DON'T JUDGE A SEASON BY ONE MEAGER MONTH.

Byline: BILLY WITZ

The first month of the NFL season has passed, and all in all it's been rather uneventful.

Rush Limbaugh isn't around to inform viewers that the media are toadies for Donovan McNabb. (Wonder what Milton Bradley thought of that?) Nor is Joe Horn interrupting his workday to phone home.

On the field, scoring is down, Super Bowl favorites New England and Philadelphia have done nothing to discourage the oddsmakers, and the most inspiring comeback belongs not to Joe Gibbs or Deion Sanders, but to the Texans, who came rallied from eight points down to beat the Chiefs - the largest come-from-behind win in 2004.

If baseball season is near its end, at least in Los Angeles, then perhaps the NFL is just conserving its excitement. Or so we can hope.

Nevertheless, some assessments of the first quarter of the NFL season:

--The Giants groused when Tom Coughlin set the clocks five minutes ahead and then fined his players for not showing up on time - his time. There's no grumbling now that New York, after three consecutive wins, has arrived well ahead of schedule.

--If Ricky Williams does indeed return to the NFL, the Raiders would be a perfect fit. Not only does he fit the misfit image, it makes football sense, too. Oakland coach Norv Turner lacks a feature back, and as the offensive coordinator in Miami he put the ball in Williams' hands a league-leading 392 times.

--The NFC North is back to being the Black and Blue Division again. The Bears are without their three captains, Mike Brown, Rex Grossman and Brian Urlacher - the first two for the season. The Lions lost Charles Rogers for the year, and Boss Bailey and Kevin Jones are out this week. The Packers' defense has been crippled by the loss of Grady Jackson, and Brett Favre's concussion has the Cheeseheads sweating. The Vikings this week are down to their fourth tight end, Sean Burton, and fourth tailback, rookie Mewelde Moore.

--That the Falcons are 4-0 isn't as much of a surprise as the reason why: defense. Rookie coach Jim Mora Jr., the 49ers' former defensive coordinator, has taken a unit that was 32nd in total defense and improved it to 10th, allowing 309.8 yards per game. Only Seattle allows fewer than Atlanta's 12.3 points per game. The biggest beneficiary of Mora's switch to a 4-3 defense is end Patrick Kerney, who has a league-high seven sacks after moving farther outside.

--The game might not have passed Gibbs by, but the Redskins coach is having some senior moments with clock management. The past two weeks, the Redskins have had just one timeout left by the fourth quarter in narrow losses to the Cowboys and Browns.

--The Cowboys might be 2-1, but don't expect them to stay above .500 if they're expecting Vinny Methuselah-verde to keep throwing for 300 yards per game.

--The NFL's two-game suspension of Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, who will serve four months in prison after the season for pleading guilty to using a cell phone to help a friend arrange a cocaine buy, seems appropriate. Lewis didn't stand to profit from the deal, it occurred before Lewis played in the league and he appeared contrite. What isn't right is Lewis - who said Thursday he wouldn't appeal the suspension - using the five-day appeal period to play Sunday against Washington.

--It might not be a kind month for ``Monday Night Football.'' There's some question as to whether Steve McNair and Favre will be able to play this week, and the Titans and Packers both are a disappointing 1-3. Worse yet, ABC is faced with the prospect of showing winless Tampa Bay at St. Louis on Oct. 17, and winless Miami at the Jets on Nov. 1.

--Circle Nov. 28 on your calendar. That's when 0-10 Miami will travel to 0-10 San Francisco.

--Arizona is 1-3, but the Cardinals might be closer than you think to turning the corner under new coach Dennis Green. Their defense has allowed just 14 points per game, and it's fair to assume the offense would be considerably better if receiver Anquan Boldin and running back Marcel Shipp weren't injured.

--The Patriots might set the NFL record for consecutive wins this week with No. 19 against Miami, but the 1972 Dolphins shouldn't have to worry about them matching their perfect season. For a team with questions about its interior run defense, the Patriots must deal with Seattle (Shaun Alexander), the Jets (Curtis Martin) twice, Pittsburgh (Duce Staley), St. Louis (Marshall Faulk, if Mike Martz decides to give him the ball, and Stephen Jackson), Kansas City (Priest Holmes) and Baltimore (Jamal Lewis). That's a tough gauntlet to run.

--If not the Patriots, which of the remaining five unbeatens has the best shot at finishing that way? Philadelphia, which plays in a suspect division and whose most threatening road games are in Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

--A.J. Feeley and Jay Fielder are proof that the only reason a coach rotates two quarterbacks is because he doesn't have one good one.

CAPTION(S):

2 boxes

Box:

(1) ON THE GRIDIRON

By Matthew Kredell

(2) NFL WEEK 5

- Daily News Wire Services