At Last, At Last, Baltimore Fans Cheer On Team

The final score - Ravens 17, Eagles 9 - won’t be remembered by too many in the record crowd of 63,804 at Memorial Stadium.

It was, after all, an exhibition game. The real winner was the city of Baltimore, which finally got to host an NFL game involving the hometown team after a 13-year wait.

It was the first NFL game in Baltimore since an August 1992 exhibition between Miami and New Orleans and the first involving a Baltimore team since the Colts beat the Houston Oilers 20-10 in 1983.

The Colts left for Indianapolis three months later, and Baltimore fans had been waiting since then for a team to call its own.

Baltimore quarterback Vinny Testaverde was 11 for 14 for 152 yards. His 31-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jackson with 11:04 left in the second quarter produced the first points by a Baltimore NFL team since December 1983.

Broncos 20, 49ers 17

At San Francisco, Jeff Lewis showed Denver can still manage a fourth-quarter comeback even with John Elway watching on the sidelines.

Lewis hit Rod Smith with an 11-yard scoring pass with 1:21 remaining, lifting the Broncos to a win over San Francisco.

San Francisco had taken the lead a little more than 2 minutes earlier. Jeff Brohm, who played the third quarter, re-entered the game for injured Gino Toretta and finished a 16-play, 82-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge for a score.

Toretta, the 1992 Heisman Trophy winner, suffered a concussion with about 11 minutes remaining. He was hurt when tackled at the end of a scramble by linebackers John Mobley and Keith Burns and was taken off the field on a cart.

Steelers 16, Rams 10

At Pittsburgh, Jerome Bettis gained 49 yards on seven carries in less than a quarter against his former team and reserve linebacker Jerry Olsavsky led Pittsburgh’s late goal-line stand over St. Louis.

Bettis had runs of 23 and 13 yards and has said he will wait until a Nov. 3 regular-season game with the Rams to show them they were wrong for letting him go after a disappointing 1995 season.

Lawrence Phillips, the Rams’ first-round pick from Nebraska who is trying to rebound from personal problems including a recent drunken-driving charge, had six carries for 17 yards in his first NFL action. Phillips could serve a one-month jail term following the season for violating probation from an attack on a former girlfriend in Omaha, Neb.

Dolphins 13, Buccaneers 10

At Miami, quarterback Bernie Kosar led Miami to a win over Tampa Bay in Jimmy Johnson’s debut as coach of the Dolphins.

Joe Nedney kicked field goals of 44 and 39 yards and in the second half the Dolphins finally established the running game Johnson has demanded this season.

The game was the first in a quarter century that didn’t feature Don Shula on the Dolphins’ sideline.

Johnson has promised to infuse a new intensity into the team, but complained this week that practices have been sloppy.

Bengals 28, Colts 25

At Cincinnati, Bengals fans got their first look at Ki-Jana Carter in Riverfront Stadium, but only briefly, as rookies were showcased in Cincinnati’s win over Indianapolis.

Cincinnati looked at four quarterbacks, and everybody but starter Jeff Blake led a scoring drive. Indianapolis also tried four.

Blake and Carter, in his first appearance since tearing up his knee in a preseason game a year ago at Detroit, played only the first series of downs for Cincinnati.

Panthers 30, Bears 12

At Charlotte, N.C., Eric Davis returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown and Winslow Oliver and Dino Philyaw had second-half scoring runs to lead Carolina to a win over Chicago.

The game was the first to be played in the Panthers’ new Ericsson Stadium.

Oilers 31, Jets 13

At Jackson, Miss., it took Houston backup quarterback Steve McNair one quarter to settle down, but then he gave a hometown crowd reasons to cheer in the Oilers’ win.

A native of Mount Olive, just a 45-mile drive from Mississippi’s Veterans Memorial Stadium, McNair entered the game at 11:54 of the second quarter to a standing ovation. He responded by throwing an interception to the Jets’ Victor Green on his third attempt.

McNair’s second series wasn’t much better. After a 12-yard completion to Malcolm Floyd in a third-and-10 situation, he was called for intentional grounding three plays later. The penalty led to an Oiler punt.

But McNair calmed down at halftime and led the Oilers to a second touchdown within the first 4 minutes of the second half.

Vikings 23, Chargers 20 (OT)

At Minneapolis, Scott Sisson’s 19-yard field goal with 6:29 remaining in overtime gave Minnesota the win.

Sisson’s winning kick came after linebacker Duane Clemons, the Vikings’ No. 1 draft pick, intercepted Craig Whelihan’s pass at the San Diego 30. A pass interference call in the end zone against cornerback Mark Montreuil gave Minnesota a first down at the San Diego 1, and Sisson booted his second field goal of the game on the next play.

Clemons also had Minnesota’s only sack of the game.