These Two Are in Class of Their Own

John Elway finally avoided injury long enough to add another line to his Hall of Fame resume.

After missing his last start because of a rib injury, Elway joined 1983 draft classmate Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for 50,000 yards. He reached the milestone Sunday in the first quarter of Denver’s 40-14 victory over the Oakland Raiders.

Elway, whose first completion 15 years ago went for 14 yards to Rick Upchurch, had 49,970 yards entering Sunday’s game. He surpassed 50,000 with a five-yard pass to Willie Green, his fourth completion of the day. Elway finished with 197 yards passing, giving him 50,167 for his career. Marino has 57,203 yards entering tonight’s game against New England.

“It’s pretty neat that Marino’s the only other guy to get there,” Elway said. “Growing up, you’d look at Fran Tarkenton, who had 47,000, and think, ‘There’s no way.’ That seemed so far away. To get to 50,000 is great. It’s awfully humbling.”

The milestone was delayed for two weeks after a strained rib muscle limited Elway to just one series against San Diego on Nov. 8. He had 12 yards passing that game and sat out Denver’s 30-7 victory at Kansas City on Monday night.

“John was a little rusty early on, but he made the plays he needed to make in the second half. It’s unbelievable to think what type of career you have to have to go over 50,000 yards,” Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan said.

Elway, 38, is the only quarterback in NFL history with 50,000 yards passing and 3,000 yards rushing.

WHEN IS A FUMBLE NOT A FUMBLE?

In the Arizona Cardinals’ 45-42 victory over the Washington Redskins, the key play wasn’t Jake Plummer diving in from the one on fourth down with 3:49 remaining to give the Cardinals a 45-35 lead and halt their total second-half collapse.

No, the key to the game came on the previous play.

On third down, Plummer attempted to dive in from the one but fumbled in mid-air and Washington recovered.

The question was, did Plummer indeed fumble the ball away or did he break the plane of the goal, thus scoring a touchdown? Replays indicated he had fumbled.

So what did the officials rule? After conferring for several minutes, they ruled Plummer was down before he fumbled, which stunned everyone. Given a second chance, Plummer, on fourth down, dove in for what proved to be the winning touchdown.

A week ago, in a loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Cardinals had a chance to tie the score, but a non-call of an apparent pass-interference penalty in the end zone on the game’s final play saved the victory for the Cowboys.

DON’T GET SHORT WITH ME BECAUSE YOU LOST

Bill Flutie, the 11-year-old nephew of Buffalo Bill quarterback Doug Flutie, was one of five finalists in his age group at the New England Patriots’ NFL Gatorade Punt, Pass and Kick team championship.

Although he didn’t win, those with a discerning eye could see the similarities between nephew and uncle. Their eyes are the same color. They seem to comb their hair the same way. They both use the same footwork to drop back to pass. The only way to really tell them apart when they stood next to each other with their uniforms on was the height difference.

The little boy is taller.

ANYONE WANT TO BUY A WEEB EWBANK DECAL?

A plan for the New York Jets to remember former coach Weeb Ewbank went awry Sunday when the box of decals carrying his name apparently disappeared from their hotel at Nashville, Tenn.

The Jets had planned to wear a black decal in the shape of a football with the word “Weeb” on their helmets in memory of the one-time New York coach.

The decals apparently were delivered to the Jets’ hotel, but did not get to team officials. Team spokesman Frank Ramos said the team reported the loss to hotel security.

The Jets will wear the decal on their helmets next week instead.

Ewbank, who led the Jets to the Super Bowl title in 1969, died Tuesday.

REMEMBER THAT RECORD? WELL, NEVER MIND

It’s typical of the New Orleans Saints to make mistakes on the field. But off?

The Saints’ record for sacking the quarterback in 60 straight games, including Steve Young of the 49ers on Sunday night, is impressive. It’s just not as impressive as the team’s front office thought.

After saying they were on pace to set an NFL record next week, the Saints issued a revised statement Sunday.

“We’re not as close as we thought,” said Greg Bensel, director of media relations said before Sunday night’s game against San Francisco.

The defense has pounded quarterbacks game after game while targeting the 60-game streak the Washington Redskins set from Sept. 9, 1984 to Dec. 13, 1987.

But the Redskins are only third on the list. Dallas holds first and second place--61 games from 1968-72 and 68 games from 1976-80.

Bensel blamed Elias Sports Bureau, which supplies statistics to baseball, the NFL and the NBA.

“If we made a mistake we’d be subject to criticism, and rightly so,” Elias vice president Steve Hirdt said. “But we didn’t make a mistake. At the beginning of the season, when they had a 49-game streak, they asked if anyone had ever had 60 games. We told them the Redskins had a 61-game streak from 1984-87. Someone made the leap from that to its’ being the record.”

The leap was made early and the Saints included the countdown to what they assumed was a record in in weekly press releases.

But instead of being able to break the record next week, the Saints will have to wait until next season, assuming they make a sack in each of their remaining games this year.

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Compiled by Houston Mitchell and Larry Stewart.