SPOTLIGHT: A GLANCE AT THIS WEEK IN THE NFL

GIANT-SIZED PROBLEMS

Try walking a mile in Ray Handley’s shoes this week.

New York could turn into a minefield for the first-year coach after the Giants lost their second game in a row, a 20-17 decision at Chicago.

Never mind that the Giants were a blocked field goal from overtime against the Bears, or that they were a touchdown from defeating the Rams last week. Suddenly, the defending Super Bowl champions are 1-2, and Handley is open to second-guessing from armchair quarterbacks and the New York media.

The Giants can sense what is coming.

“We needed to win this one,” quarterback Jeff Hostetler said. “You guys are the ones who hunt for all the negatives; we’ve got to keep it together. I don’t want to quote Bill, but you guys are ‘subversive communists.’ ”

Bill, of course, is Bill Parcells, who departed as the Giants’ coach after winning his second Super Bowl last season.

Parcells left big shoes to fill, and Handley seemed a nice fit after guiding the Giants to a season-opening victory over the 49ers. But now the Giants have slipped--twice--and Handley will be under greater scrutiny.

His selection of Hostetler as starting the quarterback is a lingering controversy. Hostetler inherited the job when Phil Simms was injured last season, and he went on to lead the Giants through the playoffs. An injury-free Simms was unable to win his job back in the preseason.

Play-calling is another matter. The Giants, who lived by their conservative game plan last season, have died by it the last two weeks.

Adjustments most certainly will be made. But are drastic changes necessary?

Probably not. En route to the Super Bowl championship, the Giants didn’t overwhelm the top teams; generally, they wore them down with power football and won close games. This season, they have played three close games and lost two of them.

“Last year we were making those plays,” defensive back Everson Walls said.

This year, so far, they haven’t.

BENGAL BUST

Another team not making the plays this season is the Cincinnati Bengals. After qualifying for the playoffs last season, the Bengals are off to an 0-3 start for the first time since 1985.

History isn’t encouraging for the Bengals. They started 0-3 in 1984 and finished 8-8. They started 0-3 in 1985 and finished 7-9. Once again, they don’t appear to be going anywhere fast.

In fact, no Bengal team that has started 0-2 has finished above .500. But Coach Sam Wyche isn’t buying into history. “This gives us a chance to make history. It gives us a challenge.”

It remains to be seen whether they are up to it.

IN QUOTES

Denver quarterback John Elway on entering the locker room after the Broncos held off Seattle, 16-10: “I felt terrible walking in and then I thought, ‘Hey, we won, I should be happy,’ We did a good job for three quarters. We ran the ball pretty well and we kept them off balance. We played better than we played last week (against the Raiders), that’s for sure.”

Elway on the Seattle pass rush in the fourth quarter: “We got ahead and they started bringing everybody on every play. I thought I saw (Coach) Chuck Knox one time.” Green Bay linebacker Bryce Paup, who had 4 1/2 sacks in the Packers’ victory over Tampa Bay: “Some of my sacks were junk sacks. Everybody else did the work and I’m there to make the tackle.”

HOLD THAT LINE

Vinny Testaverde and Troy Aikman, two quarterbacks expected to come into their own this season, will need a little help from their offensive lines to do so.

Testaverde, sacked six times by the Chicago Bears last week before leaving the game with shoulder and knee injuries, went down seven more times in a 15-13 loss to Green Bay.

The most costly of the sacks resulted in a safety when Bryce Paup, who was credited with 4 1/2 sacks on the day, tackled Testaverde in the end zone with 10:29 remaining in the first half.

Despite the lack of protection, Testaverde almost delivered a victory. He passed for 278 yards, including a deflected pass that Willie Drewery took 87 yards for a touchdown to give the Buccaneers a 13-5 lead with 3:59 to play. But Don Majkowski rallied the Packers with two scores in the final minutes.

Testaverde, in his fifth season, realizes the burden of making the Buccaneers a better team rests largely with him.

“It’s always frustrating when you’re being sacked and don’t have time to throw,” he said. “When they do it all day long, it certainly makes it every tough for our team to get into scoring position.”

The Philadelphia Eagles made it tough for Aikman to get going at all in a 24-0 victory over Dallas. The Cowboy quarterback was sacked 11 times for 67 yards in losses and was forced into throwing three interceptions.

Clyde Simmons, who separated Aikman’s shoulder last November, led the way with a team record 4 1/2 sacks. “I’ll give Troy credit, he hung in there and took it,” Simmons said. “He’s a tough guy and he had a tough day.”

