STATS ETC.

Center Bruce Matthews of the Tennessee Titans extended his streak of consecutive starts to 181 games, which leads all active players. . . . The New England Patriots won for the first time in four games against former coach Bill Parcells in defeating the New York Jets, 30-28. The Patriots also had nine players catch passes. . . . The 17 points the Minnesota Vikings scored in defeating the Atlanta Falcons were their fewest since Dec. 14, 1997, when they were beaten 14-13 by the Detroit Lions. The Vikings scored at least 24 points in every game last season en route to an NFL-record 556 points. . . . Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers passed for four touchdowns for the 14th time, putting him third on the all-time list behind Dan Marino (21) and Johnny Unitas (17). . . . The St. Louis Rams ran their sellout streak to 33 since moving to St. Louis in 1995 with a crowd of 62,100. TV station KMOV kept it alive by purchasing the last 3,000 tickets.

IN QUOTES

“I know this is the NFL and a lot of people want to make it a big deal. But I’ve played football a long time and I felt like I was just playing another game out there.”

KURT WARNER

St. Louis Ram quarterback, after passing for 316 yards and three touchdowns in his first NFL start, a 27-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens

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

RAY RHODES

Green Bay Packer coach, after Brett Favre engineered a late drive that gave the Packers a 28-24 victory over the Oakland Raiders

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“I’m exhausted. We had to throw the ball too much. You can’t make a living in this league throwing the ball on every down. . . . It’s not good football.”

DOUG FLUTIE

Buffalo Bill quarterback, who attempted 42 passes and was sacked a career-high five times in a 31-14 loss to the Indianapolis Colts