SPOTLIGHT : A GLANCE AT THIS WEEK IN THE NFL

TOP PERFORMANCES

Passing

Quarterback, Team Att. Cmp. Yds. TD JIM EVERETT, Rams 37 27 341 4 DON MAJKOWSKI, Packers 53 25 331 2 WADE WILSON, Vikings 26 15 260 2 MARC WILSON, Patriots 31 17 255 0 STEVE DeBERG, Chiefs 25 15 239 2 DAN MARINO, Dolphins 38 18 218 3 STEVE YOUNG, 49ers 12 11 175 2

Rushing

Player, Team Car. Yds. TD CHRISTIAN OKOYE, Chiefs 32 148 1 BOBBY HUMPRHREY, Broncos 31 125 0 JOHN STEPHENS, Patriots 27 124 1 LORENZO WHITE, Oilers 23 115 1 JOHNNY HECTOR, Jets 20 106 0 TIM WORLEY, Steelers 18 103 0

Receiving

Player, Team No. Yds. TD MARK CLAYTON, Dolphins 9 128 1 RICHARD JOHNSON, Lions 8 248 1 STERLING SHARPE, Packers 8 169 2 ROY GREEN, Cardinals 8 116 0 STEPHONE PAIGE, Chiefs 7 133 1 MARK CARRIER, Buccaneers 7 104 0 JOHN TAYLOR, 49ers 6 162 1 HART LEE DYKES, Patriots 6 114 0 AARON COX, Rams 5 103 2 MIKE DYAL, Raiders 4 134 1

BIG PLAYS

Jim Everett threw touchdown passes of 39 yards to Ron Brown and 23 yards to Aaron Cox in the final four minutes to rally the Rams to a 35-31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

Steve Young, replacing an injured Joe Montana, threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor to give the San Francisco 49ers the lead for good in a 23-10 victory over Atlanta.

After Mike Pitts recovered a Phil Simms fumble at the six-yard line, Keith Byars scored on a two-yard run with 10:50 remaining and the Philadelphia Eagles took charge of the NFC East Division race with a 24-17 victory over the New York Giants.

Lorenzo White scored on a one-yard run with 21 seconds remaining to give Houston a 23-16 victory over Pittsburgh.

Roger Vick ran for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter as the New York Jets rallied for a 20-17 victory over the San Diego Chargers.

SNOW JOB

Jerry Glanville, coach of the Houston Oilers, openly feuds with Pittsburgh Coach Chuck Noll, but it was the work of groundskeepers at Three Rivers Stadium that incurred his wrath Sunday.

Glanville registered his protest about grounds-keeping policies that included snow removal prior to a Steeler kickoff during Houston’s 23-16 win.

Snow fell steadily through most of the game but much of the field was cleared during halftime. In the second half, a tractor equipped with a sweeper cleaned the sidelines and goal lines and also took a run across the Steelers’ 35-yard line, where Pittsburgh was lined up to kick off.

That’s when Glanville confronted referee Ben Dreith.

“It’s against league rules to clean off the field,” Glanville said. “Ben said, ‘What do you want me to do, put the snow back out?’ I said let’s just wait until it’s all covered up.”

A similar controversy developed in 1982 when a snow plow operator cleared an area where John Smith of New England was about to attempt a field goal. Smith made the kick and the Patriots won, 3-0.

Glanville said Dreith told him the officials were powerless to stop the tractor operator, a member of the Three Rivers Stadium grounds crew.

“I said, do you want me to pull him out of the tractor?” Glanville said. “I’ll pull that guy out of the tractor. What he was doing is not legal in the National Football League.”

MILESTONES

Chicago’s Kevin Butler established an NFL record with his 24th consecutive field goal, a 33-yarder in the first half against Minnesota. The previous mark was held by Washington’s Mark Moseley, who made 23 in a row in 1981 and 1982. Butler’s streak was ended when his next attempt, from 44 yards, was blocked by Brad Edwards.

