Quick Kick

Jets lose Testaverde

Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde ruptured his Achilles’ tendon on Sunday and will miss the rest of the season, a crushing blow for a team that was considered a Super Bowl contender.

Testaverde, 35, crumpled to the turf untouched after making a quick cut to the ball when Curtis Martin fumbled in the second quarter of the season-opener against New England. He immediately grabbed his left leg and writhed in pain.

He limped off the field, using one leg and two teammates for support before he stopped and had to be carried off.

“They ain’t going to cancel the schedule,” linebacker Bryan Cox said. “We lost one of our leaders. We lost a great player. But we’re going to continue to play football the rest of the season.”

Jets running back Leon Johnson tore ligaments in his knee and is out for the season. Other injured Jets were tight end Eric Green (neck) and defensive tackle Jason Ferguson (leg).

Ricky Williams’ NFL debut was interrupted when his injured left ankle sent him to the sidelines after an 8-yard run and then to the locker room before halftime of the New Orleans Saints game.

X-rays revealed a slight strain in a slightly different location from the one that sidelined Williams for most of the preseason.

Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre hurt his throwing hand in a collision with Russell Maryland’s helmet in the third quarter, but still managed to lead the Packers to a comeback victory over Oakland. The Packers said X-rays showed no broken bones.

Veteran Buffalo running back Thurman Thomas injured his ribs on the first play of Sunday’s game with the Indianapolis Colts when he was hit on a pass pattern.

Colts honor late draft pick

The Indianapolis Colts on Sunday remembered Brandon Burlsworth, the team’s third-round draft pick who died in a traffic crash April 28.

At halftime of the team’s season-opener against Buffalo, Colts owners Jim and Meg Irsay presented Burlsworth’s family and Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles with checks for $5,000 each, one for Burlsworth’s former high school scholarship fund. The Colts will have a decal on their helmets in a tribute to Burlsworth.

Titans home at last

Tennessee fans finally feel they have an NFL team they can call their own, and they proved Sunday that they won’t be shy about expressing their opinions.

Even though fans gave rave reviews to the Titans’ $292 million Adelphia Coliseum, they alternately booed and cheered as Tennessee edged the Bengals.

A home-field advantage is something new for a team that spent two throwaway years as the Tennessee Oilers at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis and Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville.

“It’s like it’s our team this year,” said Phil Hobdy of Portland, Tenn.

Lions want a refund

The Detroit Lions filed a grievance with the NFL to get back $5.5 million of the $11 million signing bonus paid to retired running back Barry Sanders in 1997, his agent said, after talks ended without resolution “An arbitrator will decide if the money is owed,” Ware said.

The last word …

“Those types of drives are storybook drives … the types of drives the Favres, the Montanas, the Elways make.”

- Packers coach Ray Rhodes