Week 4 NFL Top Performers
Posted: Tuesday September 29, 1998 02:37 PM
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Holmes scored two touchdowns to lead the Ravens to a 31-24 win over Cincinnati, and his 173 yards fell 3 yards short of the team record AP |
Of the seven undefeated teams left in the NFL, four have had players
featured among our weekly honorees. The Minnesota Vikings, in
fact, have had players honored in three of the four weeks -- impressive in
that no other team has more than one winner in four weeks.
More importantly, the Vikings have avoided being honored with the Losing
Effort Award, which has gone to four teams in four weeks. With seven
winless teams still around after one month, teams are bound to get a repeat
offender before too long ... Offensive Outburst Award
The nod could go to Green Bay's Brett Favre, who threw
five touchdown passes to keep the Packers undefeated, but that's somewhat
expected of a three-time MVP. Instead, we honor Vikings quarterback Randall Cunningham, who's
making everyone forget about Brad Johnson. Cunningham
threw four touchdown passes to four different targets in the Vikings' 31-28
win over the Bears. When Johnson returns from the broken leg that's
sidelined him, the Vikings may have a legitimate quarterback controversy as
to which quarterback can best lead this offense. Sunday marked Cunningham's
second four-TD game as a Viking -- Tommy Kramer has the team record with
nine. Top Ground Gainer Award
Surprised at all that Ravens tailback Priest Holmes rushed for
173 yards on Sunday? Consider that the second-year pro out of Texas didn't
get a single carry during his rookie season and was given the starting nod
after rushing seven times for 26 yards in the first three games of the
season. The week before his first start, Holmes didn't get a carry and
finished with one catch for three yards.
Sunday, however, it was all Holmes, as he scored two touchdowns to lead the
Ravens to a 31-24 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, and
his 173 yards fell 3 yards short of the team record, set last season by Bam
Morris.
You might remember Holmes from Texas' shocking upset of Nebraska in the
first Big 12 Championship game -- he rushed for three touchdowns and 120
yards for the Longhorns. He went undrafted out of college and signed with
the Ravens, contributing on special teams as a rookie.
With last year's starter, Jay Graham, and free-agent
acquisition Errict
Rhett both now on the bench, the Ravens may even be able to trade one
of those two -- they combined for 11 yards on five carries Sunday.
Losing Effort Award
Cunningham's success on Sunday overshadowed an equally impressive
performance from Bears quarterback Erik Kramer, who
revitalized the Bears offense, throwing for 372 yards and four touchdown
passes of his own. Kramer also didn't throw an interception, giving him
just one in four games this year. His performance Sunday could certainly be
dubbed an outburst -- he had just one touchdown in his first 92 passes of
1998.
This looks to be only the fourth season in which Kramer plays in more than
seven games -- in those three previous years, he has 54 touchdowns and 32
interceptions.
If the Bears continue as they have in their first four games -- leading
each at the half, losing in the end -- expect Kramer to contend for this
award a few more times before the season is over. Top Rushing
Performances Priest Holmes, Ravens, 27 carries, 173 yards
Lamar Smith, Saints, 24
carries, 157 yards
Jerome Bettis, Steelers,
28 carries, 138 yards
Barry Sanders, Lions, 27
carries, 131 yards
Jamal Anderson, Falcons,
13 carries, 123 yards
Terrell Davis, Broncos, 21
carries, 119 yards
Fred
Taylor, Jaguars, 25 carries, 116 yards
Napoleon Kaufman, Raiders,
24 carries, 116 yards
Corey Dillon, Bengals, 25
carries, 116 yards
Donnell Bennett, Chiefs,
19 carries, 87 yards
Top Passing Performances Brett Favre,
Packers, 27-45, 3 INT, 5 TD, 388 yards
Steve Young, 49ers, 28-39,
1 INT, 3 TD, 387 yards
Erik Kramer, Bears, 25-39, 1 INT, 4 TD, 372
yards
Peyton
Manning, Colts, 19-32, 3 INT, 1 TD, 309 yards
Randall Cunningham,
Vikings, 16-25, 0 INT, 4 TD, 275 yards
Rich Gannon, Chiefs, 17-25,
0 INT, 0 TD, 262 yards
Rodney Peete, Eagles,
21-36, 1 INT, 1 TD, 260 yards
Chris Chandler, Falcons,
16-38, 3 INT, 2 TD, 254 yards
Eric Zeier, Ravens, 15-20,
0 INT, 1 TD, 254 yards
Trent Green, Redskins,
19-31, 2 INT, 1 TD, 252 yards
Top Receiving Performances Jerry Rice, 49ers, 8
receptions for 162 yards
Joey Galloway, Seahawks, 7
receptions for 139 yards
Terance Mathis, Falcons, 7
receptions for 130 yards
Marshall Faulk, Colts, 6
receptions for 128 yards
Bobby Engram, Bears, 6
receptions for 123 yards
Jermaine Lewis, Ravens, 4
receptions for 122 yards
Carl Pickens, Bengals, 7
receptions for 120 yards
Garrison Hearst, 49ers, 4
receptions for 105 yards
Bryan Still, Chargers, 8
receptions for 104 yards
Michael Westbrook,
Redskins, 3 receptions for 104 yards
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