THE LATEST LINE: HIGH-POWERED RAMS STILL LOOK LIKE NFL's NO. 1 TEAM

Washington loaded up with high-priced free agents.

Tampa Bay tried hard to pump up its sputtering offense.

St. Louis' defense resembled a sieve for a while.

But the above notwithstanding, things haven't changed very much since the end of last season -- the Rams still look like the NFL's best team.

Sure, the trendy, national-media picks in the preseason were to rank Washington and Tampa Bay as Super Bowl co-favorites.

But the Redskins have pretty much sputtered so far, save for last week's win over the Giants. And the Bucs were looking good until blowing a late lead and losing to the Jets.

As for the Rams? Well, they're the only undefeated team of the trio. And their defense looked like it finally got back on track against the Falcons last week.

If the defense has come around -- and the jury is definitely still out on that -- then things might get pretty scary for the rest of the NFL, because the offense looks next to unstoppable.

I've heard some national media talk that the Rams just might possess the best offense in NFL history. That probably remains to be seen, but St. Louis has broken enough all-time offensive records so far -- and appears on the way to breaking several others -- that the notion definitely holds some merit.

Anyway, the pro football season is only four weeks old and many things could change down the road.

But right now, everybody is chasing the Rams -- which is just the way last season ended.

* While the college football season hasn't even reached the halfway point yet, it's definitely not too early to start looking ahead to college basketball, because teams across the country will begin practicing in a couple of weeks.

Southeast Missouri State University's Indians, who have gotten area hoop fans extremely excited over the last two years, will actually be on semi-public display this week when they hold their annual media day.

Several national college hoop publications are already out and most of them are picking the Indians to finish either second or third in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Austin Peay has been tabbed for first in most of the publications, which is a bit surprising not because the Govs don't have plenty of talent -- they are loaded -- but because they have underachieved with that talent the past two years, failing to make it to the OVC Tournament semifinals both seasons.

Along with SEMO, Murray State -- what else is new? -- has also been picked toward the top by most of the preseason magazines.

* The big Cape Central-Jackson football game will be played Friday night. It's a heated yet very clean rivalry that never fails to fuel the fires of both communities.

Although Central leads the overall series decisively, Jackson has won five of the last six meetings and the Indians will be heavily favored to win this week.

Jackson is rolling along undefeated and state-ranked. While Central is much improved this season, it's hard to imagine the Indians not making it six out of seven over the Tigers.

* For people who follow the Southeast Missourian's Weekly Media Grid Picks, it must have looked strange for all six prognosticators to have exactly the same selections Thursday.

Well, I assure you, we didn't get together and plan this out. It's just that most of the 10 games appeared to have clear-cut favorites on paper, which is not to say they were going to turn out that way.

Anyway, don't worry. There will be plenty of other great picking weeks in the future.

And, with five of the six people within one game of each other in the good-natured and friendly competition, this is shaping up as one of the best races ever.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.