The Soviet Union formally filed an espionage charge against an American reporter, Nicholas S. Daniloff, the Government-run televised evening news program reported. Earlier, Mr. Daniloff, the Moscow correspondent for the U.S. News & World Report, had telephoned a colleague on the magazine in Moscow to say he had been taken before an official proceeding and formally notified of the charge. Mr. Daniloff said the formal filing allows the investigation of his case to be prolonged for six months before it goes to trial, or, if a waiver is obtained, up to nine months.
The Reagan Administration, stepping up its warnings to the Soviet Union, said today that the filing of espionage charges against an American reporter in Moscow was “a matter of utmost seriousness” for the United States. Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman, said the United States had received “no official notification” that the Russians had charged Nicholas S. Daniloff, Moscow correspondent of U.S. News & World Report, with espionage. But Mr. Speakes said Mr. Reagan was “concerned” about the case and asserted that the continuing detention of Mr. Daniloff could have “serious implications” for United States-Soviet relations. “Daniloff is innocent,” Mr. Speakes said. “We want his immediate release and we do regard it as very, very serious.” The White House spokesman declined to specify how United States-Soviet relations would be affected by the reporter’s detention and the charges against him.
The Soviet Union said the United States conducted a secret nuclear test last Thursday in the Nevada desert-the fourth such explosion that the Kremlin has alleged since it imposed a moratorium on testing 13 months ago. Quoting what it called a U.S. anti-war group, the official news agency Tass said the latest test caused a tremor measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale and probably involved a yield of less than 20 kilotons. The Defense Department declined to comment on the report. Since the moratorium, the United States has acknowledged conducting 15 nuclear tests; the Soviets contend there have actually been 19.
A minor accident during the refueling of a Soviet-built nuclear reactor in Finland spilled a small amount of radioactive cooling water onto the floor of the plant, officials in Helsinki said. The spill did not cause any danger to reactor workers or to the environment, the officials said. The accident occurred at one of Finland’s two Soviet-built nuclear plants, both of which use water-cooled reactors. The Soviet reactor involved in the Chernobyl disaster used graphite as a moderating element.
The Turkish officials investigating the terrorist raid Saturday on Istanbul’s largest synagogue said tonight that they believed the assailants were Arabs but that there were no definitive clues to explain the attack. In the carnage that resulted when two gunmen suddenly threw hand grenades and opened fire with submachine guns during a Sabbath morning service, 21 worshipers and the two gunmen were killed. Four other worshipers were wounded. Diplomats and other officials interviewed here since the massacre expressed a belief that the operation, far from being a random assault by anti-Jewish militants, had been carefully prepared.
The massacre of Jews in Istanbul Saturday set off a political storm in Israel today, when Prime Minister Shimon Peres refused to hold the weekly Cabinet meeting until Ariel Sharon apologized for accusations that the killings were a result of peace overtures by Mr. Peres and his supporters in the Government. On a day when the Israeli Cabinet had been expected to discuss possible retaliation for the attack on the Istanbul synagogue, the meeting was canceled because of the storm over statements by Mr. Sharon, the Minister for Industry and Trade. Late tonight, Mr. Sharon submitted a second letter of apology to Prime Minister Peres after the first was rejected as inadequate. The Israeli radio quoted sources close to Mr. Sharon, a member of the Likud bloc, as saying Mr. Peres had accepted the second version of his “retraction.” But there was no confirmation of this from the Prime Minister, who leads the Labor Party.
Palestinian guerrillas and Lebanese Muslim fundamentalists went on alert today at their camps in Lebanon in anticipation of possible Israeli retaliation to the massacre at a synagogue in Istanbul. “We have taken precautions in case the Zionist enemy launches new aggression against our people,” a Palestine Liberation Organization official told a Western news agency here. “We are not leaving anything to chance.” Meanwhile, there was growing speculation here that the attack on the synagogue was carried out by the same group that tried to hijack a Pan American World Airways plane on Friday in Karachi, Pakistan.
Leaders of the movement of nations professing nonalignment accused the United States today of “state terrorism” for its bombing of Libya last April and called for comprehensive mandatory sanctions against South Africa. At the close of its eighth summit meeting, just before dawn, the 101-member organization also welcomed the Soviet Union’s moratorium on nuclear testing and called on Moscow and Washington to cooperate in taking “immediate steps” to prevent the outbreak of nuclear war. In its political declaration, the Nonaligned Movement strongly condemned the United States for its raid into Libya and its support of rebels seeking to overthrow the Governments of Nicaragua and Angola, which, like Libya, are members of the Nonaligned Movement. The leaders accused the United States of “repeated aggressions and provocations” against Libya that “seriously endangered peace and security in the region.”
