McNair Is Coming of Age for Oilers

Steve McNair has served his apprenticeship and appears on the verge of stardom.

McNair was involved in four touchdowns, running for scores of 35 and two yards and throwing for two others on Sunday, leading the Tennessee Oilers to a 41-14 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

He threw for touchdowns of 55 and 20 yards to Chris Sanders, and Al Del Greco made field goals from 52 and 42 yards.

All five Oiler touchdowns came after Cardinal turnovers, turning Jake Plummer’s debut as an NFL starting quarterback into a debacle.

“Every start he gets as a rookie, he’s going to face the same defensive techniques,” said McNair, who’s had his share of NFL growing pains. “You know, a lot of blitzing and a lot of different coverages. Coming in as a rookie, he’s just got to stay focused. He’s going to be a great quarterback in the future.”

The Oilers (4-4), who didn’t have an interception until they got three last week against Washington, intercepted Plummer four times--turning two into touchdowns--and sacked him six times to send Arizona (1-7) to its sixth consecutive loss. The Oilers have won three in a row.

Denard Walker returned the second interception 39 yards for a touchdown that made it 10-0 in the second quarter.

“It wasn’t a physical game,” Arizona linebacker Jamir Miller said about Tennessee’s 283-263 edge in total yardage. “It was just a game where their defense took advantage of our offense, and once we got back on our heels we couldn’t stand back up.”

Plummer passed for touchdowns covering 12 and two yards to Rob Moore, but those came after the game was well out of reach for the Cardinals.

“I’m going to remember this day the rest of my life,” said Plummer. “Hopefully this will never happen again.”