There are no such things as style points in the NFL, but there is a matter of winning in style. For half a season, no team has done it better than the Denver Broncos.

They lead the league in scoring, rush offense and, now that the Minnesota Vikings have fallen, talk of a perfect season.

"Our goal is not to stay undefeated," coach Mike Shanahan said of his 8-0 defending champs. "Our goal is to win the Super Bowl.

L "But at the same time, you're going into every game to win."

The Broncos have a swagger born of an offense that averages 34.1 points a game, that has scored more than 30 points six times and more than 40 twice. They win in a style reminiscent of the AFL's old shootout days.

Which is to say, their defense isn't all that good.

The Broncos give up 318.8 yards a game, 19th best in the NFL. They give up 19.9 points a game, sixth most in the AFC. That won't be good enough to deliver the NFL's first perfect season since the Miami Dolphins' 17-0 campaign 26 years ago.

Critical dates to watch: Nov. 16 at the Kansas City Chiefs and Dec. 21 at Miami, both Monday night affairs. Only once this decade have the Broncos been able to sweep the season series with the Chiefs.

If the Broncos are 14-0 heading into Miami in Week 16, the Dolphins will have a delicious chance to repeat history. When the Super Bowl-bound Chicago Bears took a 12-0 record into Miami on Dec. 2, 1985, they were whipped by the Dolphins, 38-24.

Prediction: More than one team will beat the Broncos before the regular season ends, but no one will beat them in the postseason.

Here is a look back at the first half of the 1998 season.

Midyear awards

MVP: Quarterback Randall Cunningham, Vikings. Where would the Vikings be without him? In fourth place in the NFC Central, headed to San Antonio. The two-time NFL Player of the Year with the Philadelphia Eagles had a career half-year with 16 touchdown passes and only three interceptions. He's the highest-rated passer in the league, and if he keeps playing this well, it'll be hard for Brad Johnson to get his job back.

Offensive player: Running back Terrell Davis, Broncos. How's this for a Super Bowl encore? Davis is on pace to rush for 2,300 yards this season, which would demolish Eric Dickerson's single-season record of 2,105, set in 1984. Want more? Davis is averaging 143.8 rushing yards a game, 5.7 yards a carry, has scored 14 rushing touchdowns and has gained at least 100 yards in seven consecutive games. That's with the smallest line in the league.

Defensive player: Cornerback Deion Sanders, Dallas Cowboys. No one stifles a game plan the way Sanders does. Since very few teams are willing to throw at him, he essentially cuts the field in half for a quarterback. His 71-yard interception return for a touchdown against the New York Giants in Week 3 is an example of what happens when teams are foolish enough to challenge him.

Coach: Jon Gruden, Oakland Raiders. The Raiders have been in the playoffs just once in the last six years. Barring a second-half collapse, Gruden will get them there his rookie season, one year after they went 4-12.

Comeback player: Quarterback Doug Flutie, Buffalo Bills. The former CFL star is the smallest quarterback and biggest story in the NFL this year.

Offensive rookie: Running back Fred Taylor, Jacksonville Jaguars. For all of the attention given to Vikings receiver Randy Moss, Taylor has scored more touchdowns (seven vs. six) and has more total yards. He already owns the longest rushing play (77 yards) and longest pass play (78) in team history. And he's averaging 5.2 yards per carry on a team that has never run the ball very well.

Defensive rookie: Cornerback Charles Woodson, Oakland. The Heisman Trophy winner hit a speed bump early in the opener but has played like a steely veteran ever since.

The playoff envelope, please

If the playoffs began today, there would be six new teams in the Super Bowl tournament -- three in each conference -- from a year ago.

The New York Jets, Raiders and Bills would join No. 1 seed Denver, No. 2 seed Jacksonville, and Miami in the AFC. The Jets would play host to the Bills, and the Raiders would entertain the Dolphins in wild-card games.

In the NFC, Dallas, Atlanta and -- gasp! -- Arizona, would join top-seeded Minnesota, second-seeded San Francisco and fifth-seeded Green Bay. The wild-card games would send Arizona to Dallas and Green Bay to Atlanta.

Jets' key to success

Bill Belichick gets this vote as the NFL's most valuable assistant coach. At the very least, he is Bill Parcells' X-factor.

Belichick has worked for Parcells at three stops -- with the New York Giants, the New England Patriots and now the Jets. With Belichick on his staff, Parcells is 102-64-1.

Without him, Parcells is 21-27.

