Numbers
2 * Chris Warren, Seattle, 19 carries, 103 yards
100-yard receivers
* Sterling Sharpe, Green Bay, 11 catches, 160 yards
* Arthur Marshall, Denver, 5 catches, 134 yards, 1 TD
* Ricky Proehl, Phoenix, 9 catches, 126 yards
* Michael Irvin, Dallas, 5 catches, 114 yards, 1 TD
;/ * Don Beebe, Buffalo, 8 catches, 101 yards.
Records, streaks and milestones
* Washington broke a 14-quarter offensive-touchdown drought when QB Mark Rypien threw fourth-quarter touchdown pass.
* New England QB Scott Zolak, in his second season after being drafted in the fourth round out of Maryland, saw his first NFL action in the fourth quarter. He completed five of nine passes for 20 yards and ran four times for 29 yards. He is expected to start next week in place of injured Tommy Hodson (broken right thumb).
* Tampa Bay is 0-11 in games in which Vinny Testaverde hasn't started since 1988.
* Pittsburgh's defense, which had allowed only seven touchdowns all season, surrendered four to the Bills.
* Seattle lost its sixth straight game and is 1-8, the worst start in its 17-year history.
* Green Bay QB Brett Favre, who began the day with the lowest interception rate in the NFL, was picked off three times in a two-minute span in the fourth quarter by the Giants.
They said it
* "When the gong rings, you hope the old war horse hears it. So I'd like not to believe it's over for Lawrence. It's a lot easier to retire in November than July, you know." Giants president Wellington Mara said.
* "He's been dead five times. I've been to three wakes for him." Raiders DL Howie Long after spending a futile afternoon trying to shut down Eagles QB Jim McMahon.
* "I'm going to answer the question once. I've answered it 45 times this week. [Randall] Cunningham will play next week. Next question." Philadelphia Eagles coach Rich Kotite.
* "I rarely put up outstanding numbers. But look at my record. I win." Philadelphia QB Jim McMahon, who is 61-28 for his career as a starter with the Bears, Chargers and Eagles, including 8-4 with Philadelphia.
* "Thank God we're in the worst division in football." L.A. Raiders WR Tim Brown.
* "After the game, you look at people and you just want to wring their necks." Brown, on Raiders' offensive breakdowns.
* "They look at me and they're in disgust." Green Bay QB Brett Favre, whose interception turned the tide in a loss to the Giants.
* "Timeout, Oakland." Referee Tom White, working the Raiders-Eagles game 11 years after the Raiders moved to Los Angeles.
Pity the Patriots
They are winless and hapless. Their coach is hospitalized and several of their best players are sidelined. About the only thing the New England Patriots have plenty of is heartbreak.
New England's 31-14 loss to New Orleans ended a long week during which coach Dick MacPherson was hospitalized with a serious intestinal problem and top offensive lineman Bruce Armstrong underwent possible career-ending surgery.
"Everybody wanted to win it for Coach Mac," said NT Tim Goad. "But when it rains, it pours, and it's pouring now."
Dante Scarnecchia, who is leading the team in MacPherson's absence, said he and the players had no contact before or after the game with MacPherson -- on doctors' orders.
"As a football team and as a staff, our hearts are toward Coach Mac. We hope he's out here soon," Scarnecchia said.
Five defensive starters and three offensive starters for the Patriots, including QB Hugh Millen, missed the New Orleans game because of injuries.
"You can't sit around and say there's a dark cloud over us. All teams have bad things happen to them," DE Brent Williams said.
@Who's in charge here?
The Denver offense looked a whole lot livelier in yesterday's win over the New York Jets.
How lively?
QB John Elway put the Broncos on top early and they never trailed -- for only the second time this year. No last-minute heroics this week.
The 27 points were also the most scored by Denver this season and the 375 yards total offense was the largest output of the year.
Elway also recorded the longest regular-season touchdown pass his career, an 80-yarder to Arthur Marshall.
Not bad for an offense that began the day as the league's third-worst in terms of yardage.
The difference?
Elway called the plays instead of head coach Dan Reeves.
?3 Wonder if his contract renewal is in any doubt?
With apologies to Kurt Vonnegut
Houston WR Webster Slaughter played for the first time against his former Cleveland teammates, needing 5 yards on receptions to reach the 5,000-yard mark in career catches. Slaughter, who moved the Oilers to change the name of their Fab Four wide receiving corps to the Slaughterhouse Five, caught Warren Moon's first pass of the game for 5 yards to reach the milestone. He finished with five catches for 31 yards.
Can this guy Beathard pick 'em?
Back in 1981, then-Washington general manager Bobby Beathard hired coach Joe Gibbs, who started 0-5 before finishing the season 8-8. This year, Beathard hired Bobby Ross to coach his San Diego Chargers. After starting 0-4, San Diego had won four straight before yesterday's narrow loss to Kansas City.
Silent prayers
Nick Lowery had kicked 299 field goals in his NFL career, and he was in position to log No. 300 and lift the Chiefs to a 16-14 victory over the Chargers.
"You want an honest answer?" Chargers coach Bobby Ross said when asked what he was thinking. "I was talking to my father-in-law, who is dead. I was asking him to intervene for me.
"It sounds stupid, but that's what I did. It was his birthday today, and I just said, 'Give me some help,' because there isn't a whole lot you can do."