SPOTLIGHT : A GLANCE AT THIS WEEK IN THE NFL

TOP PERFORMANCES

Passing

Quarterback, Team Att. Cmp. Yds. TD BOOMER ESIASON, Bengals 39 30 399 3 JIM KELLY, Bills 41 21 356 1 JOE MONTANA, 49ers 42 30 325 2 JIM EVERETT, Rams 24 15 308 2 VINNY TESTAVERDE, Buccaneers 42 19 288 1 DAN MARINO, Dolphins 36 21 255 1 JACK TRUDEAU, Colts 28 17 255 1

Rushing

Player, Team Car. Yds. TD DALTON HILLIARD, Saints 29 158 1 ERIC DICKERSON, Colts 31 131 1 JOHN STEPHENS, Patriots 23 126 0 BARRY SANDERS, Lions 18 118 0 NEAL ANDERSON, Bears 15 100 1

Receiving

Player, Team No. Yds. TD KEITH JACKSON, Eagles 12 87 0 TIM McGEE, Bengals 11 194 1 JERRY RICE, 49ers 9 106 1 ANTHONY MILLER, Chargers 7 104 2 MARK DUPER, Dolphins 7 90 0 KELVIN MARTIN, Cowboys 7 82 0 JOHN TAYLOR, 49ers 7 71 0 MARK CARRIER, Buccaneers 6 164 1 HENRY ELLARD, Rams 5 163 2 ANDRE REED, Bills 6 107 0

LOWLIGHTS

Philadelphia kicker Steve DeLine missed field goal attempts from 45 yards, 32 yards and 45 yards against the Minnesota Vikings. Things got so bad that in the second half, with fourth and 15 on the 31, Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan decided to keep DeLine on the sideline and go for it. The Eagles, who eventually won, 10-9, turned the ball over on downs.

Things weren’t much better for Minnesota, which had 10 penalties for 74 yards and turned the ball over four times.

With four seconds remaining in regulation, Kansas City kicker Nick Lowery missed two field goal attempts, first from 45 yards and then from 39 after a penalty, to leave the Chiefs and Cleveland Browns tied, 10-10. He then was short on a 47-yarder with three seconds left in overtime.

The Browns limited the Chiefs’ Christian Okoye, the NFL’s leading rusher, to 40 yards in 21 carries.

For the offensive-minded fan, the Cleveland and Kansas City offenses had little to offer. The Browns lost four fumbles, had one pass intercepted and punted 12 times, matching a team record set in 1950. The Chiefs had three passes intercepted and punted 11 times. The game appropriately ended in a 10-10 tie.

The Detroit Lions, who led the league with 34 turnovers entering the game, ushered Cincinnati to four second-quarter touchdowns by losing two fumbles and having a punt blocked into the end zone in a 42-7 defeat. The Lions lost three of six fumbles, had two interceptions and gave up 450 yards passing.

The San Francisco 49ers lost the ball four times on turnovers in a 21-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The 49ers also were were called for three penalties totaling 35 yards in Green Bay’s game-winning drive, including an offside penalty against defensive end Daniel Stubbs that wiped out a 96-yard interception return by Chet Brooks.

New York Jets quarterback Ken O’Brien was sacked four times and threw two interceptions in a 27-10 loss to Indianapolis.

STREAKS

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended a five-game losing streak with their 32-31, last-second victory over the Chicago Bears.

Seattle’s Steve Largent extended his streak of catching at least one pass to 173 consecutive games. He had four receptions for 39 yards in a 15-3 loss to the New York Giants.

The Falcons had won three games in a row at home and were trying to make it four in a row for the first time since 1980. They lost to the Saints, 26-17.

The San Francisco 49ers’ streak of six victories ended with a 21-17 loss to Green Bay.

Green Bay quarterback Don Majkowski threw for a touchdown for the 13th consecutive game with a four-yard completion to Sterling Sharpe.

Buffalo’s Scott Norwood has kicked 114 consecutive extra points and has scored in a club-record 57 consecutive games. He had three extra points and a field goal in 33-24 loss to New England.

Kansas City’s Nick Lowery, who had one field goal and an extra point in the 10-10 tie against Cleveland, has kicked 193 consecutive extra points, longest active streak in the NFL.

San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana ran his club-record string of passes without being intercepted to 149 before Chuck Cecil made an interception in the second quarter of Green Bay’s victory.