Eric Dickerson of Indianapolis became the first player in NFL history to gain at least 1,000 yards in each of his first seven seasons. Dickerson rushed for 80 yards against New England, giving him 1,013 this season.

Christian Okoye of the Kansas City Chiefs established a team record for rushing yards in a season by gaining 148 yards in 32 carries against Miami. Okoye has rushed for 1,191 yards, surpassing the mark of 1,121 set in 1981 by the late Joe Delaney.

Tight end Ozzie Newsome of the Cleveland Browns caught two passes against Cincinnati, moving him past Don Maynard into fifth place on the all-time reception list with 634.

Dan Marino, whose 218 passing yards against Kansas City gave him 3,208 this season, tied Dan Fouts’ NFL record of six 3,000-yard seasons.

Webster Slaughter of Cleveland caught three passes for 33 yards against Cincinnati and, with 1,001 this season, became the first Brown since Paul Warfield in 1968 to gain 1,000 receiving yards in a season.

Sterling Sharpe of Green Bay had seven catches against Tampa Bay, giving him 77 receptions to break the Packers’ single-season record of 74 set by Don Hutson in 1942.

STREAKS

Dallas lost its 13th consecutive game in Texas Stadium. The Cowboys haven’t won at home since defeating Atlanta, 26-20, in September 1988.

Green Bay quarterback Dan Majkowski, with two touchdown passes to Sterling Sharpe, has thrown touchdown passes in 15 consecutive games. . . . Anthony Carter of Minnesota caught three passes against Chicago, extending to 62 his streak of games with receptions.

LOWLIGHTS

Cleveland quarterback Bernie Kosar, who was benched after completing 15 of 30 passes for 130 yards in three quarters against Cincinnati, has not thrown a touchdown pass in 14 quarters.

Chicago (6-7) is below .500 for the first time since the next-to-last week of 1983, the last season the Bears missed the playoffs. The Bears, who have lost three straight and are 2-7 after a 4-0 start, last had a losing season in 1982, when they went 3-6 in their first season under Coach Mike Ditka.

New Orleans quarterback Bobby Hebert completed 16 of 26 passes for just 99 yards Orleans and was replaced in the fourth quarter by John Fourcade.

IN QUOTES

Cleveland fullback Kevin Mack, who made his first appearance this season after serving a month in prison on a cocaine conviction: “Well, three plays isn’t much of a comeback.”

Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer on his team’s resurgence: “That which was once a group of men is now a team of men. And that’s very important.” INJURIES

Quarterback Joe Montana aggravated a rib injury in the final two minutes of the first half and was replaced by Steve Young, who engineered a second-half comeback that lifted the San Francisco 49ers to a 23-10 victory at Atlanta.

Montana is expected to be ready next Monday night when the 49ers come to Anaheim Stadium to play the Rams. The 49ers (11-2) can clinch their seventh NFC West title in nine years with a victory.

“Joe’s history has been that he’s been able to come back from these type injuries and he’ll be listed as probable for next week,” 49er Coach George Seifert said.

New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor played 30 minutes against the Philadelphia Eagles despite a stress fracture in his right ankle. Taylor made one tackle and assisted on three others before telling Coach Bill Parcells that he would not be able to return for the second half.

“Bill gave me the option to play as long as I wanted, as long as I felt like I could do something,” Taylor said. “It started to stiffen up just before the half and I came out.”

Phoenix quarterback Gary Hogeboom completed eight of 11 passes for 131 yards before dislocating the index finger on his throwing hand eight minutes before halftime in the Cardinals’ 29-10 loss to Washington. Hogeboom was replaced by Tom Tupa. . . . Washington quarterback Mark Rypien missed seven plays before halftime with a sprained knee but returned in the second half to lead the Redskins. Rypien completed 16 of 22 passes for 163 yards.

