American Football: Warner injury adds to Rams' troubles

Pre-season Super Bowl favourites less than a month ago, the St Louis Rams' disastrous campaign took another unexpected turn for the worse on Sunday when they were beaten 13-10 by the Dallas Cowboys. The Rams have lost their four games so far this year, but the crisis deepened with the news that their quarterback, Kurt Warner, broke a finger and is expected to be out of action for at least a month.

St Louis have appeared in two of the last three Super Bowls, but already find themselves on the edge of the abyss. At home against the pedestrian Cowboys, the Rams should have won with ease. Instead, they fell when the Billy Cundiff converted a 48-yard field goal as time expired.

With Warner out of action and a difficult schedule looming, things look bleak. "Last week was like your girlfriend breaking up with you and you get this sick feeling in your stomach," said the tight end Ernie Conwell. "This week it is like a nightmare. Somebody please turn the lights on and shake me."

While the Rams have yet to win, the Oakland Raiders have yet to experience defeat after three games, and in their 52-25 one-sided demolition of the Tennessee Titans, they decided to assault the record books too. Safety Rod Woodson claimed three interceptions, and took his career return yardage total to 1,339 yards, a record. Jerry Rice, who holds virtually every receiving record going, became the NFL's all-time leader in total yards from scrimmage, his 144 yards from seven catches moving him past the legendary Walter Payton.

Rice turns 40 in two weeks; Woodson is 37, and with Oakland also enjoying productive performances from the quarterback Rich Gannon and the receiver Tim Brown, both 36, age clearly is not a hindrance in the Raiders' quest for their first Super Bowl title in 19 years.

A record too for Shaun Alexander, of the Seattle Seahawks, who became the first player in league history to score five touchdowns in the first half of a game in his team's 48-23 embarrassment of the Minnesota Vikings.

The San Diego Chargers are also unbeaten following their gritty 21-14 triumph over the New England Patriots. The Patriots' first loss in 13 games was a result of their failure to contain LaDanian Tomlinson, who equalled a franchise record with 217 rushing yards, and also scoring with a pair of long touchdown runs.

The Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers all lost their unbeaten records. The Panthers fell to yet another Brett Favre-inspired comeback in Green Bay, the irrepressible quarterback tossing a 22-yard touchdown to Donald Driver with four minutes remaining to give the Packers a 17-14 win.

New Orleans were stunned by the previously winless Detroit Lions, who jumped to an early 20-point lead thanks to a flawless performance from their rookie quarterback Joey Harrington, then held off a late Saints surge. "He's going to be the quarterback for the ages here," said Detroit's Todd Lyght. "The kid is a playmaker, a natural-born leader."

The much-maligned Kansas City quarterback Trent Green silenced his critics by throwing five touchdowns, three of them to the tight end Tony Gonzalez, as they routed the Dolphins 48-30. One of the stronger defensive teams in the league, Miami had no answer to Green's aerial bombardment. In sharp contrast, Jay Fiedler threw four interceptions.

Nothing changes for the hapless Cincinnati Bengals, who had the temerity to take an early lead against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Five touchdowns without reply ensured a 35-7 pounding for the league's most inept team.