A counterterrorism team sent by the United States to Pakistan on Friday failed to get there before the 16-hour hijacking siege ended in bloodshed, according to Reagan Administration officials. They said Pakistan had given permission for the Army specialists to land at Karachi International Airport. They said the role, if any, of the American force had not been determined in advance. But in Karachi today, President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq appeared to dismiss the idea of such help. “Pakistan is quite competent and confident to deal with such cases ourselves, and the Americans are fully aware of this,” he said. “I see no reason to ask for American help or that Americans would feel that they would have to offer help.”
Passengers on the hijacked plane in Pakistan reconstructed the 16-hour ordeal. They described a hijacker who roamed the aisle with his shirt off — like Rambo, one passenger said — and another who forced passengers to walk to the bathroom on their knees. A woman said the hijackers’ leader had promised not to harm her two children. Then, she said, the shooting broke out.
Pakistan will prosecute four young Palestinians who hijacked the Pan Am 747 Pakistan’s President said. President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq said the Palestinians had no apparent connection to any government and that they would not be sent to any other country.
Survivors of the Karachi hijacking arriving in Frankfurt said Pakistani commandos had no role in the freeing of the Pan Am 747. They said it appeared that it was the failure of the plane’s generator that had panicked the terrorists into firing machine guns and hurling grenades.
Opposition political leaders and others in India today joined Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in criticizing Pakistan’s handling of Friday’s hijacking at the Karachi airport, saying it could have been resolved without loss of life. There was also some criticism of President Reagan for his support of Pakistan’s handling of the incident, in which 18 people died. Many of the dead and wounded aboard the Pan Am plane were Indian citizens. Mr. Gandhi, who returned here today from a meeting of leaders of the Nonaligned Movement in Harare, Zimbabwe, reasserted the charge he made Saturday that Pakistan had bungled the assault on the plane.
Police in India fired on thousands of rioters in Delhi’s old walled city and imposed a curfew in an effort to prevent clashes between Muslims and Hindus, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. It said Muslims took to the streets after a group of Hindus visiting a mosque reportedly failed to take off their shoes in accordance with Muslim practice. The rioters were fired on by police after about 3,000 people threw stones and set shops on fire. There were no reports of casualties in the shooting, but a policeman was reported injured by the stones.
Two major Bangladeshi opposition groups today denounced next month’s elections as a device to keep General H. M. Ershad as President and said they would boycott the voting. One opposition party had already announced it would not take part in the elections and a fourth said today it would probably also pull out.
Vietnamese and United States negotiators failed to reach an agreement on an American request to be allowed to resume interviewing Vietnamese who want to settle in the United States, sources said today. In a two-day meeting in Hanoi last month, the two sides tried to resolve conflicts over the Orderly Departure Program, a United Nations-sponsored program in which Vietnamese leave Vietnam for resettlement abroad.
North Korea said today that the United States was planning large-scale naval exercises off the Korean Peninsula during the 1986 Asian Games, to be held in Seoul for 16 days beginning September 20. In a report monitored here, the official press agency quoted the Government newspaper as saying the United States was “mobilizing the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and about 30 other warships with battleship New Jersey and many planes to stage large-scale mobile exercises in the Sea of Japan during the 1986 Asian Games.”
Japan is expected to announce this week a decision to participate in the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, a Japanese government source said. Japanese leaders have said privately that rejection of the “Star Wars” plan would amount to repudiating defense commitments to Washington. However, some issues remain to be resolved in negotiations with U.S. officials, including the extent to which Japanese companies would be allowed to use for commercial purposes the technology they might develop. In general, a Western diplomat in Tokyo said, the Pentagon considers the fruits of research it pays for to be its property.
Indonesia’s troubled relations with Australia worsened with Jakarta’s surprise withdrawal of landing rights for Australian air force planes. An Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the latest withdrawal “for the time being” of landing rights on the island of Bali for Australian air force planes to refuel en route to a base in Malaysia. He said that requests to land will be considered on a “case-by-case basis.” The action was believed related to articles and books critical of Indonesian President Suharto that have been published in Australia.
Philippine Muslim rebels tossed a grenade into a Roman Catholic church during a wedding Mass, killing eight people and seriously injuring 56, military authorities said. Two suspects in the attack in the town of Salvador, 500 miles south of Manila, were killed by soldiers, according to Col. Raul Aquino, army brigade commander, who said the attackers were members of Moro Islamic Liberation Front. President Corazon Aquino flew to the southern island of Jolo last week for an unprecedented meeting with Nur Misuari, chief of the separatist Moro National Liberation Front. They agreed to hold peace talks aimed at ending a war for Muslim self-rule.
