Browns' Carthon resigns

Romeo Crennel had no choice but to make a tough call: Maurice Carthon had to go. With Cleveland's season spiraling downward, Crennel accepted Carthon's resignation as offensive coordinator Monday night, one day after the Browns scored just 7 points in a loss to Denver.

The Browns (1-5) have the NFL's lowest-ranked offense and Carthon made some head-scratching play calls and personnel decisions, infuriating Cleveland's fans and frustrating its players. Despite having two weeks to devise a game plan, the Browns picked up only 165 total yards in losing to the Broncos, 17-7, and are ranked at or near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories.

Crennel said Carthon, in his second year running the Browns' offense, came into his office and said he wanted out. Crennel, who is 7-15 in two seasons, insisted that he was not making Carthon a scapegoat and that he was not pressured by management to relieve his close friend.

Jeff Davidson, the club's offensive line coach the past two seasons after spending eight years as an assistant with the Patriots, will replace Carthon.

Surgery for Abraham

Atlanta defensive end John Abraham, 28, will miss up to four weeks following surgery to repair a torn lower abdominal muscle. The announcement came as a surprise because coach Jim Mora said Monday that Abraham may be able to play against Cincinnati Sunday ... Ben Roethlisberger's second concussion in slightly more than four months may not prevent him from practicing this week. The Super Bowl-winning quarterback is questionable for the Steelers' game in Oakland. "He had an MRI done on his brain and neck, and both of those came back normal," coach Bill Cowher said ... The NFL will play as many as two regular-season games per year outside the United States starting in 2007, with Mexico, Canada, England, and Germany as possible sites. The plan, announced last month, was approved yesterday at the recommendation of new commissioner Roger Goodell, who said the benefits of reaching an international audience outweighed the loss of some teams' home games.

Dilemma in Big D

Drew Bledsoe left New England and Buffalo because he didn't want to be a mentor or an insurance policy. He's indicated that if he's not starting, he'd rather be home playing with his kids. That's just part of the dilemma coach Bill Parcells faces this week while deciding whether Bledsoe or Tony Romo should be the Cowboys' quarterback. Bledsoe lost his grip on the job after throwing an interception shortly before halftime of the Cowboys' 36-22 loss to the Giants Monday night. With the Cowboys in position to score a go-ahead touchdown, Bledsoe instead made one of the bad decisions Parcells had warned could get him yanked. So Bledsoe spent the second half seething. In the first meaningful action of his four-year career, Romo was intercepted on his first play and twice more, including one returned 96 yards for a touchdown. For the Giants, Michael Strahan had two of the team's six sacks to match Lawrence Taylor's career club record at 132 1/2. The Giants also came away with a number of injuries: linebacker LaVar Arrington tore his left Achilles' tendon and is likely out for the season, defensive end Osi Umenyiora missed most of the second half with a hip flexor, and backup defensive end Justin Tuck injured his left foot. Mathias Kiwanuka, the first-round draft pick from Boston College, played extensively and did well, coach Tom Coughlin said ... ESPN's telecast of the Giants' win was viewed by the largest audience in cable history. The network said the game had a 12.8 rating, which translates to 16,028,000 viewers ... The Bears' game against the Giants at the Meadowlands Nov. 12 was switched to a night game, the first under the flexible scheduling format implemented in the new television contract. The 8:15 p.m. game will be televised by NBC instead of Fox ... Bob Mann, one of the Lions' first black players in 1948 and a star receiver during the 1940s and '50s, died Saturday in Detroit. He was 82.