INJURIES

Kansas City quarterback Steve Pelluer was knocked out of the game in the first quarter when he suffered a sprained knee on a sack by the Cleveland Browns’ Anthony Blaylock.

Detroit quarterback Rodney Peete, after completing five of eight first-half passes for 83 yards, left the game against the Bengals with a sprained knee.

Cincinnati center Bruce Kozerski left the game against the Lions in the first half with a cracked vertebra, but Coach Sam Wyche said he may not miss a lot of time because it was just a chipped bone. Bengal defensive end Jim Skow suffered a separated shoulder.

Houston wide receiver Ernest Givins sustained an ankle injury, center George Yarno went out with a bruised knee and linebacker Robert Lyles suffered a knee sprain.

Raider nose tackle Bob Golic was sidelined with a concussion.

MILESTONES

Chicago’s Kevin Butler kicked a 40-yard field goal in the second quarter to tie the NFL record of 23 consecutive field goals set by the Washington Redskins’ Mark Moseley in 1981-82. It was Butler’s 13th field goal of the season. The Bears lost to Tampa Bay, 32-31.

Miami’s Dan Marino moved into ninth place on the NFL’s all-time touchdown pass list with 213, ahead of Terry Bradshaw and Y.A. Tittle.

In the Saints’ 26-17 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans’ Dalton Hilliard scored on a 22-yard run in the third quarter for his 14th touchdown of the season, breaking the Saints’ single-season record of 13 set by George Rogers in 1981.

Linebacker Pat Swilling of the Saints had 3 1/2 sacks against the Atlanta to run his season total to a club-record 13 1/2.

Cincinnati’s Tim McGee caught 11 passes for a regular-season Bengal record in a 42-7 victory over Detroit.

Philadelphia’s Randall Cunningham rushed for 18 yards against the Vikings to give him 2,269 yards for his career. That moved him ahead of Terry Bradshaw and Roger Staubach into sixth place on the all-time rushing list for quarterbacks.

A ROOKIE MISTAKE?

San Diego’s Burt Grossman had fun insulting the Pittsburgh Steelers all week, but the Steelers had the last laugh after a 20-17 victory over the Chargers.

Grossman, a rookie defensive end from the University of Pittsburgh, took verbal shots at several Steelers during a conference call with reporters last week. He made fun of ex-Pitt teammates Jerry Olsavsky and Tom Ricketts and expressed his dislike for running back Tim Worley, the Steelers’ first-round draft choice.

“We beat their butts so now he looks like the stupid one or whatever he called me,” Worley said.

Grossman was selected in the draft after Worley and says Worley should have signed for more money. Grossman said during the week: “I don’t like Worley and I never really did. He screwed me up on my contract thing. Watching him on films, he hasn’t done much.”

PROMISES, PROMISES

The Minnesota-Philadelphia game showed early promise of becoming one of those games really worth watching when Herschel Walker returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. Turns out it was worth watching, but only after the teams bumbled their way to an exciting finish. Viking kicker Rich Karlis gave an indication of how things were about to change when he missed the extra-point attempt after Walker’s return. Karlis, who was battling the flu, also missed on a 37-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter. Eagle kicker Steve DeLine, signed three weeks ago, managed to kick a 34-yard field goal but missed three other attempts. Neither team, particularly the Vikings, seemed capable of winning this one. Rick Fenney’s fumble deep in Eagle territory in the fourth quarter ended a drive that could have put the game away for the Vikings. Walker later dropped the ball when he was simply trying to switch hands, to end another threat. Minnesota had 10 penalties for 74 yards. Finally, Randall Cunningham threw three yards for a touchdown to Cris Carter with 2:32 left to tie the score, 9-9. And DeLine barely made the extra point, the line-drive kick narrowly getting over the crossbar. The touchdown, the first by the Philadelphia offense in eight quarters, was set up by Walker’s fumble.

IN QUOTES

Quarterback Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys on Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins: “Marino is a great player and believe me I took some mental notes, particularly on those ‘Hail Mary’ throws. He’s in a class by himself.”

Quarterback Boomer Esiason of the Cincinnati Bengals, who completed 30 of 39 passes for 399 yards: “I was 30 for 39, but I felt it could have been 35 for 39. It could have been worse than it was for them . They played a lot of zone. They didn’t want to match up with us (man-for-man).”