Gunmen tried unsuccessfully to kill President Augusto Pinochet tonight in an attack that left five members of his police and military escort dead, according to Government officials. General Pinochet, 70 years old, appeared on television late Sunday with a bandaged left hand and said he had been hit by a piece of shrapnel during the ambush. He also showed his Mercedes-Benz car with 12 marks from bullets that had not pierced the reinforced glass. The car had been damaged by a hand grenade hurled under a rear wheel. Interior Minister Ricardo Garcia announced that the Government was decreeing a state of siege, further restricting civil liberties and giving the Government additional powers of arrest and detention. Mr. Garcia did not spell out the extent of the new restrictions. Chile was already under more limited restrictions under a state of emergency decree. “We are in a war between democracy and Marxism, between chaos and democracy,” General Pinochet said in his television appearance. His motorcade came under attack as it crossed a bridge over the Maipo River southeast of Santiago, the officials said.
Installation of Desmond M. Tutu as the 11th Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town took place in St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town at ceremonies attended by Anglican bishops from around the world. Archbishop Tutu, the first black to lead the Anglican church in southern Africa, reiterated his commitment to nonviolence in the apartheid struggle.
When Congress reconvenes Monday after its three-week summer recess, the stage will be set for the last act of the long-running drama on tax revision legislation. Representative Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Senator Bob Packwood, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, plan to meet early this week to put the final touches on the legislation that was approved by a Congressional conference committee late on August 16, the day after the rest of Congress left for the recess. Mr. Rostenkowski, an Illinois Democrat, said the House of Representatives would probably vote on the final bill next week. The vote in the Senate will most likely come later in the month.
President Reagan attends a Republican rally at the Denver Airport with 4,000 in attendance.
A dispute over unionization is delaying construction of an $800 million Toyota automobile assembly plant in Georgetown, Ky. The nation’s construction unions are trying to force the Ohbayashi Corporation of Japan, Toyota’s contractor, to use union labor. Ohbayashi says its plan for building the plant is in keeping with labor practice in the region.
Teacher strikes affecting more than 100,000 pupils in seven states began another week, while tentative agreements promised to end walkouts in New Jersey and at some Pennsylvania and Ohio schools. Negotiations broke off over the weekend in Michigan and Washington districts but continued in other districts in those states and in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Students were expected to return to classes in Mount Laurel and Bellmawr, New Jersey, in Newton Falls, Ohio, and in Pennsylvania’s Spring Grove and Midland districts and Athens area.
The Free World must find ways to stop murderous acts such as last week’s terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Turkey, 3,500 Holocaust survivors were told during an observance at the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. Members of the American Gathering and Federation of Jewish Survivors commemorated the arrival of the first Holocaust survivors to the United States 40 years ago. “We call upon the leaders of the Frée World to find ways to combat and stop these murderous acts,” said Benjamin Meed, president of the survivors’ organization. The only response to terrorism is force, he said. American troops presented the flags of the 11 U.S. Army units that liberated Nazi death camps at the end of World War II.
A man authorities consider one of Colombia’s biggest drug kingpins was convicted in Ocala, Florida, of cocaine trafficking in a case that began with seizure of a plane carrying 1,267 pounds of the drug. Jose Cabrera-Sarmiento, 55, a Colombian national extradited from that country for trial, faces up to 30 years in state prison. No sentencing date has been set. “We are alleging Mr. Sarmiento is, if not the biggest, among the biggest cocaine traffickers in Colombia,” said Fred Schneyer, spokesman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. His stature in the Colombian drug hierarchy forced authorities to take extra precautions during his trial, Schneyer said. He was flown by helicopter from the Marion County jail to the courthouse under the supervision of a SWAT team.
Harvard University’s 350th birthday party ended with a service of thanksgiving and remembrance at Memorial Church conducted by the Rev. Peter J. Gomes. Crimson banners came down at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus and alumni of the oldest college in the nation bade farewell. A gala week had been marked by a party along the Charles River, a program attended by 27,000 in Harvard Stadium, and tributes from Britain’s Prince Charles and U.S. leaders.
A philanthropist who promised to send dozens of Harlem children to college has been invited to Dallas to help people there join his “I Have a Dream Program” to educate the disadvantaged. Dallas residents have already pledged enough to educate 1,000 youths. Eugene Lang, the New York philanthropist who announced the program five years ago, said he had received similar requests from more than 20 cities.
