He started all 32 games in his first two seasons, but Buccaneers safety Tanard Jackson(notes) missed the first four games of the 2009 season due to a violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy. In his absence, the Bucs have put up a horrible pass defense under new defensive coordinator Jim Bates and his different schemes -- Tampa Bay goes into Week 5 ranked 31st against the pass in Defensive DVOA -- only the Lions are worse. The Bucs have thrown out the long-effective Tampa-2 system and are going with many more single-high safety loks, and they're getting burned for deep touchdown passes as a result.

Tampa Bay will desperately need Jackson to step up in his return, because they're facing the Eagles at the Linc, and Donovan McNabb(notes) is back. The Eagles have two downfield burners -- DeSean Jackson(notes) and Jeremy Maclin(notes) -- and an offense with some new Wildcat looks. So far, the trickeration has slowed the Philly offense more than it's helped, but the Bucs might be even worse against the run than against the pass. Jackson is more a coverage guy than a space-filler, but the Tampa Bay defense will take whatever they can get.

We'll be back to detail Jackson's performance, and ho the Bucs defense survived against Philly's offensive attack, tonight.

The TwitterFest returns for another week here as part of the Sunday festivities here at The Corner. What that means, if you didn't get a chance to get familiar with it last week, is that I'll be tweeting all day throughout the  professional football contests, and those updates will appear right here. You can check in periodically for various observations, thoughts and cheap jokes at the expense of various Raiders.

We'll start right around kickoff. Enjoy your Sunday.

Amazingly, today begins the second quarter of the NFL season. It feels like just yesterday we were talking up the Titans chances to repeat in the AFC South and wondering whether the Cardinals would break the jinx of the Super Bowl losers. The Bengals were an afterthought, the Ravens were merely hoping to jockey for position behind Pittsburgh and the Packers were a favorite in the NFC. Some things haven't been surprising: the Giants are 4-0, the Redskins are struggling, the Patriots are back on top of the AFC East and the Broncos have four wins, just like we thought they'd have at the end of the season.

Week five kicks off in about an hour, but before it does, here's a pictoral look back at the first quarter of the NFL season:

Two months ago, Ravens rookie offensive tackle Michael Oher(notes) was knocking guys around in the preseason and getting acclimated to the NFL life. Today, he'll start on the left side for the first time in his NFL career, and he'll face the NFL's co-leader in sacks. However, if there's one thing we know about Oher, the subject of Michael Lewis' rags-to-riches story "The Blind Side", it's that he's no ordinary rookie.

Left tackle Jared Gaither(notes) is out this week with a neck injury, and Oher will move from right tackle to left to deal with Cincinnati end Antwan Odom(notes), who's tied with Denver's Elvis Dumervil(notes) for the most sacks in the league with eight. The Bengals will need a balanced attack against the Ravens, and if they win, they'll have the AFC North lead and a 4-1 record. On the other side of the ball, the Ravens are featuring the pass more than expected, and they'll hope to stretch the Bengals defense without being penalized with quarterback pressure. This Oher-Odom matchup could be the key to the whole thing.

At Ole Miss, Oher did play left tackle, and he was rated by several experts as the top college prospect at his position. The Ravens moved him to the right side to augment their power running game with Oher's own sometimes dominant blocking. Taking on Odom will be a switch -- Oher will have to stop as many speed moves as bull rushes. Expect Baltimore's offense to have a tight end or running back to chip the left side if necessary, but they have to be able to rely on Oher if they want to put their entire offense on the field.

We'll review the Oher-Odom matchup tonight.

The Desperation Index features disappointing teams thought to be in the hunt at one point (excluding your Lions, Chiefs, Browns and Rams), but are now struggling to save their seasons after rough starts in 2009. Who is most on the hook for a win this week?

Desperation Index: 10.0 -- Tennessee Titans (0-4): Right now, the only thing keeping the Titans on this list if the fact that they were the NFL's 1-seed in 2008. They look nothing like that team in 2009. It could have been argued that they were the NFL's best winless team until last Sunday, when they were convincingly beaten by the Jaguars, 37-17. Now they're one more loss away from done, and the specter of the "Hey, let's see if Vince Young(notes) can actually play quarterback in the NFL" discussion again. Eek.

Desperation Index: 10.0 -- Carolina Panthers (0-3): Similarly, last year's 2-seed in the NFC can't buy a win. Before their Week 4 bye, the Panthers lost, 21-7 to the uneven Cowboys. They haven't had a 100-yard rusher in a single game yet, which is very bad news for their smashmouth offense. Why the Kats are playing keep-away from their running game is a mystery, but if they have any hope of salvaging their season, it's time to load up the tight ends and get back to power against the Redskins today.

Desperation Index: 10.0 -- Seattle Seahawks (1-3): Last year, their 4-12 record was more about a historic number of offensive injuries, and the front office got a pass. Now, team president Tim Ruskell is one loss away from a dead season and a great many questions about his tenure. He's the guy who ran Mike Holmgren out of town, and has failed to find necessary replacements for Matt Hasselbeck(notes), Walter Jones(notes), and Shaun Alexander(notes). Another sub-500 season in the Emerald City could lead to a much-needed rebuild.

Desperation Index: 9.0 -- Arizona Cardinals (1-2): Last year's NFC Champs were blown out by the Colts in Week 3, and they've had the bye week to fix a running game that has failed to produce a single player going over 30 yards in two of their three games. More distressingly, Kurt Warner(notes) is not hitting his downfield targets -- his Yards per Pass Attempt is down from 7.7 in 2008 to 7.1 in 2009, which is his worst since 2003. They need to figure it out against the Houston Texans, a team that can actually outgun them these days.

Desperation Index: 8.0 -- Washington Redskins (2-2): What a lovely week it's been for the Beltway Bunglers. First, Danny and Vinny pulled Sherm Lewis out of the bingo hall to "oversee" Jim Zorn ("Okay, now call B-1!"). Then, there was defensive coordinator Greg Blache's insistence that he wouldn't talk to the media for the rest of the season, which is a real shame, as he's the most quotable coach in the NFL. Then, the catfight between Clinton Portis(notes) and Mike Sellers(notes) over Portis wanting Sellers pulled because of his blocking. This is one week, folks. The Panthers may have problems, but at least they're not an ongoing soap opera. If the Redskins dip under .500 by losing to Carolina, what will NEXT week look like?

Desperation Index: 8.0 -- Miami Dolphins (1-3): The Dolphins finally got their first win of the season against the Bills last week, a 38-10 shellacking that actually put them with more points scored than allowed for the season. They've lost two close games -- one to the Colts where they had the ball for 45 minutes, and one to the Chargers in which San Diego exploited Miami's holes in their red zone defense. Now, they have a chance to crawl back to relevance against the Jets on Monday night, but they're facing Rex Ryan -- the same guy who ran the Baltimore defense that shut down the Wildcat last year.