Detroit Lion Coach Wayne Fontes, after the 42-7 loss to the Bengals: “We got beat ugly . They didn’t just beat us, they embarrassed us.”

New Orleans Saint quarterback Bobby Hebert on Dalton Hilliard, who ran for 158 yards and a touchdown against Atlanta: “He’s not little, he’s short . Our nickname for him is ‘Little Rock’ because he’s solid as a rock. He’s just short in stature, not in playing ability.”

Saint linebacker Pat Swilling on Atlanta rookie Deion Sanders, who was penalized with a personal foul for shoving running back Hilliard out of bounds after a touchdown: “I think that fired us up. Dalton got a little upset and you don’t often see Dalton upset.” Philadelphia Coach Buddy Ryan, on the Eagles’ excruciating, 10-9 victory over the Vikings: “I thought somehow we’d pull it out . I just didn’t know how.”

Philadelphia kicker Steve DeLine, who missed three field goal attempts and narrowly made the extra point kick that gave the Eagles their 10-9 victory: “The extra point was line-drive shaky . Everything was shaky today. It was just a bad day. Thank God it went over.”

Bengal receiver Tim McGee, who caught 11 passes for 194 yards against the Lions, on the Detroit secondary: “They gave me a lot of room off the ball . We hit ‘em short, hit ‘em medium, and hit ‘em long once in a while.”

Seattle quarterback Kelly Stouffer, on the New York Giants’ defense that held the Seahawks to a field goal in a 15-3 loss: “They played basic defense, but the people they have playing it aren’t basic people. I felt good, but there were times I just wasn’t able to do the things I wanted to.”

BIG PLAYS

Mike Tomczak came off the bench and threw three touchdown passes in the last 4:27 to give the Chicago Bears a 31-29 lead over Tampa Bay. He threw to Ron Morris on a 58-yard touchdown play and connected with Wendell Davis on scoring plays of 26 and 58 yards. Tomczak completed six of seven passes for 156 yards. But Donald Igwebuike’s fourth field goal, of 28 yards, as time expired gave the Buccaneers a 32-31 victory.

Miami’s Dan Marino threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Andre Brown, who out-jumped five defenders, at the end of the first half to cut the Dolphins’ deficit against the Dallas Cowboys to 14-10. The Cowboys went on to win, 17-14, and moved into a share of first place with Buffalo in the AFC East.

Rookie cornerback Maurice Hurst intercepted a pass by Jim Kelly and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown with 2:49 left as the New England Patriots erased a 24-13 deficit with 20 points in the last eight minutes and beat the Buffalo Bills, 33-24.

Michael Stewart had a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown on the third play from scrimmage and Jerry Gray had two interceptions and Cliff Hicks added one for the Rams, who routed Phoenix 37-14.

Patriot rookie Patrick Egu ran 15 yards for a touchdown on his first NFL rush.

Indianapolis’ Eric Dickerson became the first runner this season to gain more than 100 yards against the New York Jets in the Colts’ 27-10 win. Dickerson, bothered most of the season by a sore hamstring, rushed for 131 yards and one touchdown in 31 carries.

TONIGHT’S GAME

Denver at Washington, 6 p.m., PST--It’s being billed as a rematch of the 1988 Super Bowl, but the Redskins and Broncos have undergone wholesale changes since that game at San Diego nearly two years ago.

Doug Williams, Timmy Smith, Dexter Manley and the majority of the Redskin defense will be watching from the sideline or on national television when the teams meet at RFK Stadium for the first time since the Redskins broke 19 Super Bowl records and tied 10 in a 42-10 victory.

Williams, who threw for four touchdowns and 340 yards and was selected the game’s most valuable player, has been sidelined because of a bad back. Smith, who set a Super Bowl record with 204 rushing yards, is out of the league, and Jeff Bostic is the only player still starting on an offensive line that blew away the Broncos with a 35-point second quarter.

Manley had 1 1/2 sacks as the Redskins frustrated Denver quarterback John Elway into a 14-for-38 game. But Manley no longer is a factor, having sacked himself. He was banned from the NFL for life after violating the league’s substance-abuse policy for a third time. He will be replaced by Markus Koch.

In addition, Barry Wilburn, who intercepted two Elway passes, has been suspended for cocaine use. Darrell Green is injured, so the Redskins will start two rookies cornerbacks, Anthony Johnson and Martin Mayhew. The Redskins have struggled to a 5-5 record. Denver is 8-2.