How tough? Well, the Cowboys didn’t cross midfield under their own power until the last two minutes of the game, when they drove to the 8.

Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson, after watching his franchise quarterback get cuffed around by the physical Eagles: “I said before the season started, we’d have some tough days and unfortunately this was one of them. Troy didn’t have much chance back there.”

Said Aikman: “I got hit a lot more than I cared.”

GIFT OF GAB

Running back Earnest Byner of the Washington Redskins celebrated his 29th birthday by giving his first interview of the season.

Byner had five 100-yard games in the last eight regular-season games last year and has done it twice in three games this year. He offered his philosophy on beating the aging process.

“I got the feeling that the older you get, the more you need to do to stay at the top of your game,” he said.

Byner said he didn’t know whether he would continue to give interviews. “The spirit was on me to speak today. I wanted to come out and do it. We’ll just wait and see,” he said.

We can hardly wait.

MIXED REVIEWS

After the New Orleans Saints’ first 2-0 start in the team’s 25-year history, the city of New Orleans on Friday recognized the achievement by presenting certificates of merit to the team, owner Tom Benson, president-general manager Jim Finks and Coach Jim Mora.

But recognition didn’t fill seats against the Rams. The Saints failed to sell out the 69,065-seat Louisiana Superdome for the second time in as many home games. Official ticket distribution was 68,583, resulting in a television blackout for the metro New Orleans area. The number of empty seats wasn’t known, since NFL teams don’t announce actual attendance.

FOOTBALL ABSTRACT

The folks that put together the NFL’s weekly press release are nothing if not resourceful. In addition to the obligatory array of statistics and game notes, it is reported that:

--Jim McMahon was the MVP of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Monday night bowling league that was attended regularly by more than 30 members of the team. More important to the Eagles is that after directing a 24-0 victory over Dallas, McMahon is 51-23 (.689) as a starting quarterback, second in NFL history to Joe Montana (100-32, .719).

--Nickname of Seattle defensive lineman Cortez Kennedy is “Tex Monster.” . . . Nickname of Houston punter Greg Montgomery is “Maytag Repairman” because he punted only 34 times last season.

--Wide receiver Bruce Hill of Tampa Bay was born on leap day, Feb. 29, 1964, and has celebrated only six birthdays, the latest in 1988. . . . Fellow Buccaneer receiver Mark Carrier is taking instruction in Tae Kwan Do to improve his hand-eye coordination.

--Green Bay quarterback Don Majkowski possesses artistic talent; he has had paintings displayed in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. . . . Packer nose tackle Esera Tuaolo is recording a gospel album.

--Atlanta wide receiver Andre Rison played eight different positions in high school. He was an all-state punter as a junior, an All-American defensive back as a senior. . . . Falcon defensive back Deion Sanders, who played outfield for the Atlanta Braves this season, is the first professional athlete to play for two teams in the same city since Gene Conley (NBA’s Boston Celtics, baseball’s Boston Red Sox) in 1960-61.

TONIGHT’S GAME

KANSAS CITY at HOUSTON OILERS

Time: 6 p.m.

TV: Channel 7

The Houston Oilers have been putting more run into their run-and-shoot offense this season, and that is not good news for the Kansas City Chiefs.

When these teams met in Week 14 last season, Oiler quarterback Warren Moon passed for 527 yards--the second most prolific performance in NFL history--and three touchdowns in Houston’s 27-10 victory.

Moon is still the biggest gun in the Oiler offense, passing for 565 yards and three touchdowns to lead Houston to season-opening victories over the Raiders, 47-17, and the Cincinnati Bengals, 30-7. But the emergence of running back Allen Pinkett, who rushed for more than 100 yards in each game, makes the Oilers a double threat.

Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer isn’t surprised that the Oilers are having success running the ball in a pass-oriented scheme that utilizes four receivers. “I’ve always felt you could run the ball out of it,” he said. “It spreads people out and when you have a talented back, a guy with quickness and running ability like Allen Pinkett or Lorenzo White, those guys can make yards. That doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Kansas City is more fundamental in its approach to the running game, featuring power football behind a pair of immense ballcarriers, 260-pound Christian Okoye and his backup, 240-pound Barry Word. Okoye rushed for 143 yards in the Chiefs’ season-opening, 14-3 victory over Atlanta.

Kansas City’s defense is ranked No. 4 in the NFL but the Chiefs are slowed by injuries in the secondary. Cornerback Albert Lewis and free safety Deron Cherry have knee injuries and backup cornerback Jayice Pearson has a toe injury.