SPOTLIGHT : A GLANCE AT THIS WEEK IN THE NFL

TOP PERFORMANCES Passing

Quarterback, Team Att. Cmp. Yds. TD BERNIE KOSAR, Browns 40 26 353 0 BILLY JOE TOLLIVER, Chargers 39 24 350 2 JOHN FOURCADE, Saints 27 15 302 2 MARK RYPIEN, Redskins 39 23 302 2 DAN MARINO, Dolphins 32 21 300 0 JOHN ELWAY, Broncos 47 23 292 1 MARC WILSON, Patriots 37 17 261 0 DAVE KRIEG, Seahawks 33 22 258 2 STEVE BEUERLEIN, Raiders 30 13 255 0 BOOMER ESIASON, Bengals 42 21 246 0 WADE WILSON, Vikings 25 14 241 1 KEN O’BRIEN, Jets 38 26 226 0 STEVE DeBERG, Chiefs 19 15 203 2

Rushing

Player, Team Car. Yds. TD ERIC DICKERSON, Colts 26 137 0 CHRISTIAN OKOYE, Chiefs 38 131 1 BARRY SANDERS, Lions 26 120 2 BO JACKSON, Raiders 22 114 0 DALTON HILLIARD, Saints 32 97 0 MIKE ROZIER, Oilers 13 82 0 JIM HARBAUGH, Bears 8 61 0

Receiving

Player, Team No. Yds. TD MARK CARRIER, Buccaneers 10 135 0 ART MONK, Redskins 9 81 0 NEAL ANDERSON, Bears 9 58 0 ANTHONY MILLER, Chargers 8 152 2 TIM McGEE, Bengals 7 109 1 WAYNE WALKER, Chargers 7 105 1 GARY CLARK, Redskins 7 92 0 WEBSTER SLAUGHTER, Browns 6 152 0 FRED BANKS, Dolphins 6 119 0 ERIC SIEVERS, Patriots 6 117 0 BRIAN BLADES, Seahawks 6 107 0 MARK CLAYTON, Dolphins 6 102 0 VANCE JOHNSON, Broncos 6 98 0 MERVYN FERNANDEZ, Raiders 5 119 0 MICHAEL HAYNES, Falcons 5 88 0

TED’S NOT HIS BUDDY, EITHER

Don’t invite former Los Angeles sportscaster Ted Dawson and Philadelphia Eagle Coach Buddy Ryan to the same party.

Dawson, now sports anchor for KDFW in Dallas, says the Eagles’ coach challenged him to fight twice, then left abruptly when the invitation was accepted.

Dawson told the Dallas Times Herald that he and Ryan had a confrontation at the Eagles’ practice on Thursday, then later had another one at a Philadelphia television station.

Dawson was in Philadelphia in preparation for the Eagles-Cowboys game Sunday, which Philadelphia won 20-10.

Dawson said the first incident occurred as he and two other employees of his station waited to interview Ryan at Veterans Stadium.

The sportscaster later met the coach at WCAU-TV, where Ryan was taping his weekly show, and they again argued.

Dawson said the second exchange ended after Ryan said, “I’ll kick the . . . out of you any time,” and then went to a restroom.

Dawson’s account was verified by a WCAU employee, who refused to be identified, the Dallas newspaper said.

“They just kind of started at each other, then they had words,” the Philadelphia station employee said. “And Buddy did go to the men’s room.”

THINGS SNOWBALLED FOR SAM

Sam Wyche was Dawg-goned if he was going to let Cincinnati fans get out of hand.

The Bengals’ coach went to the public address system Sunday to stop a flurry of snowballs and take a swipe at Cleveland.

Several fans near one of the end zones threw snowballs at Seattle players in the second half of the Seahawks’ 24-17 victory over the Bengals.

The Seahawks looked to the officials as they stood in the south end zone, dodging snowballs as they got set to run a play.

Wyche, an outspoken critic of the way Cleveland’s “Dawg Pound” has thrown objects at players, then spoke briefly with the officials and ran across the field to grab an open microphone.

