NEW ORLEANS – Reggie Bush spent the Tuesday of his first regular-season game week doing something he has made a habit of since becoming a Saint.

He handed out food to the needy.

Bush, the No. 2 overall pick in April who received $26.3 million in guarantees as part of a six-year contract with the New Orleans Saints, has made an impact in this hurricane-torn city before making an impact on the field.

"He's an inspiration here," Terry Rollins said as she walked around her neighborhood in the residential section of the French Quarter last Wednesday night. "We know he's not going to rebuild the neighborhoods, but he brings some excitement. We need that. We need something. There's so much stress and worry still."

Rollins' sentiment echoes that of many fans in and around New Orleans. Despite the devastation suffered from Hurricane Katrina last August, drafting Bush has fueled unprecedented excitement in the Saints.

New Orleans owner Tom Benson announced last week that the team has sold more

Each Tuesday, Yahoo! Sports will talk to one of the NFL's top players to get a glimpse into what they're up to on their one off day during the week. Today, we speak to Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed, the 2004 defensive player of the year.

Cole: What's on tap for the off day?
Reed: Tuesday is your day to yourself, but it's hard to get away from football because the next day you're getting ready for the next team. You don't want to come into it unprepared. So you end up coming in to do some studying, looking at the film, looking at the next team. A lot of guys try to relax, get treatment, get a massage and get the lactic acid out of your body. So you're still probably getting up at 8 or 9 a.m. and coming down to the facility for something. Me, I'm going into treatment right now.

Cole: So after receiving treatment, do you just take it easy?
Reed: From here, I head down to Booker T. Washington (Middle School in Baltimore). I try to do that every Tuesday, unless the Ravens have something

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Everybody knows why wide receiver Terrell Owens was making his debut with his third franchise on Sunday.

Perhaps now people will have a better understanding of why quarterback Drew Bledsoe is also on his third team.

Bledsoe still possesses many of the talents (big arm, pretty pass) that once made him a No. 1 overall pick by Bill Parcells and the Patriots in 1993. Unfortunately, he also has many of the flaws that ended his time in New England and then Buffalo. Those same flaws could doom the Dallas Cowboys in their pursuit of a Super Bowl title this season.

Bledsoe finished Sunday with three interceptions, including two in Dallas' final three possessions, as the Cowboys fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars 24-17. By itself, that's no crime. Plenty of good quarterbacks have had bad days.

But games like this don't usually happen after a quarterback of Bledsoe's supposed caliber starts off with a 10-0 lead and is surrounded by the greatest collection of skill players he

PITTSBURGH – Joey Porter, by the assessment of Sports Illustrated, is the meanest man in pro football.

But when Porter, in the joyous aftermath of his game-clinching 42-yard interception return against Miami on Thursday night, excitedly planted a peck on Cowher's neck, it sent reporter's fumbling to find out, "What's up with that?"

Porter quickly grew tired of the subject, but did offer an explanation.

"I just was so happy and after all the things that went on in training camp, I wanted him to know how I felt about him," said Porter, who opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list and evidently was grousing about his contract. "Some people took some things to mean something it really wasn't and I want him to know that there was nothing personal. I'm with him."

So, Porter was asked tongue-in-cheek, "You're comfortable with your masculinity?"

Porter smiled lightly and said, "Yeah, I'm comfortable. That was like kissing your dad. You don't get in trouble for kissing your

PITTSBURGH – In some ways, it's really hard to quarterback the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Time and again, you are asked to do almost nothing. Thread the needle on a 12-yard hook? Nah, throw the dump pass to the running back.

Throw the seam route just over the linebacker and in front of the safety? Nah, throw the dump pass.

Forget about all those fun patterns in high-tech offenses that give other quarterbacks all those chances for glory. Steelers signal callers must wait and wait. Maybe somewhere along the line they'll get a chance to throw it deep.

The latest example came Thursday night as the defending champion Steelers opened the season with a 28-17 win over the Miami Dolphins. It was a formulaic Pittsburgh victory even though the Steelers had to start Charlie Batch over Ben Roethlisberger, who was in sweats four days after his appendectomy.

In this case, Batch was the hero in a game where most people were expecting Miami's Daunte Culpepper to put on a show. Batch completed 15 of 25 passes

Two weeks ago, Miami Dolphins quarterback Daunte Culpepper looked at the man who nearly ended his career and thanked him.

It was an odd thing for Culpepper to say to Carolina cornerback Chris Gamble before the Dolphins played the Panthers in an exhibition game. Last season, Gamble put Culpepper on the shelf with a hit that severed three ligaments in Culpepper's right knee, a gruesome injury with iffy recovery rates.

Even as Culpepper couldn't move, his journey had begun. A journey not just to Miami, but apparently to a different state of mind if you believe the characterizations coming out of Minnesota, Culpepper's former team, and the Dolphins now.

Then again, it could be a matter of appreciation. In the span of a few harsh months, Culpepper went from Gamble's hit to his dream of playing in Miami.

In a year when there are the typical array of intriguing subplots for the NFL, Culpepper is one of five quarterbacks trying to come back from devastating injuries suffered last season or

More on wide receivers: Prima donna WRs nothing new

They are equal parts main event and freak show, able to enthrall or disgust depending on the moment.

They are equally loved and hated, exciting the casual fan and irritating the purist.

They are a collection of great athletes touched by the irrational and sometimes mercurial emotions of artists.

They are wide receivers.

If you want to find controversy in the NFL, look in the receiver section of just about any team's locker room. From Oakland (Randy Moss and Jerry Porter) to New England (Deion Branch) with stops in Cincinnati (Chad Johnson) and, of course, Dallas (Terrell Owens), the NFL landscape is loaded with pass catchers who are often in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Throw in guys like Steve Smith, Keyshawn Johnson, Plaxico Burress, David Boston, Joe Horn and Antonio Bryant and you have a crew that could make Lindsay Lohan blush.

Not that wide receivers haven't always been flamboyant.

"It has always been that way, the guys

Step 1: Teach slowly.

First-year Houston head coach Gary Kubiak doesn't really explain it this way, but if you listen to him closely enough, it's apparent. He has a three-step plan to improve quarterback David Carr, the former No. 1 overall pick … and the current No. 1 enigma for the Texans.

This offseason, the Texans gave Carr a bonus of $8 million to keep him under contract for another three years. All told, Carr is going to make $25.5 million during that time, a steep price for a guy who had thrown 48 touchdowns and 53 interceptions in four years. Houston still sees talent in Carr, but getting it out of him has yet to be done.

Kubiak's plan starts simply enough. Teaching is done slowly. Old habits, developed in the four years of chaotic mess Carr has lived through, must be broken.

"We're talking about doing things step by step, right down to how he takes his steps," said Kubiak, who played quarterback for the Broncos for nine years. "Sometimes you have to rebuild somebody's