San Diego gets off to 3-0 start with Schottenheimer at helm

A year ago, Marty Schottenheimer's Washington Redskins lost their first five games, then won eight of 11 to finish even for the season.

Schottenheimer would cringe at a .500 season now.

After being fired by Dan Snyder in Washington, Schottenheimer is unbeaten in three games with San Diego, including Sunday's victory at Arizona in which he actually went into the defensive huddle to fire up his team for a late goal-line stand.

So going into next weekend's game against defending Super Bowl champion New England, the Chargers are one of the favorites to emulate the bottom-to-top rise of the Patriots.

Add Carolina, 1-15 a year ago, and New Orleans, which collapsed at the end of last season -- both also 3-0.

In Carolina, new coach John Fox's energy has replaced George Seifert's lethargy, journeyman Rodney Peete is playing mistake-free football at quarterback, and the opposition isn't sterling. The three teams the Panthers have beaten are a combined 0-8.

The Saints allowed 160 points in losing their final four games last season to end up 7-9. But they won the NFC West two years ago in Jim Haslett's rookie season as a coach. Basically, they're a good team coming off a bad finish.

The Chargers, 5-11 last year, are winning with defense, a constant strength even in bad years. Drew Brees, in his first year as a starter, is doing a workmanlike job at quarterback. And unlike the Redskins early last year, they're responding to Schottenheimer, who's been under .500 just once in a 16-year coaching career with Cleveland, Kansas City and Washington.

This year, he's doing it personally.

Leading Arizona 23-15 Sunday, the Chargers seemed to wilt in the 100-degree heat. When the Cardinals moved to a first-and-goal at the 9 at the 2-minute warning, Schottenheimer popped into the defensive huddle during the timeout.

"That woke everybody up," defensive tackle Leonardo Carson said. "I've never in my life had a coach do that. To see that, to let me know it meant a lot to him. I know it meant a lot to me. So I knew it was time to crank my motor up and give it my all."

That they did, forcing Jake Plummer into three incomplete passes and one that was caught for no gain. Game over.

Panthers thrive with Peete

The Panthers, with Peete at quarterback instead of Chris Weinke, reprised their only win last season by beating Minnesota. That was on opening day. Carolina went on to lose 15 straight, the longest one-season losing streak in NFL history.

"We can't really make anyone take us seriously or not," said safety Deon Grant, who intercepted Daunte Culpepper three times. "It definitely doesn't matter to us. New England won a Super Bowl, and they still didn't take those boys seriously until this year."

A Super Bowl might be asking too much for Carolina.

But the coaching change has made a huge difference. When Fox ran the Giants' defense, his players played hard for him every week and the same thing is happening in Carolina.

Fox also is a wonderful defensive tactician who shut down the Vikings in the 2001 NFC title game for the Giants. This time, his schemes produced four interceptions and got Culpepper and Randy Moss shouting at each other on the sideline.

New Orleans is a team back where it belongs.

Donte' Stallworth, the first-round draft pick, has scored in all three games; Deuce McAllister has blossomed in place of Ricky Williams; and Aaron Brooks looks as if he's on the way to becoming a top quarterback. On Sunday, the Saints out-Beared the Bears, who have made two good seasons out of comebacks and tight wins.

They came back from a 20-point deficit, went ahead when Brooks and Stallworth combined on a 29-yard pass play with 1:11 left and stopped a late Chicago drive with Sammy Knight's interception on the goal line.