The first real game in NFL history outside of the continental United States will take place tonight when the Arizona Cardinals play a "home" game against San Francisco in Mexico City.

What were they thinking? The Cardinals, of course. And people wonder why the Cardinals have one winning season in the past 20 years (9-7, 1998). Perhaps the Cardinals, who averaged 37,533 fans in Tempe last season, figured they had nothing to lose by moving the game, which is expected to draw a sellout crowd of 85,000 to Estadio Azteca.

It appears to be purely for the money. The Cardinals get 50,000 more in ticket sales, and the NFL gets to push more of its products in Mexico, which has a growing football fan base. But Arizona coach Dennis Green gave another, surprising explanation this week.

"I didn't feel the National Football League would put us on TV without it, and I was right," Green told reporters in Arizona.

Does Green think it will help his recruiting? A lot of people picked the Cardinals to win the NFC West this season, but they're off to their normal start. They're 0-3, and they've scored one touchdown on offense. Their defense has given up a touchdown on the opening drive of each of six halves this season. They should try to hide this product, not promote it.

"You're not going to go to the playoffs just because some commentator thinks you're going to the playoffs," said Arizona defensive tackle Russell Davis about the glowing preseason predictions for his club. "It's snowballing."

Said former Pitt receiver Larry Fitzgerald, "You can't go any lower."

Fitzgerald obviously hasn't been in Arizona long.

"I'm sick of losing, being honest," defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said. "I don't look at this as going to Mexico, I look at this is we gotta win a game. I don't care if we have to go to the other side of Africa, we've got to win this game."

Not making the call

The New York Jets, who almost beat the Steelers in a playoff game at Heinz Field in January, may be desperate for a quarterback, but they did not bother to put in a call to the Steelers to ask about the availability of either Tommy Maddox or Charlie Batch, both veteran starters in the league.

Neither did they call the Titans about backup Billy Volek. They did call the Redskins twice about Patrick Ramsey and were turned down.

Giants unhappy with Coughlin

New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin has to deal with dissent again, and Plaxico Burress is smack in the middle of it. Coughlin benched Burress for the first quarter of the Giants' 45-23 loss in San Diego last Sunday because he was late for two meetings and late for the team's flight. Coughlin has a rule in which players are late if they are not five minutes early for meetings.

Thus, Burress was not on the field when the Giants' opening drive stalled at the San Diego 5, and they settled for a field goal.

"I don't think it helped us as a team," Burress said. "On the first drive, we probably could have gone out and got some [more] points, but the decision was made for me."

Tight end Jeremy Shockey said the team suffered for it.

"I'm not the guy who makes the rules around here. I just know we lost the game, and, if he would have been in there the first drive, we might have scored a touchdown."

Burress, never benched by Steelers coach Bill Cowher for disciplinary reasons in his five seasons here, said, "Nobody really wants to be late, but sometimes things happen and you just control what you can control. If it happens again, it happens. It's not like I'm trying to be late on purpose."

Keeping signals straight

Some quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger keep a cheat sheet of plays in plastic wrapped around their forearm. Miami linebacker Zach Thomas, who calls the defensive plays, keeps one in his pants at belt level.

The reason? His arms get so scratched and bloodied making tackles he might not be able to read the plays if he had them on his forearm.

"Some of the calls we have on there are for when we want to mix it up,"

Thomas said. "We go off the belt some. We change our signals from week to week, so you've got to know the call. If we had the same call last week, it's going to be different this week. That's hard. Sometimes, you're thinking it's one call and it's another this week and a different signal."

In praise of Capers

Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis gives credit to Houston's Dom Capers, two head coaches who were members of Bill Cowher's first staff in 1992, for helping to make him the coach he is today.

"We wouldn't be having this conversation if it wasn't for Dom Capers," Lewis said. "I'm very grateful to him and how he brought me along as a coach and the responsibilities they gave me to allow me to grow. I think a lot of it, especially the detail of the game plan, is a product of how we did things in Pittsburgh. Our principles in the running game and defending it, and the passing game are products of that. So a lot of things go back to him."

Houston plays at Cincinnati today.

Suite dreams

Actor Kevin Costner watched a playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium in the mid-1990s from the owners' box when he was dating one of Dan Rooney's nieces, but that suite never saw the kind of dignitaries who parade through the New York Giants owners' box.

Nicole Kidman was there in 2004. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones watched the Super Bowl from a suite reserved for the Giants last season. Recently, former President George Bush caught a game in the Giants' suite, as did major General Ray Odierno, whose division captured Saddam Hussein, who has not made it into the Giants' private box.

Favre nears unwanted record

Much is made of Brett Favre's attempt to overtake Dan Marino's NFL career touchdown record of 420. Favre has thrown for 381 touchdowns. The Green Bay quarterback also is approaching another passing record from another Western Pennsylvania native in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

George Blanda, who grew up in Youngwood in Westmoreland County, owns the interception record with 277. Favre has 233. Favre has seven this season, on pace for 37. That would be the second most in NFL history behind Blanda's 42 in 1962.

Chuck Knox Jr., whose dad hails from Sewickley, has a coaching title with the Minnesota Vikings that never has been seen in the NFL:

What's in a title?
Coverage coordinator. He previously was called the secondary coach, but coach Mike Tice thought a change was necessary to improve "communication and continuity between our [secondary] and our linebackers."

At least, that's what Tice told reporters in March when he made the change. Last week, he 'fessed up.

"There is a budget for my assistant coaches, so the next best thing is a title," Tice said. "It is simple as that. He is a secondary coach. There is no real coverage coordinator. It sounds good, looks good. All it is is a title. We don't do things any differently really than we have done them."

Who coordinates the run support?