Dr. Jekyll's in the house

The Vikings' 7-1 start is nothing new under Dennis Green. In his seven seasons as coach, the Vikings are 37-19 over the first half of the year. Then they become Mr. Hyde. Down the stretch, they are only 26-22.

Management 101

No sooner had Kerry Collins removed himself from the Carolina lineup in Week 6 than Panthers coach Dom Capers was telling the world of the bailout. With sharper management skills, Capers might've sat on the information and tried quietly to work a trade for his clueless franchise quarterback.

With word that Collins had quit on Carolina, no NFL team was willing to offer the Panthers anything more than pencil shavings. Forced to put Collins on waivers, all the Panthers got from the New Orleans Saints, who claimed him, was the $100 waiver fee.

While Capers' candor is to be applauded, his timing was terrible. Now Carolina is left with 33-year-old quarterback Steve Beuerlein, a free agent after this season, backup Shane Matthews, and no first-round picks in the next two drafts with which to take a quarterback. Those picks went to Washington in the equally ill-conceived trade for defensive end Sean Gilbert.

Psych-out city

Last year, the 49ers were going to beat the Packers with a running game and balanced offense, and lost by 13 points at home. Last week, the 49ers were going to beat the Packers with a big-play passing game that reintroduced Jerry Rice, and lost by 14.

That's five losses in a row to the Packers. That's eight losses in a row to the Packers for quarterback Steve Young, including four while he was with Tampa Bay. The last three 49ers seasons have ended with a loss to the Packers. Until they learn to win this matchup, they can forget about the Super Bowl.

Fear and loathing

Then there are the Patriots, who turn to tapioca at the sight of Parcells, the coach who took them to the Super Bowl two years ago.

As coach of the Jets, Parcells split the season series with New England a year ago, trading home wins. Already this season, the Patriots have lost at home to Parcells -- a 24-14 Monday night game in Week 7 that does not bode well for tie-breaking advantages.

It could all be on the line in Week 17 when the Patriots travel to the Meadowlands to face their former mentor and now nemesis.

Cheaper by the dozen

It has been a rocky go for rookie franchise quarterbacks this season. The Colts' Peyton Manning, the No. 1 draft pick last spring, leads the NFL with 16 interceptions. No. 2 pick Ryan Leaf of the San Diego Chargers -- nicknamed Cryin' Ryan for his tantrums -- has heaved 12 picks.

Meanwhile, the 60th pick in the draft, Charlie Batch, has thrown six interceptions in six starts for the Detroit Lions, three last week.

Manning and Leaf are in good company, though. The Packers' Brett Favre, in a less-than-MVP performance, has been intercepted 15 times.

And Arizona's Jake Plummer -- dubbed the next Joe Montana by Bill Walsh -- has an un-Montana-like dozen picks.

Throw that hankie

The officiating crew nobody wants to see is referee Dick Hantak's. It was Hantak's officials who flagged the 49ers for a NFL record-tying 22 penalties in a 26-21 loss to the Bills in Week 5. Altogether, there were 34 penalties assessed in that game.

Hantak's bunch was at it again in Week 8, whistling the Packers and Ravens for 21 penalties, not counting three more that were declined. The Packers won, 28-10.

The worst officiated game of the half-season, though, was the 49ers' 34-31 narrow escape against Indianapolis in Week 7. Referee Walt Coleman's crew incorrectly waved off two Colts interceptions on phantom holding penalties. The 49ers scored touchdowns each time to begin their comeback from a 21-0 deficit.

Broadway Vinny?

It doesn't have the same ring as Broadway Joe, but Vinny Testaverde became the first quarterback to start his Jets career by going 5-0, surpassing even Joe Namath.

Brought in as backup insurance for brittle Glenn Foley, Testaverde got the starting job for good with a Week 7 win over the Patriots and since then has moved the Jets into a four-way tie for the AFC East lead.

Home-field advantage I

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have scored a total of 90 points in four straight victories at Raymond James Stadium, their new home. That's 22.5 points a game.

In four road games, the Bucs have scored 31 points, an average of 7.8, and lost all four.

Home-field advantage II

The Dolphins are also 4-0 at home this season, with two shutout victories. Their defense has allowed just 16 points, for a 4.0 average, in games at Pro Player Stadium.

The Dolphins are 1-3 on the road, where they have given up 93 points at a 23.3 clip.

Home-field advantage III

The Ravens are 1-3 in their new, as yet unnamed, stadium at Camden Yards, where they have been outscored 101-71.

Maybe the stadium needs a name.

Moore is less

Detroit wide receiver Herman Moore set an NFL record with 123 catches in 1995.