He told the fans to point out anyone who threw another snowball so they could be ejected from the stadium.

“You don’t live in Cleveland--you live in Cincinnati,” Wyche said, drawing a loud cheer from the crowd of 54,744.

The snowball barrage ceased until after Seattle scored the winning touchdown in the closing minutes. One snowball landed on the field after Curt Warner caught a one-yard scoring pass from Dave Krieg with 3:51 to play.

BIG PLAYS

Marcus Allen gained three yards on fourth and two to put ball on the one and set up his game-winning touchdown dive in the Raiders’ 16-14 win over Phoenix. Vance Mueller returned a kickoff 49 yards to get winning drive going.

Mike Prior returned an interception 58 yards for a touchdown in overtime to give Indianapolis a 23-17 victory over Cleveland. A 77-yard interception return by the Colts’ Keith Taylor set up the tying touchdown in regulation.

David Meggett of the New York Giants scored on a 57-yard play after taking a screen pass from Phil Simms to give his team a 14-0 halftime lead in its 14-7 win in the snow at Denver.

New Orleans’ Toi Cook, from Stanford and Canoga Park, picked off a tipped ball near the Saints’ end zone as Buffalo was driving for a go-ahead score in Saints’ 22-19 victory. Cook was burned earlier in the game on a 42-yard touchdown pass play to James Lofton.

Minnesota defensive end Chris Doleman blindsided Atlanta quarterback Chris Miller twice, forcing fumbles that were returned for touchdown by Keith Millard and Tim Newton in a 43-17 Viking victory.

Seattle quarterback Dave Krieg passed to Steve Largent for 33 yards on third down and scrambled 15 yards on another third down to set up the game-winning touchdown in Seahawks’ 24-17 victory over Cincinnati.

Kansas City defensive end Neil Smith caused a Don Majkowski fumble and then recovered it to set up a touchdown in the final minute of the first half of the Chiefs’ 21-3 victory.

Houston rookie safety Buba McDowell ended Tampa Bay’s final drive with 1:18 to play when he recovered a James Wilder fumble at the Oiler 21 to help preserve a 20-17 victory.

LOWLIGHTS

Cleveland’s Matt Bahr missed a 39-yard field goal attempt with 25 seconds left in regulation against Indianapolis, then also missed a 35-yard attempt with 6:05 to go in the overtime period.

The Chargers’ last eight losses have been by a total of 32 points.

Bears’ kicker Kevin Butler kicked a 22-yard field goal in the first period against the Lions, but he missed attempts from 43 and 37 yards. That gave him three misses in four tries since he hit an NFL-record 24 straight.

Since winning their first four games, the Bears have lost eight of 10 and have been eliminated from playoff contention.

With their 43-17 loss to Minnesota, the Falcons (3-11 overall and 0-8 on the road) stayed in position for the first draft choice in 1990. Although Dallas has the worst record, the Cowboys forfeited their top pick when they selected Steve Walsh in the 1989 supplemental draft.

INJURIES

New York Jet receiver Al Toon suffered a concussion on the first play against the Steelers when he caught a pass from Pat Ryan for a 25-yard gain, then took a forearm to the helmet from Thomas Everett.

The Jets also lost Ryan, who started in place of Ken O’Brien (jammed shoulder), with a concussion after a late hit by Greg Lloyd on an incomplete pass.

Steeler quarterback Bubby Brister sustained a concussion on a hard tackle by Leander Knight.

The Bears lost starting quarterback Mike Tomczak when he suffered bruised ribs on a sack in the first quarter.

THEY WERE ON THE RUN

What do Troy Aikman, Vinny Testaverde and Jim Harbaugh have in common?

All three quarterbacks led their teams in rushing in losing efforts yesterday--Aikman with 60 yards in six carries, Testaverde with 28 yards in three carries and Harbaugh with 61 in eight.

MILESTONES

Seattle’s Steve Largent caught his 100th touchdown pass to snap a tie with Don Hutson for most career touchdown catches in NFL history.

