Friday, Oct. 10, 2003 | 10:42 a.m.
All-time series -- Panthers lead, 2-0.
Last time -- Carolina won, 27-19, in Indianapolis in 1998.
Notable -- The Panthers are undefeated because of a conservative game plan that features the run, with RB Stephen Davis. He goes for 5.3 yards per carry, which should punish an Indy defense that is not so stout up front ... combining PATs and FGs, John Kasay of Carolina and Mike Vanderjagt of Indy are 44-for-44 this season ... The Colts have more weapons, and last week's wake-up call against Tampa Bay will likely translate into a much more polished first half come Sunday.
Prediction (3-2) -- Indianapolis 31, Carolina 21.
-- Chicago PK Paul Edinger, whose 48-yarder as time expired
beat Oakland on Sunday, on GM Jerry Angelo matching
a $7 million, five-year deal from Minnesota in March.
Arizona has tried to stake a claim for Las Vegas and its professional football fans, and the Chargers, Raiders and 49ers all lurk in the general vicinity as potential favorites for those who crave NFL action.
However, officials from those four franchises are wasting their breath, time and, in at least one case, money in attempting to cultivate a hotbed of support here.
Most important, they're all losers, which this city chews up and spits out regularly.
The four aforementioned teams are a combined 5-15. Arizona, Oakland and San Diego have yielded a total of 434 points, or 29 a game. They need that dam to the east more than we need it.
(We do recommend, though, heading to the Phoenix area this weekend to watch Sunday's game in Tempe, but not to watch the Cardinals. Read on.)
So whom should locals adopt, as we weigh the odds of Las Vegas obtaining a team from one of the four major sports leagues before the NBA hopes to expand into Europe, which it has announced it would like to do by 2010?
Our top three choices, and why:
Baltimore Ravens
This is the AFC North squad that will be playing, and conquering the Cardinals, in Sun Devil Stadium on Sunday. It's a field the Ravens have never played on, and they will undoubtedly adore the results.
First, third-year Ravens linebacker and Las Vegas native Edgerton Hartwell, with 28 tackles, is second only to the outstanding Ray Lewis, who has 43, on the team.
We're certain he'd be pleased to see a host of Baltimore jerseys, bearing his No. 56, in the Sun Devil stands.
What's more, superb offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden, a Pro Bowl selection for the last six seasons, claims Las Vegas as his residence.
Smart guy, indeed, for keeping the portion of that $30 million he has earned that would have otherwise been earmarked for state income tax collectors elsewhere. He still tools around town in a 7-year-old Range Rover, too, so he's not spoiled.
Baltimore coaches can count on one hand the sacks Ogden has allowed over the last four years.
Carolina Panthers
They're 4-0, own a stellar defense and, last but not least, Rod "He Hate Me" Smart has proven that his ability far outweighs the hype he created in the XFL, with the Las Vegas Outlaws.
Smart returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown last week against New Orleans, a jolter early in the second quarter that gave the Panthers the lead for good.
Listed as a running back, Smart, 26, has played sparingly at that position, instead making an NFL name for himself as a special teams ace.
Think Dante Hall of Kansas City is a pretty good kickoff returner? Smart overtook Hall as the top player at that position this week, with an average of 34 yards per return. Hall is second, at 32.7 yards.
Green Bay Packers
OK, that cheddar melts like the Wicked Witch in triple-digit temperatures. At least this team is a winner, at 3-2, and quarterback Brett Favre most likely will not end his career with a whimper.
Favre is protected by a couple of lineman who look like the Bellagio saddled up next to the MGM Grand. Grey Ruegamer and Mike Wahle, both 300-pounders, have links to Las Vegas.
This is Ruegamer's hometown. The former Bishop Gorman standout started three of 33 games in New England, over three seasons, before landing in Green Bay in the offseason. He's played in four games as a Packer.
Wahle, who has started 56 of 70 games in his six-year Green Bay career, spends his down time here with wife, Trina. Pro Football Weekly has tabbed him as the 12th-best guard in the NFL.
He's averaging almost 55 yards a game, just behind Atlanta's Alge Crumpler (57.2). Shockey leads his peers with 14 receptions for first downs. He has hauled in one touchdown this season, pumping his career total to three.
Off the field, there's no news -- but it's only Friday.
He recently purchased the home from a family that started painting messages on a green-and-gold fence, on the property and along Lombardi Avenue, in 1984.
The practice has been abandoned for more than a year, but Harrsch has instructed a real-estate agent to buy paint and scroll a fresh message on the fence. The Packers' PR department might hold a contest, and Harrsch plans to take the winner to lunch.
A year ago, they only played in two such games, on back-to-back November weekends.
Pittsburgh and Cleveland fans were tormented by such tight games an NFL-most eight times in 2002. Browns backers, however, suffered the most, as Cleveland lost each of its three games to Pittsburgh by three points.
That's why the Browns' 33-13 victory in Pittsburgh last Sunday was so sweet to those Lake Erie faithful.
AFC: West -- Want to move the chains? Play the Raiders. Oakland's defense has allowed an NFL-worst 107 first downs. South -- It took only two weeks for someone, P Chris Hanson, to injure himself with an axe that had been in a locker-room tree stump, which Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio had brought in for motivation. North -- Browns RB William Green should log his second 100-yard game in a row Sunday, against Oakland. East -- Miami RB Ricky Williams is on track for 460 rushes, 50 more than the record that Jamal Anderson set as a Falcon in 1998.
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