But this season, with the quarterback switch from Scott Mitchell to Batch, Moore is barely visible in the Lions' offense.

He has just 13 catches for 142 yards in the last four games. And he doesn't get to the end zone nearly as often, either. After averaging 10.5 touchdown catches the last four years, Moore has scored just once in eight games, none in the last seven.

In a good cause

Bucs linebacker Hardy Nickerson was fined $7,500 by the league for spitting on Carolina's William Floyd in Week 7. It was the second year in a row that Nickerson's expectorations splattered the burly fullback.

Floyd invited the slobbering Nickerson to match his league fine with a donation to Floyd's charity, the Bar None Foundation for underprivileged children. To his credit, Nickerson agreed to make the donation.

Mr. Unsung

Quick now, where did Jamal Anderson go to college? Give up?

Anderson is a 5-foot-11, 234-pound tank in the Atlanta Falcons' backfield. He has rushed for 862 yards this season, 10 behind Barry Sanders and third-best in the league. He also has five 100-yard rushing games, matching the total from his previous four NFL seasons. He's working on his third straight 1,000-yard season.

And he went to Utah.

Market gone sour

It has been a brutal year for free-agent acquisitions. Major busts include defensive end Gabe Wilkins, who has yet to play a down for the 49ers with a bad knee; Gilbert with Carolina; cornerbacks Antonio Langham, who has been benched by the 49ers, and Doug Evans with the Panthers; and defensive tackle Chester McGlockton with the Chiefs.

Another big-money free agent, pass-rushing linebacker Bryce Paup, has just 2 1/2 sacks with the Jaguars, who have no pass rush.

Sign of the times

The AFC, with just four losing teams, holds a 19-9 lead over the NFC, which has seven losing teams, in interconference play.

At the halfway point

(

Five biggest surprises

Team .. .. .. .. .. W-L .. .. ..Skinny

1. Raiders .. .. .. 6-2 .. .. . Defense brings them back into

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. contention.

2. Bills .. .. .. . 5-3 .. .. . Doug Flutie's winning his little crusade.

3. Falcons .. .. .. 6-2 .. .. . Dan Reeves coaches them up in bad

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . division.

4. Cowboys .. .. .. 5-3 .. .. . Is it Chan Gailey or the wretched NFC

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . East?

5. Bears .. .. .. . 3-5 .. .. . Everybody expected them to be dogs.

/!

Five biggest disappointments

1. Redskins .. .. . 1-7 .. .. . They're paying more for less on

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . defense.

2. Lions .. .. .. . 2-6 .. .. . Bobby Ross pays for someone else's QB

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . mistake.

3. Ravens .. .. ... 2-6 .. .. . They're coming up short every way

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . possible.

4. Chiefs .. .. ... 4-4 .. .. . Too many suspect characters on

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . defense.

5. Giants .. .. ... 3-5 .. .. . In the fallback position, they have no

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . offense.

Rating the relief pitchers

Backup quarterbacks -- those who weren't startersin Week 1 -- have a combined 34 - 27 record in 61 starts this season.

Quarterback, team ........ W-L .. Skinny

Vinny Testaverde, N.Y.J... 5-0 .. Finally, a team he can win with.

Doug Flutie, Buf. ........ 3-0 .. Making it tough on Rob Johnson.

Donald Hollas, Oak. ...... 3-0 .. Keeping Jeff George's seat warm.

Bubby Brister, Den. ...... 2-0 .. He's no John Elway.

John Friesz, Sea. ........ 1-0 .. Warren Moon (ribs) rushed back.

Randall Cunningham, Min. . 5-1 .. So many weapons, so little time.

Rich Gannon, K.C. ........ 3-1 .. Elvis Grbac is feeling the heat.

Jason Garrett, Dal. ...... 3-2 .. Held the fort for Troy Aikman.

Danny Wuerffel, N.O. ..... 2-2 .. Beat Panthers, Colts.

Charlie Batch, Det. ...... 2-4 .. Handed Scott Mitchell the clipboard.

Billy Joe Tolliver, N.O. . 1-2 .. Ditka has a weakness for Billy Joes.

Steve Beuerlein, Car. .... 1-3 .. Looks good compared to Kerry Collins.

Rodney Peete, Phi. ....... 1-3 .. Gave up job again to Bobby Hoying.

Eric Zeier, Ravens ....... 1-3 .. Short and slow doesn't work.

Trent Green, Was. ........ 1-5 .. He waited a long time for this.

Steve DeBerg, Atl. ....... 0-1 .. Say good night, Steve.

Pub date 11/8/98