Hanson’s Kicks Boost Lions

Jason Hanson’s 38-yard field goal 2:50 into overtime lifted the Detroit Lions to a 13-10 exhibition victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Friday night at Pontiac, Mich.

Hanson’s 34-yarder with one second remaining in the fourth quarter forced the overtime.

Stoney Case, getting a chance to take charge of the Cardinal offense, threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to rookie Pascal Volz early in the fourth quarter to give Arizona a 10-7 lead. Case, battling Dave Brown for the right to back up Jake Plummer, took the Cardinals 95 yards in 14 plays, hitting Volz between two defenders.

“It’s one of those things where everything is flashing in front of you, because it’s the first game of the season,” said Case, who was 12 of 21 for 126 yards. “I think I played well, but I know I made some bad throws.

“I really don’t want to critique my performance until I watch the films.”

As expected, the starting quarterbacks played little more than a quarter. Scott Mitchell, who was booed when his second pass of the game was overthrown, was six of nine for 93 yards and one touchdown for the Lions. Plummer, playing only the first quarter, was four of nine for 26 yards with one interception.

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George McCullough returned an interception 21 yards for a touchdown and James Ritchey and Ron Powlus, battling for a backup spot at quarterback, each threw a touchdown pass as the Tennessee Oilers routed the Atlanta Falcons, 31-16, in the exhibition opener for both teams at Atlanta.

The Oilers had lost six consecutive exhibition games.

Ritchey steered the Oilers on a 66-yard drive that started in the third quarter and ended 1:22 into the fourth when he connected on a 31-yard pass with Isaac Byrd, who beat Juran Bolden on the right sideline.

Powlus, the rookie from Notre Dame, found Kevin Dyson on a 46-yard scoring strike down the left side on the first play after Samari Rolle intercepted a pass by Tony Graziani.

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Welcome to the big time, kids.

Quarterback Ryan Leaf gets his first taste of the NFL tonight when the San Diego Chargers play their exhibition opener at home against the San Francisco 49ers.

“First start ever in the pros against the [first] team to win five world championships is kind of big,” Leaf said.

Leaf will play the first half at Qualcomm Stadium, and will be greeted by close to a full house, thanks to the fact that the Chargers and Qualcomm Inc. gave more than 14,000 tickets to school kids.

“It’ll be fun,” said Leaf, taken second in the NFL draft after Indianapolis picked Peyton Manning. “I’ll just go out and do what I know I can do and allow everybody else around me to make me look better and do things to take the pressure off me.”

Manning, meanwhile, will play his first game on the road. He is expected to play the first half against the Seattle Seahawks.

“Whatever time I’m in there, I’m going to try to make the best of it,” Manning said.

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While his teammates practiced for their first game since the Super Bowl, John Elway was with his wife as she recovered from colon surgery in Minnesota.

Janet Elway was in good condition Friday at the Mayo Clinic.

Elway will not accompany the team to St. Louis for the exhibition game tonight against the Rams. Bubby Brister will start for the Broncos.

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Two years after the first shovel broke ground on the soil around Camden Yards, the Baltimore Ravens open their new $220-million stadium tonight against the Chicago Bears. A sellout crowd of 69,000 is expected.

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Bill Walsh says he will not be running the 49ers.

Walsh, who coached the team to three Super Bowl titles in the 1980s, had been mentioned as a possible successor to Carmen Policy, whose falling out with co-owner Eddie DeBartolo culminated in Policy’s resignation as president July 22.