Owens, whose feuds with Mariucci became the stuff of legends last season.

"I don't know how many times we've been in the red zone and my number hasn't been called," Owens complained. "I feel bad from an offensive standpoint, because we're letting the defense down. They're playing their tails off, and we can't help them out."

The Browns defense, which was bulldozed in Week 2 by Ravens running back Jamal Lewis for an NFL single-game record 295 yards, recovered to squash the San Francisco ground game, as tailbacks Garrison Hearst and Kevan Barlow rushed for a paltry 32 yards combined.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Niners, who travel to Minnesota to face Daunte Culpepper and the unbeaten Vikings at the Metrodome.



Cardinals 20, Packers 13:



Despite the presence of a host of Green Bay fans in Phoenix, the Packers were completely out their element in the 100-degree desert heat, as veteran QB Jeff Blake burned them for 273 yards passing during one of the most surprising upsets in Arizona's less-than-spectacular history.

The Cardinals (1-2) earned just their second victory in a span of 12 games when last year's Super Bowl MVP, safety Dexter Jackson, picked off a Brett Favre pass in the end zone with under ten seconds to play.

Favre, who insists he'll retire after this season, looked weary all day, completing 23 passes for 226 yards. The two-time MVP and Super Bowl champ is an astounding 35-1 in temperatures 34 degrees or below, but just 12-18 when the thermometer surpasses 70.

With the score tied at 10, the second half got underway with the temperature at a boiling 105. The Cardinals seemed unaware of the sweltering conditions and marched down the field on a seven-minute drive that culminated with a 38-yard Bill Gramatica field goal.

With Arizona at the Green Bay 45 in the fourth quarter, a Blake pass intended for rookie Anquan Boldin was deflected and intercepted by Green Bay's Nick Barnett. But the Packers were unable to capitalize on the Cardinals' league-high 10th turnover of the season, as the normally sure-handed Ahman Green fumbled on the ensuing drive.

Blake's QB sneak from the Green Bay one with four minutes left capped the scoring.



Seahawks 24, Rams 23:



Mike Martz has officially lost the title of offensive guru.

After relying on a concussed Kurt Warner during St. Louis' Week One debacle against the Giants at the Meadowlands, the Rams once again looked flustered offensively against the defensively-challenged Seahawks in Seattle.

Seattle, which is now undefeated after three games for the first time since 1986, bounced back from a 13-point third-quarter deficit to stun the visitors.

Seahawk quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, a Boston College product, was on the mark all day, completing 22 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns. Hasselbeck, whose three-yard touchdown pass to Koren Robinson tied the score at 23 in the fourth, was ecstatic after the win.

"It really is unbelievable," he said. "We were talking at the start of the year that we could be 3-0 going into our bye week. To actually do it is another thing."

When Seattle returns to action on Oct. 5 at Green Bay's legendary Lambeau Field, it will be a homecoming of sorts for coach Mike Holmgren, who led the Packers to a Super Bowl win over the Patriots in 1997. Holmgren, who has a street adjacent to Lambeau named in his honor, hasn't been able to capture the same degree of success in Seattle, where he was stripped of his dual general manager role in the off-season.

For those of you looking towards Week Four, interesting matchups abound. Bill Parcells makes his second trip back to the Meadowlands, as the Cowboys face off with the winless Jets, who are fighting to save embattled head coach Herm Edwards' job.

The Colts, unbeaten through three games, will get their first true test on the road in New Orleans, where Aaron Brooks and Deuce McAlliser await. Peyton Manning, who was dogged in the off-season by questions about his big-game capability, can make a statement with a win in the city where dad Archie excelled.