A fugitive convicted of murdering a 10-year-old girl by burying her alive in an ice chest was captured when he went to use a public telephone beside a plain-clothes deputy. The convict, Brian Keith Smith, 25 years old, escaped from jail Thursday night. He was arrested Saturday when the detective recognized him, according to a San Bernardino County sheriff’s detective, Chico Rosales. Mr. Smith, a truck driver, was convicted in June of first-degree murder in the death of Melissa Lynn Wakefield, of Fontana, California. Her body was found in an ice chest in a shallow grave a week after she was abducted from her home July 5, 1985. The authorities said she had died of heat exhaustion and suffocation after being sexually molested.
A Colorado race for a Senate seat is about dead even between a Democrat and a Republican. The seat, which is being vacated by Gary Hart, who plans to concentrate on the Democratic Presidential race, is considered by both parties to be crucial to control of the Senate.
Government-supported research conducted at universities has soared in the first six years of the Reagan Administration, in a revival that appears unmatched since the post-Sputnik era of the early 1960’s.
Open-heart surgery has been halted at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Washington because of concerns over recent deaths of patients, a V.A. spokesman said Saturday. The V.A.’s District of Columbia hospital closed its open heart surgery unit Aug. 26 on the order of the hospital director, Joseph Travers, according to the spokesman, Donna St. John.
Cocaine-addiction treatment is a fledgling field, with diverse methods being tried but too little scientific evidence of which ones work best, leading experts say. The need for systematic study of different treatments has become urgent with the surge in the use of the cocaine derivative crack, they said.
The smartest man in America is Dr. Richard P. Feynman, the Nobel physicist who was a member of the Challenger commission, and the smartest woman is Marilyn vos Savant, according to Gentleman’s Quarterly. Vos Savant made the top of the list because of her 230 IQ and despite the fact that TV Guide is the only magazine she takes. Others named on GQ’s roster of the 100 smartest people in America are David Byrne of the rock group Talking Heads, Johnny Carson (“look at his salary”), his ex-wife Joanna Carson (“look at her alimony”), media magnate Rupert Murdoch, playwright Sam Shepard, film producer Woody Allen, consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Judge Joseph Wapner of television’s “The People’s Court.”
A disturbance off the island of Barbados strengthened into a tropical storm and was given the name Danielle, the fourth named storm of the 1986 Atlantic hurricane season. With maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and higher gusts in squalls, the storm could strengthen, the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Fla., advised. The storm was moving west at 20 to 25 mph. In the Lesser Antilles, the governments of Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago issued gale warnings and urged small craft elsewhere in the Windward Islands to remain in port.
River Phoenix, one of the young actors in the coming-of-age movie “Stand By Me,” comes from a family inclined toward unconventional monikers. He has sisters named Rainbow, Liberty and Summer, and a brother named Leaf. River, 16, says that his father, John Phoenix, “wanted something different. I guess he didn’t want his kids to be named John, too.”
NBC premieres the TV movie “Popeye Doyle” as a sequel to “The French Connection” films.
U.S. Open Men’s Tennis: In an all-Czech final, Ivan Lendl retains his title, beating Miloslav Mečíř 6–4, 6–2, 6–0.
Major League Baseball:
The Pittsburgh Pirates downed the Atlanta Braves, 3–1. Left-hander Bob Kipper combined with Barry Jones on a five-hitter, and Mike Diaz hit a home run to pace the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kipper, 4–7, worked 7 ⅔ scoreless innings, allowing four hits, striking out five and walking one as he helped the Pirates salvage the final game of the three-game set. Jones worked 1 ⅓ innings in relief for his third save.
The Baltimore Orioles blanked the Seattle Mariners, 8–0. Eddie Murray drove in his 1,000th run and Baltimore backed Scott McGregor’s six-hit pitching with homers by John Shelby, Floyd Rayford and Mike Young as the Orioles snapped a four-game losing streak. Murray, who went 3-for-5 and drove in three runs, became the first player since Frank Robinson in 1965 to reach the 1,000 RBI plateau in his first 10 major-league seasons.
Jim Rice hit his second grand slam in three days to power the Boston Red Sox to their eighth straight triumph, a 9–0 rout today of the Minnesota Twins. The Red Sox now have a six-and-a-half-game lead in the American League East over the second-place Toronto Blue Jays, who lost to the White Sox. Bruce Hurst (10–7) scattered nine hits, walked none and struck out seven to get his third shutout and eighth complete game. Rice’s sixth career grand slam highlighted a five-run third inning as Boston jumped to a 5–0 lead. Tony Armas started the inning with a double. Marc Sullivan walked, and Spike Owen, after faking a bunt, drilled a single up the middle to score Armas and give the Red Sox a 1–0 lead. Marty Barrett singled to load the bases and Bill Buckner reached base on a fielder’s choice. Rice then hit the first pitch from Neal Heaton (6–13) into the Red Sox bullpen for his 16th home run. Rice now has 95 RBIs.
