PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : EXHIBITION GAMES : Harbaugh Sparks Colts Again, 20-17

Indianapolis Coach Ted Marchibroda insists he doesn’t have a quarterback controversy on his hands.

“Let’s start one,” backup Jim Harbaugh joked Saturday after engineering the Colts’ second consecutive late comeback at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field.

Harbaugh, whose touchdown with 45 seconds left last week lifted the Colts over Seattle, showed the poise under pressure that starter Craig Erickson lacked in guiding Indianapolis past Green Bay, 20-17, in overtime.

“Jim did a great job again,” Marchibroda said. “He had to do many things. He had to get us eight points to begin with. He brought us back twice. We missed one field goal and he brought us back again for the win.

“Our quarterback situation seems to be panning out.”

Mike Cofer, who missed a 40-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in regulation, made a 20-yarder 3:30 into overtime.

Cofer’s fourth field goal atoned for two earlier misses and came after Green Bay backup quarterback Ty Detmer fumbled at his 33 and Derwin Gray made his second recovery.

Harbaugh, who started nine games for the Colts last year but was moved to backup when Indianapolis (2-1) lured Erickson from Tampa Bay, hit running back Lamont Warren for 30 yards to the three, setting up Cofer’s game-winner.

Harbaugh found rookie running back Zack Crockett for a three-yard touchdown with 1:45 left in regulation. His two-point conversion pass to Warren tied it at 17.

Green Bay’s Charles Jordan returned the kickoff 73 yards but was stripped by Damon Watts, who had an interception in the first half, and Gray recovered at the Colts’ 28 with 1:27 left.

But Cofer missed the 40-yarder, sending it to overtime.

Harbaugh was 15 of 24 for 187 yards and ran four times for 30 more. But before his big plays against reserves, Green Bay’s offensive and defensive units excelled in the final two minutes of the first half.

Brett Favre, who was 13 of 20 for 159 yards, gave Green Bay a 17-6 lead with two touchdown throws in the final 1:47 of the first half.

AFC

Raider Sales Not Smooth

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Thousands of bounced checks and refused credit cards mean the Raiders’ first season back in Oakland isn’t the sellout it was billed to be.

That’s so far--Oakland Coliseum officials stress they still have until next season to bring in the ticket revenue for the stadium renovations they promised owner Al Davis.

“We could not sell another ticket this year and still pay off the bonds without using public funds,” said Dennis Cuneo, a Coliseum board member.

Oakland originally proclaimed that fans snapped up all the so-called personal seat licenses for the Raiders’ homecoming season. That announcement was based on 44,880 applications received, Cuneo said.

But checks have bounced on 300 of the applications, and credit card payments have been refused on 4,439 others, he said.

In all, the Coliseum is 6,036 short of a sellout and 5,261 short of the number of sales it needs to pay off the renovation bonds, he said.

“We are now in the process of running through those credit cards and calling each of those applicants individually,” he said. “We are going to re-run their credit cards if they are still interested in buying tickets.”

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1989 Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware was one of the 16 players cut by the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars, who decided not to wait until Tuesday’s deadline for trimming their roster.

Ware never threatened the Jaguars’ top two quarterbacks, Steve Beuerlein and Mark Brunell, and was beaten out for the third spot by rookie Rob Johnson of USC.

Ware played sparingly in the exhibition season, completing only two of seven passes for 11 yards. He didn’t play at all in the Jaguars’ 27-10 loss to St. Louis on Friday night.

Ware was the seventh player taken in the 1990 draft after a brilliant career at Houston, where he set 26 NCAA records. He threw for more than 8,000 yards in his college career, with 75 touchdowns and 28 interceptions in just three season.

But his career got off to a bad start when he missed most of his first training camp with the Lions because of a contract dispute. He wound up playing only 14 games in four seasons with Detroit before he was let go after the 1993 season.

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Hard-luck linebacker Marvin Jones will be lost to the New York Jets for four to six weeks because of a severely sprained right ankle.

Jones, the team’s No. 1 draft choice in 1993 who has been hurt for much of his career, was injured in practice during the week. The Jets’ team doctors examined Jones on Friday before deciding his ankle should be put in a hard fiberglass cast.

The Jets have been cautious with Jones throughout training camp, allowing him to skip nearly half of the team’s practices. Jones was plagued by a sprained right ankle last season, sitting out one game and starting in 11 of 15 games. The year before, he broke his hip socket in the ninth game and sat out the rest of the year.