On the NFL: Parcells' fingerprints are all over it

The Dolphins have turned the ball over a league-low 10 times and are on pace to break the record for fewest turnovers in a 16-game season.

Want to know which team holds the mark of 14?

The Super Bowl champion Giants of the 1990 season.

Make that the Giants of the Bill Parcells era. The same Bill Parcells who is in his first season as the Dolphins' executive vice president of football operations. The same Bill Parcells who has transformed a 1-15 embarrassment into an 8-5 team that is tied with two of his former teams, the Patriots and Jets, atop the AFC East.

While the Jets made all the headlines for acquiring Brett Favre from the Packers, Parcells and the Dolphins could win the AFC East with Chad Pennington, the quarterback the Jets tossed aside to make room for Favre. Pennington has completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,062 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions, which is tied for the second fewest among regular starting quarterbacks.

Warner mentions Pennington In a conference call with Minnesota reporters this week, Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner was asked if he felt he was deserving of the league MVP this season.

"What I would say is that I feel like I am the best quarterback for this system," Warner said. "I feel like you couldn't put a lot of guys in this system and they would play at the same level that I would play at."

"[Picking an MVP] is one of those tough things because it is such a combination of so many different things, and I think there are a lot of guys in this league that are deserving, even guys that don't have the stats," Warner said. "Think about a guy like Chad Pennington. Take him off the team in Miami and where are they? Although he will probably never get an MVP vote because he doesn't have the statistics to go with it."

Home desert advantage The Cardinals are 5-10 on the road under second-year coach Ken Whisenhunt. But they're a much different team at home the past two seasons.

They're 11-3 heading into today's game against the Vikings at University of Phoenix Stadium. They've also scored 415 points in those 14 home games. That's an average of 29.6 points per game, which is the highest in the league at home the past two seasons.

Chavous' starting streak to end Former Vikings safety Corey Chavous has started the past 121 games in which he's been able to play. That will end today in St. Louis.

Rams coach Jim Haslett has benched the 32-year-old Chavous because of his performance this season. Haslett told reporters that Chavous knew what was coming.

Todd Johnson will start in Chavous' place when the 2-11 Seahawks face the 2-11 Rams at the Edward Jones Dome.

It will be only the fifth time a home game will be blacked out locally in St. Louis since the Rams moved from Los Angeles in 1995.

Looking ahead to Atlanta The Vikings return home next week to face the Falcons. Atlanta's punter, Michael Koenen, and his coverage guys are on pace for an NFL record for the lowest punt return yardage allowed in a season.