Largent caught the 10-yard pass from Dave Krieg with 42 seconds to play in the first half against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Largent, 35, extended his NFL record to 175 consecutive games with a reception when he caught a nine-yard pass from Krieg on Seattle’s first possession.

The touchdown catch was his fourth reception of the half and gave him 35 yards receiving, making him the first NFL receiver to top 13,000 career yards in catches.

Krieg later hooked up with Bennie Blades on a 60-yard scoring play, the Seahawks’ longest of the season. That put Blades over 1,000 yards.

Washington’s Joe Gibbs earned his 100th victory as a head coach when the Redskins rallied to defeat the Chargers, 26-21. Gibbs, who took the job with the Redskins prior to the 1981 season, is 100-48. He is the 19th coach in NFL history to win 100 games.

Redskin receiver Art Monk caught nine passes for 81 yards to move ahead of Charley Taylor into third place on the all-time list. Monk now has 651 receptions in his 10-year career.

SCRUTINY ON THE BOUNTY

The bounty issue isn’t dead.

Big-play bonuses offered by coaches are being reviewed, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Sunday as he looked for clues of bounty-hunting during the Eagles’ 20-10 win over the Cowboys in Philadelphia.

“The big-play rule and the policy that we have, we’ll take another look at it,” Tagliabue said.

The big-play bonuses are not directly addressed in NFL rules, but instead are used by some coaches as player incentives.

“I don’t think it’s a big factor one way or the other,” Tagliabue said. “It’s subject to misinterpretation and we want to eliminate those things.”

The Eagles beat the Cowboys, 27-0, on Thanksgiving at Dallas and Cowboy Coach Jimmy Johnson charged that Philadelphia Coach Buddy Ryan had posted “bounties” of $200 of placekicker Luis Zendejas and $500 on quarterback Troy Aikman.

Tagliabue said his presence Sunday “has nothing to do with the Thanksgiving Day game or anything that occurred since.” He said it was close to his Washington home and it was normal for the commissioner to attend different games.

Tagliabue sidestepped a question on whether it was easy or hard to reach a conclusion on Johnson’s charge.

“It was important to make it right,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it was easy or hard. We listened to everybody who had anything to say. We looked very carefully at the films. There was no indication on the films that Jesse Small was in any way playing outside of the rules.”

Tagliabue and Art McNally, supervisor of officials, watched a rough game Sunday that included 21 penalties for 177 yards. In addition, there were five infractions for unnecessary roughness not included in the penalty total because they were offsetting.

In the fourth quarter, Dallas linebacker David Howard jolted Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham on a running play, and Cunningham responded by kicking and shoving Howard. Both were given roughness penalties. The confrontation brought Ryan onto the field to argue with officials.

IN QUOTES

Charger Coach Dan Henning, who was an assistant to Joe Gibbs last year, on Gibbs getting his 100th victory against struggling San Diego: “You’d think after 99 wins, the guy would at least give an old friend a break.”

Mike Singletary on the Bears’ woes: “When you are doing great things like we have in the past years, you don’t think about rebuilding.”

Bengal Coach Sam Wyche on his decision not to let his players talk to the press after a 24-17 loss to Seahawks: “It’s kind of like officiating--sometimes things aren’t fair.”

Tampa Bay Coach Ray Perkins after a 20-17 loss to Houston: “Any time you get a punt blocked, you’re supposed to lose, and when you get two blocked you’re not even supposed to be in the stadium.”

Pittsburgh linebacker Greg Lloyd, on the Steelers’ tactics in their shutout of the Jets: “You go out and establish who is here. Once you educate them that we didn’t come here to play their type of game, they tend to scrunch a little bit and shy away from you at certain times. They come out and we hit them and hit them and hit them again and take them out of their games.”

Atlanta offensive lineman Mike Kenn, who missed chances to recover two fumbles against Vikings: “If you want to say things haven’t been bouncing the right way for us, you’d be right.”