Starting Over

Last week Fuqua continued to be coy about whether he—and not Tatum—touched the ball, saying he had told the truth to only one man, late Steelers owner Art Rooney. Rooney, Fuqua said, told him to shut his mouth and "keep it immaculate."

NFL Films footage seems to show that Harris plucked the ball cleanly off his shoe tops, but now he hedges on that. "I can't really answer that question," he said. "I have never answered that question." Which leads Bradshaw to moan, "I always thought Franco caught it. Now I'm really depressed. These guys are killing me. These guys have played with my mind for so long."

Dispatches

The Bengals have scored more than 30 points in a franchise-record four straight games, which coincides with Boomer Esiason's insertion into the starting lineup ahead of Jeff Blake. Now the club wants to extend the 36-year-old Esiason's contract, which has one year left at $750,000....

The 7-8 Seahawks will almost certainly fire coach Dennis Erickson, and the stage is set for George Seifert to coach and one of two terrific general manager types, the Panthers' Bill Polian or the Steelers' Tom Donohoe, to run the personnel side.

The End Zone
It has been a tough autumn for the black and chocolate Labrador retrievers of Oilers guard Kevin Donnalley, a North Carolina grad. Mack and Dean were named in honor of Tar Heels football coach Mack Brown and basketball coach Dean Smith. In a two-month span, Smith retired and Brown defected to Texas. The dogs, Donnalley reports, are taking the defections well.