Pro Football SPOTLIGHT

THE WINDS OF BORE

The wind whisked passes far and wide, the fields were slimy and soggy, and those glittery, let-it-fly offenses wheezed, coughed and generally pined for sunny September days.

Yes, it’s that time of year in the NFL, when the weather worsens, the bad coaches get goofy and the teams that actually can run for four yards on third-and-two have a significant shot at the playoffs.

You know the season has changed when . . .

--Miami Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino, who had been on a record pace for passing yardage, throws 23 incompletions and 20 completions amid the gusts of Buffalo’s Rich Stadium.

--Written off as yet another of your usual peetered-out four-time Super failures, Buffalo gets two touchdowns and 129 yards from tailback Thurman Thomas and beats the Dolphins, 21-11, to tie them, at 4-2, atop the AFC East. Can you say, “January in Buffalo?”

--Everybody’s rookie of the year, Indianapolis’ Marshall Faulk, fumbles twice in the Colts’ bumbling 16-6 loss to the New York Jets.

--Jim Everett does nothing to prevent his team, the New Orleans Saints, from losing its fourth game in six tries.

--Tampa Bay keeps motoring powerfully toward its 12th consecutive season of at least 10 defeats, dropping to 2-4 with a 34-13 loss at Atlanta, and Coach Sam Wyche makes it worthwhile by inexplicably (except, perhaps, to him) calling for a field goal on the last play of the game.

We know this was important, we just don’t know why: Michael Husted’s kick narrowed the Buccaneers’ final deficit from 24 to 21 points.

SLIP SLIDING AWAY

With the goopy grass of Soldier Field worn and torn the night before by an Alabama State-Jackson State game, the Saints had to figure they were in trouble.

Because their running game has struggled even on the fast track of the Superdome, the Saints had to depend on Everett and kicker Morten Andersen to beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

Everett and Andersen, not surprisingly, weren’t up to it.

Andersen had trouble with his footing and had two field-goal attempts blocked. Everett completed 22 of 39 passes for 209 yards and could not produce a second half score.

At halftime, Soldier Field employees frantically tried to improve field conditions. The grounds crew also struggled in attempts to repaint the 50-yard line, which ended up crooked from hash mark to hash mark.

“That’s the worst field I’ve ever played on,” Everett said.

Bear defensive end Trace Armstrong, who was credited with blocking Andersen’s low 50-yard field-goal attempt on the last play of the first half, agreed.

“With a bucket and a couple of pails, you could sure build some fine sand castles out there,” Armstrong said. “I’ve been playing organized football since I was 6 years old and I’ve never played on a field that bad. It’s embarrassing, and it’s dangerous to the players. It looked like they had a tractor pull.”

YET ANOTHER JETS-COLTS CLASSIC

Now, a game that had nothing to do with playoff positioning.

Colts vs. Jets. Forget about Namath and the guarantee. Forget about Unitas and all those other guys. Oh, how the memories of those great battles of the recent past flow . . . The scores: 9-6, 10-6, 6-3, 6-0.

With these two teams you never know what’s going to happen when they get together, except that the field-goal kickers are going to be very, very important.

So it was Sunday, when Jet kicker Nick Lowery made three field goals and quarterback Boomer Esiason came off the bench to inspire his team despite an injured ankle.

Will this go down as one of the great emotional performances of all time, Boomer?

“It wasn’t like 1969 with Willis Reed revisited,” Esiason said. “This is the Jets and the Colts and me. Come on!”

TONIGHT’S GAME

Minnesota vs. N.Y. Giants; 6 p.m., Channel 7

Despite the loss to the Cardinals last week, the Vikings (3-2) are still a team to fear.

Warren Moon passed for 355 yards at Arizona, although he had two passes intercepted, and the Viking defense can be dominating. Four turnovers beat the Vikings last week.

Linebacker Jack Del Rio says the defense hasn’t been right lately. Maybe not, but opponents average only 69 yards per game rushing.

“From the second half of the Miami game through last week, the last six quarters have been less than what we expect, and I know for sure, less than what we are capable of,” Del Rio said.

The Giants (3-1) had a somewhat embarrassing loss to the Saints last week in quarterback Dave Brown’s first poor start. He completed 20 of 35 passes for 180 yards, had two passes intercepted and was sacked seven times. One of the interceptions was returned for a touchdown.

Running back Rodney Hampton is expected to play after missing two games because of a bruised kidney.

New York’s secondary has struggled after losing three starters to free agency. Opponents average 268.8 yards passing, and that looks good for Moon and receiver Cris Carter, who is among the league leaders with 41 receptions.

