SPOTLIGHT : A GLANCE AT THIS WEEK IN THE NFL

TOP PERFORMANCES

Passing

Quarterback, Team Att. Cmp. Yds. TD TROY AIKMAN, Cowboys 40 21 379 2 DAN MARINO, Dolphins 34 18 359 3 DON MAJKOWSKI, Packers 59 34 357 1 JIM EVERETT, Rams 33 23 295 2 KEN O’BRIEN, Jets 35 22 289 1 STEVE GROGAN, Patriots 59 27 283 1 JOE MONTANA, 49ers 19 16 270 3 TOM TUPA, Cardinals 22 14 245 2 JIM KELLY, Bills 30 14 172 3

Rushing

Player, Team Car. Yds. TD THURMAN THOMAS, Bills 29 127 0 ROGER CRAIG, 49ers 17 109 0 DALTON HILLIARD, Saints 28 106 2 BO JACKSON, Raiders 21 103 0

Receiving

Player, Team No. Yds. TD MOSI TATUPU, Patriots 8 34 0 JAMES DIXON, Cowboys 6 203 1 ROBERT AWALT, Cardinals 6 105 0 ANDRE REED, Bills 6 76 2 STERLING SHARPE, Packers 6 74 0 PETE HOLOHAN, Rams 6 44 0 TOM RATHMAN, 49ers 6 43 0 LOUIS LIPPS, Steelers 4 112 0 ERNIE JONES, Cardinals 3 129 2 SCOTT SCHWEDES, Dolphins 3 107 1

BIG PLAYS

Jim Everett connected on touchdown pass plays of 51 yards to Aaron Cox and 21 yards to Flipper Anderson in the final minute of the first half as the Rams pulled away to defeat the New York Giants, 31-10.

David Treadwell kicked a 26-yard field goal in the final seconds to give Denver a 16-13 victory over Kansas City.

Dan Marino passed for touchdowns of 78 yards to Mark Clayton and 65 yards to Scott Schwedes in the third quarter and Miami rallied for 28 unanswered points to defeat the New York Jets, 31-23.

Reggie Rutland returned a fumble 27 yards for a touchdown and Minnesota recorded its sixth victory in seven games with a 24-10 victory over Tampa Bay.

Dalton Hilliard scored on a three-yard run to ignite a spurt in which New Orleans scored four touchdowns in seven minutes during a 28-24 victory over New England.

Reserve quarterback Tom Tupa threw to Ernie Jones on a 72-yard touchdown pass play with 58 seconds remaining to give Phoenix a 24-20 victory over Dallas.

LOWLIGHTS

Not a good day for Atlanta’s Deion Sanders.

San Francisco wide receiver Jerry Rice beat Sanders and the Falcon secondary for an 11-yard touchdown catch early in the third quarter.

Rice, who also caught a 38-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter of the 49ers’ 45-3 rout, has, of course, made many a cornerback look bad en route to catching 66 touchdowns in his brief NFL career. But some of Sanders’ problems were of his own doing.

He was ineffective on kickoff returns and was flagged for a face-mask penalty and a personal foul on two 49er drives that culminated in touchdowns in the first half.

Eric Dickerson of Indianapolis fumbled the ball away on consecutive Colt possessions--without being hit--and refused to comment after the 30-7 loss to Buffalo. Both Dickerson fumbles led to Scott Norwood field goals.

“I don’t know if he has his shirt slicked up with something or what,” Buffalo nose tackle Fred Smerlas said of Dickerson. “One time I had him in the backfield and he just slipped right out of my hands. Then he fumbled the ball twice.”

The New York Giants netted only six rushing yards in 10 carries during a 31-10 loss to the Rams, who entered the game rated 26th in the league in team defense. . . . The New York Jets failed on six third- or fourth-down situations in which they needed one yard, including twice on runs by Johnny Hector near the goal line.

Philadelphia’s Randall Cunningham was sacked three times, all by defensive end Dexter Manley, in the Eagles’ 10-3 loss to Washington. The Eagles gained only 47 yards rushing and crossed midfield only four times. . . . Tampa Bay quarterback Vinny Testaverde was sacked seven times in a 24-10 loss to Minnesota.

STREAKS

Ram quarterback Jim Everett completed 18 passes in a row, eclipsing his club record of 14, in a 31-10 victory over the New York Giants.

Kevin Butler kicked field goals of 39 and 35 yards, giving him 12 in a row this season and 22 in a row over two seasons, one short of the NFL record of 23 by Washington’s Mark Moseley in 1981-82. Butler tied Pat Leahy’s streak of 22 in a row for the New York Jets in 1985-86 as the second-longest in league history.

Steve Largent of Seattle extended to 171 his NFL-record streak of games with receptions in the Seahawks’ 17-7 loss to Cleveland. Largent had four catches for 33 yards. He also became the first NFL player to surpass 800 career receptions.

Kansas City kicker Nick Lowery has converted 192 consecutive extra-point attempts, the longest active streak in the NFL. . . . Chief receiver Stephone Paige had two catches for 48 yards, extending to 58 his streak of games with receptions. . . . Minnesota’s Anthony Carter had two catches for 49 yards, extending to 59 his streak of games with receptions.

MILESTONES

Ram quarterback Jim Everett passed for 295 yards against the Giants and moved into fourth place on the team’s all-time passing yardage list. He surpassed Vince Ferragamo and has passed for 9,560 yards in the NFL.

San Francisco receiver Jerry Rice surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the fourth consecutive season. He had three catches for 81 yards and two touchdowns against Atlanta, giving him 1,043 receiving yards this season.

