Sunday’s Falcons-Rams game got off to a bad start for St. Louis when kicker Jeff Wilkins injured a quadriceps muscle on the opening kickoff.
He was injured as Atlanta’s Darrick Vaughn went by him, returning the kick 96 yards for a touchdown.
On the ensuing kickoff, Tony Horne caught the ball 3 yards deep in the end zone, made a move around Gerald McBurrows near the Rams’ 25 and ran untouched down the sideline for an 103-yard score–making the game the first in NFL history to begin with consecutive returns for touchdowns.
It was Horne’s fourth career touchdown on a kickoff return, and third against the Falcons.
Wilkins kicked the extra point after Horne’s score, squibbed a kickoff to end the run on kick-return TDs, then had to leave the game. The Rams had no backup place-kicker, so they went without one the rest of the way.
Rams coach Mike Martz asked for volunteers to kick off, and backup wide receiver Chris Thomas did a decent job, squibbing most of his kicks to around the Atlanta 20.
“That’s my fault,” Martz said of the absence of a backup. “How stupid am I? Shoot, that’s ridiculous.”
St. Louis actually took advantage by converting four of five two-point tries the rest of the way. Without the field-goal option, the Rams twice converted fourth-down plays in Atlanta territory and eventually scored touchdowns in a 45-29 victory.
WARNER WARMUP
Rams QB Kurt Warner completed 24-of-40 passes for 313 yards to tie the NFL record set by Steve Young with his sixth straight 300-plus-yard game.
He became just the third quarterback to throw for more than 2,000 yards in six games, joining Young and Drew Bledsoe. The Rams notched a club-record 13th straight home win and an NFL record 12th straight game in which they scored at least 30 points.
NO RAMS IN SIGHT
Pittsburgh’s Josh Miller and Cincinnati’s Daniel Pope combined for 22 punts in Sunday’s 15-0 Steelers victory. There were only five more complete passes than punts in the game.
GIANTS MANEUVERINGS
New York Giants General Manager Ernie Accorsi was given a two-year contract extension through the 2003 season, according to the New York Times.
Accorsi signed the extension months ago–making him one of the NFL’s top 10 highest-paid general managers who isn’t also a coach–but neither he nor the team disclosed it, the newspaper said. Neither Accorsi nor Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon would comment on the report Sunday.
SO MUCH FOR THAT MOVE
San Diego Chargers coach Mike Riley lived up to his promise earlier this week and pulled starter Jim Harbaugh despite a solid first quarter in Buffalo.
Enter Moses Moreno–and chaos.
Moreno, the ex-Bear who missed the last three games with a right shoulder injury, fumbled the snap on his first play from scrimmage. On the Chargers’ next drive, Moreno fumbled when sacked by Sam Cowart.
Both turnovers led to touchdowns as the Bills went ahead 14-3 and Moreno was done. The Bills won 27-24 in overtime.
“Bad decision by me,” said Riley, admitting he considered leaving in Harbaugh, who had just hit six straight passes to set up John Carney’s field goal. “It was unfortunate. I still have a lot of confidence in [Moreno]. I just felt we couldn’t let it go on any longer.”
TAUNT NOTHING
David Boston scored for Arizona on a 70-yard pass play Sunday against Philadelphia. In the last 10 yards before reaching the end zone, Boston turned and taunted the defenders and a 15-yard penalty was stepped off on the kickoff.
The touchdown only cut Philadelphia’s lead to 24-7 in a game Arizona lost 33-14. Cardinals coach Vince Tobin was not happy with Boston, who did something similar on a long touchdown catch in San Francisco.
“That has no place in the National Football League. He’s been told that many, many times,” Tobin said. “Whether you call that youthful exuberance or whatever, it’s just something that you can’t have happen. It shows just a total disrespect for the game.”
Boston, whose father Byron is an NFL line judge, was apologetic and said his emotions got the best of him. “I thought it was a bad play on my behalf,” the receiver said.
