The Buzz

THE BUZZ

1. THE LEGEND GROWS
It's official: Barry Sanders is the only athlete who doesn't put his pants on one leg at a time. His 215-yard rushing day against the Bucs pushed his career total to 12,513 yards. He passed Jim Brown to move into fourth place on the career list with an 80-yard touchdown run, and when he added an 82-yard score later, he became the first player in NFL history to score on two runs of 80 or more yards in the same game. Walter Payton 's record (16,726 yards) doesn't seem so far off. Sanders is 29. At his career pace of 97.8 yards per game, he would pass Payton on Sept. 18, 2000.

2. TUNA BOWL II
For the Patriots , who were sky-high when they met their old boss, Bill Parcells , on Sept. 14—the Pats beat Parcells's Jets 27-24 in overtime—the emotional level will be down a notch, but only a notch. "I didn't realize how deep-seated the feeling was for guys like Drew [Bledsoe]," says New England coach Pete Carroll .

3. DAN THE MAN
After a 27-of-38, 372-yard, two-touchdown day against the Jets, it's evident that reports of Marino's demise were greatly exaggerated.

4. WANNSTEDT WATCH
The most endangered of all Bears species is not having a good year. Coach Dave is piloting only the second 0-7 team in franchise history. Two weeks ago he handed Rick Mirer the quarterback job for the year. Last week he demoted Mirer—to third string. On Sunday, trailing the Packers 24-23 after scoring with 1:54 left, the Bears went for two. The attempt failed. Dumb move. Going ahead would have guaranteed nothing, especially against the league's best two-minute offense.

5. NICE HANDOFF
Until Sunday, Jaguars running back James Stewart had shown little of the talent that made him a first-round draft pick in '95. But in a 38-21 win over the Eagles, Stewart ran for five touchdowns and became only the fourth player in pro football history—and the first since the Bills' Cookie Gilchrist did it in a 1963 AFL matchup—to score five rushing TDs in a game. Stewart gave the game ball he was presented to Natrone Means , who was sidelined after spraining his ankle on his second carry of the day. Classy gesture.