NOTEWORTHY

Brett Favre became the fifth quarterback in Packer history to throw for 8,000 yards. He entered the game with 7,957 and now has 8,179. Bart Starr is the club’s all-time leader with 23,718. . . . Barry Sanders has carried 506 consecutive times without fumbling. Sanders’ last turnover came on Dec. 6, 1992, against Green Bay. . . . Detroit return specialist Mel Gray needs five kickoff return yards to move into first place on the NFL all-time kickoff return yardage list. Ron Smith (1965-74) leads with 6,922 yards. . . . Thurman Thomas ran for 125 yards, the 40th time he has reached the 100-yard mark. He leads all active players in career 100-yard games; Sanders is second with 34. Thomas also surpassed 8,000 yards rushing, moving into 17th place on the NFL’s career list ahead of James Brooks. . . . Miami quarterback Dan Marino is 9-12 lifetime against the Bills. . . . Prior to the game, the Bills honored Mike Stratton by making him the ninth inductee on the team’s Wall of Fame. Stratton played 160 games in his 12-year pro career. He is best remembered for delivering a hard hit on San Diego’s Keith Lincoln in the 1964 AFL championship game. Buffalo was trailing, 7-0, at the time, but went on to win, 20-7. . . . A Bear quarterback was not sacked for the first time since the 1992 season opener. . . . The three interceptions by Atlanta, two by Vinnie Clark and one by Kevin Ross, gave the Falcons 15 this season, compared with 13 during the 1993 season and 11 in 1992. . . . Jeff George’s two touchdown passes gave him 11 for the season, the most he has had since his rookie year in 1990 when he finished with 16. . . . Ironhead Heyward’s two rushing touchdowns represented the first time a Falcon has run for two scores since Steve Broussard did it against the Rams late in the 1991 season. . . . Former Cowboy stars Randy White and Tony Dorsett were inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor during halftime ceremonies. White and Dorsett entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 30. There are 10 names on the Ring of Honor at Texas Stadium: White, Dorsett, Tom Landry, Bob Lilly, Don Meredith, Don Perkins, Chuck Howley, Mel Renfro, Roger Staubach and Lee Roy Jordan. . . . Troy Aikman’s first-quarter touchdown pass to Daryl Johnston marked the 11th consecutive game in which Aikman has thrown for a touchdown. That ties Danny White for the third-longest streak in club history. Staubach and Meredith hold the team record with 12. . . . Emmitt Smith has scored at least one touchdown in seven consecutive games, matching the club mark of Frank Clarke and Bob Hayes. . . . Denver has won four in a row against Seattle and eight of the last 11. . . . Leonard Russell’s 103-yard effort was the first 100-yard rushing game for the Broncos since Rod Bernstine’s 103-yard effort at Chicago last Dec. 18, the last time the Broncos won. . . . Drew Bledsoe’s 321 passing yards gave him 4,566 for his career, moving him into fifth place on the Patriots’ career list. Hugh Millen dropped to sixth with 4,276. Jim Plunkett is fourth with 9,932. . . . Tim Brown’s two catches gave him 251, seventh most in Raider history. Next in line for him to pass are Art Powell (254) and Dave Casper (255). . . . Joe Montana’s 55 passing attempts matched his career-high. . . . Former San Diego Coach Don Coryell, whose innovative passing game was nicknamed “Air Coryell,” was inducted into the Chargers’ Hall of Fame at halftime. . . . Charlie Garner became the first Eagle rookie to rush for at least 100 yards in consecutive games, following up his 111-yard effort in his first start last week against San Francisco with 122 yards against Washington.

MOTOR CITY MEDICINE

Were the 49ers experiencing grisly flashbacks to their 40-8 drubbing last week by the Eagles when the Lions waltzed to an early 14-0 lead Sunday at Detroit?

Naw. Maybe against any other team, but not the Lions, who have lost five consecutive games to San Francisco, including last year’s 55-17 stinker.

With San Francisco in desperate need to cure its ills, the Lions, as usual, were the perfect medicine.

The 49ers and rookie fullback William Floyd barreled back against the Lions and suddenly, the 49ers, with a needed bye week awaiting them in a few weeks, are 4-2 and looking like a solid prospect to blow past the pretenders.

“Nothing is easy for us right now, but we’re hanging in there,” 49er quarterback Steve Young said.

“It’s not easy being down, 14-0, on the road, but we’ve got some guys on the team who have been around a long time. We knew that we didn’t need to scream and panic. We just had to get going.”

Meanwhile, the Lions are going in the other direction: They have lost three in a row since their uplifting overtime defeat of the Cowboys last month.

AND THIS TOO, SHALL COME TO PASS (AND BE INTERCEPTED)

Before Buddy Ryan does any more boasting, it’d be a good idea for him to have the quarterback to back it up.

That might take a while, though.

At the end of the Cowboys’ 38-3 dumping of the Cardinals, Ryan was pelted by popcorn. But the Dallas Cowboy defense was pelted repeatedly too: By wayward footballs thrown by Cardinal quarterbacks.

Starter Jay Schroeder completed only one more pass to his own receivers (four) than to Cowboys (three).

Of Dallas’ four first half touchdowns, three were set up by Schroeder interceptions on successive possessions deep in Arizona territory.

Arizona reliever Steve Beuerlein, a former Cowboy and a former decent quarterback, threw two interceptions.

And as the Cardinal quarterback carousel continues to spin, who gets the start next week?

“Beuerlein will start next week,” Ryan said.

With the Cardinals playing at Washington, Redskin defensive backs should be prepared for anyone.

INJURY REPORT

To make things worse for the Cardinals, kicker Greg Davis was helped off the field Sunday after pulling his hamstring on kickoff coverage. Ryan said the injury was serious enough that the Cardinals will have to sign another kicker this week.

Also injured Sunday: San Francisco safety Merton Hanks (broken nose), who left the game but returned, and Indianapolis linebacker Quentin Coryatt (neck), who did not return, New England guard Doug Skene (torn ligaments in his left knee) and Detroit tight end Ron Hall (sprained left knee).

CLOSING THOUGHTS

--It must be great to be 34 years old and out of the winless column.

“It feels great,” Denver quarterback John Elway said after the Broncos defeated the Seattle Seahawks, 16-9.

Elway can be forgiven, since it was the Broncos’ first victory in nine months and kept them in the AFC West race, four games behind the Chargers.

” It’s been a long time since we won a game,” Elway said. “It’s an especially big win if we build on it next week.”

--Phil Simms got put in his place by his old coach, Bill Parcells, on ESPN’s pregame show. Simms, who, judging by this week’s performances could be starting for about 10 teams, was sent by ESPN to do a feature on Drew Bledsoe, hot young quarterback for Parcells’ New England Patriots.

When Simms noted to Parcells that Simms almost joined the Patriots last year, then asked where he’d be today if he had, Parcells shook his head and merrily answered:

“Sitting on the bench.”