JUST FOR KICKS

Atlanta quarterback Chris Miller, called on when kicker Paul McFadden was injured in pregame warmups, kicked a 25-yard field goal to account for the Falcons’ only points in a 45-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Miller, in his third season out of Oregon, had never attempted a field goal in the NFL. However, between ages 8 and 13, he made the national finals of the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick competition four times and the semifinals once.

Miller hooked the kick through the uprights and raised his arms jubilantly as his smiling Falcon teammates congratulated him.

The well-rounded Miller has played minor league baseball in the Seattle Mariners’ farm system, is a near-scratch golfer who can drive the ball more than 300 yards and was a star basketball player as a youth in Eugene, Ore.

GONE WITH THE WIND

Rookie Pete Stoyanovich kicked a 59-yard field goal, the third longest in the NFL, in Miami’s 31-23 victory over the New York Jets.

Stoyanovich, who missed a 34-yard attempt into the wind in the first quarter, connected with a line drive that barely cleared the crossbar at 10:17 of the second period. He had help from a stiff wind estimated at 25 m.p.h.

The only longer NFL field goals are by New Orleans’ Tom Dempsey, a 63-yarder against Detroit on Nov. 8, 1970, and Cleveland’s Steve Cox, a 60-yarder on Oct. 21, 1984, against Cincinnati.

Philadelphia’s Tony Franklin also made a 59-yarder against Dallas Nov. 12, 1979.

Stoyanovich missed a 52-yard attempt in the third quarter.

IN QUOTES

Quarterback Jim Everett after the Rams ended a four-game losing streak with a 31-10 victory over the New York Giants: “Going four weeks like that, it’s not a monkey on your back; that was a gorilla.”

San Francisco offensive tackle Bubba Paris after the 49ers’ routed lowly Atlanta, 45-3: “Atlanta proved that we could take a team that’s down and keep them down.” Pittsburgh Coach Chuck Noll after the Steelers’ 20-0 loss to Chicago: “When you lose, I don’t think it matters what the difference is in the score.”

Green Bay Coach Lindy Infante after the Packers were defeated by Detroit, 31-22: “Don’t anybody write that there was a letdown . There was no letdown today. We just got beat by a better team.”

Indianapolis Coach Ron Meyer on his team’s playoff chances after the Colts (4-6) lost to Buffalo: “As I said coming in, it looks like a very steep hill. It looks like Mt. Everest right now.”

Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer, asked if Denver’s John Elway is taking years off his life: “Absolutely not. I’m the only guy who can do that. But one thing I’ve learned about this business as a player and coach: Stay with it long enough, and you will usually end up seeing both sides of the coin.”

Chief linebacker Derrick Thomas, on a shovel pass to Steve Sewell that set up Denver’s game-winning field goal: “Let’s be honest. They called the perfect play at the perfect time.”

Phoenix Coach Gene Stallings after Tom Tupa relieved quarterback Gary Hogeboom and threw a game-winning 72-yard touchdown pass to Ernie Jones: “I’d rather have a quarterback controversy and be 5-5 than not have one and be 4-6.”

INJURIES

Pro Bowl noseguard Bill Maas of Kansas City suffered a broken left arm on the next-to-last play in the Chiefs’ 16-13 loss to Denver.

Maas, a six-year veteran, was hurt on the play in which Steve Sewell carried to the nine-yard line to set up David Treadwell’s game-winning 26-yard field goal in the final seconds. There was no immediate word on whether Maas would return this season.

Kansas City receiver Stephone Paige was knocked unconscious on a pass play over the middle in the first half and did not return.

Wide receiver Sammy Martin, running back John Stephens and cornerback Rodney Rice all were knocked out of the game in New England’s 28-24 loss to New Orleans.

Martin got his first pro start because of injuries that kept Irving Fryar and Cedric Jones out of the game, but tore a ligament in his left foot. Rice suffered a strained right hamstring while returning a first-quarter kickoff. Stephens, who missed two games this season with an ankle injury, suffered a left hip pointer in the first half.

Atlanta kicker Paul McFadden pulled a muscle in his right thigh during pregame warmups and missed the Falcons’ 45-3 loss to San Fran- cisco. . . .The 49ers’ Keith Henderson, a rookie running back from Georgia, playing in his first game, suffered a ligament injury in his right knee after scoring on an 11-yard run.

Washington tackle Joe Jacoby suffered a dislocated knee in the first quarter of the Redskins’ 10-3 victory over Philadelphia.

Chicago cornerback Lemuel Stinson suffered bruised ribs and center Jay Hilgenberg sprained his right knee in the first half and did not return in the Bears’ 20-0 victory over Pittsburgh.

TONIGHT’S GAME

Cincinnati at Houston, 6 p.m., PST--Boomer Esiaison, despite an injury, will lead the battered and bruised Bengals into the Astrodome tonight to face an Oiler team that has won its last four games at home.

Esiaison went to the sideline with a bruised lung in the first quarter of Cincinnati’s 28-7 loss to the Raiders last week. Running backs James Brooks and Eric Ball also left the game with injuries.

Esiaison expects to be ready to face the Oilers. “It’s my right lung, not my left, and I’m left-lunged,” he said of the injury.

The Bengals (5-4) have lost of three of their last four games, while the Oilers have been rounding into form.

Houston’s Warren Moon has passed for 2,255 yards and 14 touchdowns. He led the Oilers (5-4) to a 35-31 victory over Detroit last week by completing 30 of 38 passes for 345 yards and two touchdowns, in addition to running for a score.

The teams are evenly matched in a number of statistical categories. Moon and Esiaison are ranked second and third among AFC passers; the Bengals rank fifth and the Oilers sixth in the conference in team offense; and the Oilers rank second in defending the rush, the Bengals first in rushing offense.