Detroit quarterback Rodney Peete reinjured his left knee on a sack by James Geathers 25 seconds into the second half of the Lions’ 21-14 victory over New Orleans. Peete, who completed eight of 18 passes for 177 yards and scored on a six-yard run, was replaced by Bob Gagliano.

Defensive tackle Mike Piel was sidelined with a dislocated left elbow in the first quarter of the Rams’ 35-31 victory over Dallas. The Cowboys lost wide receiver Derrick Sheppard to an injured right knee.

LEG WORK

Quarterback Randall Cunningham was called to moonlight as a punter in Philadelphia’s 24-17 victory over the New York Giants.

With the Eagles on their own one-yard line and the score tied, 17-17, in the fourth quarter, Philadelphia Coach Buddy Ryan held out punter Max Runager in favor of Cunningham, a punter in college who had kicked twice previously this season.

Cunningham took advantage of a 40-m.p.h. tail wind to launch a team record 91-yard punt. Two plays later, Giant quarterback Phil Simms fumbled as he was being sacked and the Eagles went on to score the game-winning touchdown.

Afterward, Ryan underscored an apparent lack of faith in Runager, whose 21-yard punt into the wind helped set up a Giant drive that tied the score at 17-17.

“I wanted a long kick and that’s what we got,” Ryan said. “The other guy can’t kick it more than 40 yards.”

Jason Staurovsky, whose five field goals accounted for all of New England’s scoring until the final minute against Indianapolis, was a reluctant bystander when John Stephens ran 10 yards for a touchdown with 25 seconds remaining to give the Patriots a 22-16 victory.

“I’m glad we scored the touchdown but I was ready to make a field goal,” Staurovsky said.

The Patriots built a 15-10 lead on field goals of 44, 37, 24, 50 and 23 yards by Staurovsky. The 50-yarder was the longest of his career. Staurovsky, who missed two attempts, tied the team record of seven tries held by Gino Cappelletti and was off Cappelletti’s record for field goals made.

Jeff Jaeger kicked a 26-yard field goal after 7:02 of overtime and the Raiders kept their playoff hopes alive with a 16-13 victory over the Denver Broncos. Jaeger also kicked field goals of 37 and 46 yards.

Chris Jacke kicked a 47-yard field goal with no time left as Green Bay maintained a share of first place in the NFC Central Division with a 17-16 victory over Tampa Bay.

LYING IN WEIGHT

Richard Johnson had little trouble occupying his time after losing a job in football when the USFL folded.

“I had gotten up to 205 pounds from just sitting around drinking beer and partying when Mouse Davis got the job here,” Johnson said of the Detroit Lion offensive coordinator who instituted the Silver Stretch offense this season.

A trimmed down Johnson (5-foot-6, 185 pounds) caught eight passes for for 248 yards and teamed with backup quarterback Bob Gagliano on a 75-yard touchdown pass play the Lions defeated New Orleans, 21-14, to record their second win in a row. Johnson’s yardage total ranks second in single-game receiving yards in Lion history to Cloyce Box, who had 302 yards receiving against the Baltimore Colts in 1950.

Johnson, signed by the Lions as a free agent, played at San Pedro High, Harbor JC and Colorado before spending three seasons in the USFL with the Denver Gold (1983) and Houston Gamblers (1984-85). He was also a strike replacement player for the Washington Redskins in 1987.

TONIGHT’S GAME

Buffalo at Seattle, 6 p.m. PST--Bill Coach Marv Levy says his team is struggling, but he shouldn’t expect any sympathy from Seahawk Coach Chuck Knox.

Buffalo (8-4) leads the AFC East Division and has the second-best record in the AFC. Seattle (4-8) has lost four in a row and is a dismal 1-4 at home in the Kingdome.

Levy’s concern stems from the Bills’ three-game losing streak on the road. Nevertheless, Buffalo comes into Seattle with plenty of weapons.

Entering Sunday’s games, Thurman Thomas was the NFL’s leading rusher, Jim Kelly was the AFC’s top-rated quarterback and Andre Reed was the conference’s leading receiver.