Around the NFL - Week 3 The day before the Oilers were supposed to play Denver, Houston head coach Jerry Glanville met his new kicker, John Dietrich for the first time. “I went down on the field and asked him his name” Glanville said, “and he asked ‘What’s yours?” “I told him I was an assistant coach and asked what I could do for him. He asked me to go out on the field and get a ball for him. So I did and I still don’t think he knows who I am” The next day, Glanville didn’t care whether Dietrich knew who he was or not as the rookie from Ball State, who had been traded to Houston from Green Bay, kicked field goals from 43, 39, 44 and 27 yards as the replacement Oilers blasted the replacement Broncos 40-10. It was an unpredictable kind of weekend. The Saints, Bears and 49ers all blocked punts for touchdowns. The 49ers ran the wishbone offense part of the second half against the Giants. The Bengals, Colts, Vikings and Falcons all scored safeties. The SuperBowl-champion Giants fell to 0-3 and everywhere around the league, guys who had been teaching or selling or bartending, became stars for at least a day. In 108-degree temperatures in Los Angeles, former Bears QB Vince Evans passed for 248 yards and two TDs to lead the Raiders to a 35-17 defeat of Kansas City. Evans had been out of football since 1985, his last year in the USFL. Evans had 311 yards in total offense as he ran for 63 yards including 20 and 24-yard scrambles that led to touchdowns. He played even though former starter Marc Wilson suited up. “Not knowing much about the other team, we figured Vince would be good because of his running ability” coach Tom Flores said. The pre-strike Bears had beaten the pre-strike Eagles eight of their previous nine meetings and form held true as the new Bears overwhelmed the new Eagles 35-3. Chicago QB Mike Hohensee, playing in his fourth league (USFL, Canadian and Arena), threw three touchdown passes and the new defense played like the old with 11 sacks. “We might have the worst bunch of guys ever seen together as football players,” said Philadelphia head coach Buddy Ryan. At Buffalo, Indianapolis had three regular players to none for the Bills and they made a huge difference in the Colts’ 47-6 victory. Two of the regulars were QB Gary Hogeboom who tied a team record with five touchdown passes, and WR Walter Murray who caught two of them. Murray had seven receptions in all for 161 yards and WR James Noble, cut in camp by the Colts, added a pair of 18-yard touchdown passes. Regular safety Jim Perryman played cornerback and intercepted a pass and blocked a punt that led to a safety. In New Orleans, a city that had suffered through 20 years on non-winning Saints teams, the fans chanted, “Stay on strike” as their new team took a 27-0 half-time lead and defeated the Rams 37-10. One of the regular Saints, CB Reggie Sutton, blocked a Ram punt and returned it for a touchdown. And one of the new Saints, QB John Fourcade, who sat on the bench in Arena League ball, completed 16 of 21 passes for 222 yards and three TDs. One of Fourcade’s scoring passes was a team-record 82-yard play to TE Mike Waters who was cut by three teams in 1987 alone including New Orleans. Fourcade also scored on an incredible fumble return after one of his passes had been intercepted by the Rams, fumbled after three laterals, and then scooped up by Fourcade who went 75 yards down the left sideline for a score that makes blooper highlight tapes to this day. Dallas had regular QB Danny White sitting out with a sore shoulder, so the Cowboys used rookie Kevin Sweeney from Fresno State. Sweeney, who had set the NCAA record for career passing yardage, threw three TD passes including two to WR Kelvin Edwards in a 38-24 victory over the Jets. The Cowboys’ defense had regulars Randy White, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and Don Smerek, and they and their team- mates sacked Jets QB David Norrie 11 times. Green Bay hadn’t won a game in the pre-season or regular season until their replacements trimmed the Vikings 23-16. Packer QB Alan Risher, who had previously played for the Bucs in 1985 as well as the CFL and USFL, threw one TD pass and ran 13 yards for another score. The Vikings had the distinction of starting the oldest replacement player, QB Tony Adams. Out of football since 1982, Adams, 37, was one of three players who shared the old World Football League MVP trophy in 1974. One of the oddest events occurred in Washington where the Redskins outlasted the Cardinals 28-21. St.Louis LB Peter Noga returned an interception 60 yards for a score. Noga was wearing the same number as his striking brother Niko. Anthony Allen set a Redskins’ record with seven receptions for 255 yards and three touchdowns. Allen had played for Atlanta in 1985 and 1986 but had been out of football until the strike began. Quote of the week Darryl Rogers, head coach of the Detroit Lions:- “I saw this team eight days ago and I saw them today and there’s a big difference. They couldn’t even line up eight days ago.”