Quick Kicks

Bye, bye Buddy?

Buddy Ryan continues to make good on his promise to bring in a new day for the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals lost to expansion Carolina and it wasn’t even an upset. The Panthers, slight favorites, won 27-7.

The Cardinals finished with 96 yards of total offense, their lowest since being held to 86 - 40 years ago at Pittsburgh on Sept. 26, 1955, before they moved to Phoenix or St. Louis, for that matter. In 1955, they were still in Chicago.

“They do have a balanced offense,” said NBC’s Mike Ditka, once Ryan’s head coach, at halftime. “Twenty-six rushing, 22 passing. You do have a winner in town, Buddy.”

Gary, Indiana way?

Chicago Bears fans protested a possible team move to Gary, Ind., before Sunday’s game. Bears vice president Ted Phillips reiterated that the Bears are studying both the Indiana proposal for a new stadium and a plan from the city to renovate Soldier Field.

Detroit’s Barry Sanders gained 120 yards on 24 carries, joining Eric Dickerson as the second back in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his first seven seasons.

Brett Favre’s 210 yards passing in Sunday’s 31-20 victory over Cleveland left him 87 away from his fourth consecutive 3,000-yard season. Favre is on the verge of becoming the first quarterback in Green Bay’s 75-year history to pass for 3,000 yards in four different seasons.

Isaac Bruce of the St. Louis Rams was 9 yards short of tying the NFL record for consecutive games with 100 receiving yards. Bruce had seven catches for 91 yards, missing the record set by Charlie Hennigan and Bill Groman, Houston teammates in 1961, and Michael Irvin of Dallas earlier this season.

Washington kicker Eddie Murray moved past Jim Turner and into fifth place on the NFL’s career scoring list in the Redskins’ 27-20 loss to Seattle. Murray kicked two field goals and two extra points to move his career total to 1,446 points, seven ahead of Turner.

Local watch

Former Washington State quarterback Drew Bledsoe completed 20 of 39 passes for 180 yards with no TDs and no interceptions as New England lost to Indianapolis 24-10.

Former Central Valley and Idaho kicker Mike Hollis connected on a field goal from 22 yards and made an extra-point attempt as Jacksonville was beaten by Tampa Bay 17-16.

Former Mead and Washington State kicker Jason Hanson kicked a 25-yard field goal and made three extra-point attempts as Detroit beat Chicago 24-17.

Monday night matchup

As an encore to part one of “The Beatles Anthology,” ABCTV proudly presents Elvis.

Grbac.

But he’ll have to share the prime-time spotlight tonight with Dan Marino. And perhaps Steve Young.

Grbac likely will make his fifth consecutive start as Young’s replacement when the San Francisco 49ers face Marino and the Miami Dolphins at Miami. But Young, sidelined by a sore throwing shoulder, has recovered rapidly from arthroscopic surgery last Monday and may be available off the bench.

The game will be televised on KXLY (Channel 4) at 6 p.m.

, DataTimes