Lou Piniella was not prepared to offer a concession speech. There were still too many games to play, he said. Yet even as he spoke, the words carried a distinct message: The Yankees need some kind of miracle. They are not quite mathematically eliminated from the American League East race, but the Yankees essentially removed themselves from contention today by succumbing to the California Angels, 7–2. It was their second consecutive defeat (they were routed by the Angels, 9–2, Saturday night) and it left them 10 ½ games behind Boston with only 25 to play.
The Toronto Blue Jays bowed to the Chicago White Sox, 4–3. Harold Baines singled home the tying run and Jerry Hairston walked with the bases loaded to bring in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning. With the White Sox trailing by 3–2, Jack Perconte drew a one-out walk in the seventh and Daryl Boston blooped a single. Mark Eichhorn replaced Jim Clancy (14–9) and gave up a two-out single to Baines that scored Perconte. Eichhorn then walked Ron Hassey and Hairston. Gene Nelson (6–6) pitched three scoreless innings in relief and Bobby Thigpen worked the final two innings for his fifth save.
The Chicago Cubs rocked the Cincinnati Reds, 11–3. Chico Walker, Shawon Dunston and Leon Durham hit bases-empty homers to lead a 19-hit attack. Greg Maddux (1–1), earned his first major league victory in his first start. Maddux, at 20 the youngest player in the National League, allowed 11 hits, struck out four and walked three. Bill Gullickson, the first of six Cincinnati pitchers, lasted one and two-thirds innings, yielding eight hits and six runs in falling to 13–9.
The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6–3. Kevin Bass had two hits and scored the winning run, and Davey Lopes had a two-run pinch single as the Astros rallied to beat the St. Louis Cardinals. Houston increased its lead in the National League West to eight games over the second-place Reds, who lost to the Cubs. Trailing by 3–1, the Astros tied the score on Lopes’s two-run hit in the fifth inning, then broke a 3–3 tie in the sixth. Bass doubled, Alan Ashby walked and Dickie Thon singled to load the bases with one out. Jim Pankovits, a pinch-hitter, hit a grounder to shortstop to score Bass with the go-ahead run and chase Greg Mathews (10–5).
The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Cleveland Indians, 7–2. Pete Vuckovich won his first game in more than a year and Robin Yount and Rick Manning hit home runs as the Milwaukee Brewers ended an eight-game losing streak. Vuckovich, 1–1, won for the first time since August 8, 1985.
Montreal’s Floyd Youmans and Tim Burke combine to one-hit the Giants but lose 1–0 as Mike Krukow tosses a 2-hit shutout. Mike Aldrete’s first-inning double drives in the game’s only run. Robby Thompson was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on Aldrete’s double. Krukow (15–9) gave up a one-out single by Randy Hunt in the second inning, then retired 19 batters in a row before Wallace Johnson singled with two out in the eighth.
The Mets took a couple of giant bounds toward their first division title in 13 years yesterday when they swept a doubleheader from the San Diego Padres and also swept away any lingering doubt about the state of Dwight Gooden’s art. Gooden pitched a commanding four-hitter and won his 14th game as the Mets beat the Padres in the opener, 7–1. He struck out only five batters, but pitched his 10th complete game of the season and seemed to be peaking just in time for the National League playoff in four weeks. Then, in the second game, Sid Fernandez missed the chance to win his 16th game, but the Mets rallied for three runs in the sixth inning and won it, anyway, 6–5. Keith Hernandez was the prime mover, knocking in three runs with three singles, but the Padres’ pitching staff contributed four walks during the rally and 15 in both games.
The A’s’ Jerry Willard’s three-run homer capped a five-run fifth inning to lead Oakland to an 8–4 win over the Detroit Tigers. With the score 2–2, Alfredo Griffin and Mike Davis led off the Oakland fifth with walks from Dan Petry, 4–8. Carney Lansford’s single loaded the bases and Bruce Bochte drew a walk that forced home the go-ahead run. Reliever Jim Slaton struck out Dave Kingman, but Jose Canseco hit a sacrifice fly and Willard connected for his third home run of the season.
Thirty-nine-year-old reliever Kent Tekulve gained his 10th victory against three losses as the Phillies defeated the Dodgers, 2–1, when the Dodgers’ Ken Howell walked pinch hitter Ron Roenicke with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. “I like winning, period,” Tekulve said. “Wins, saves or whatever, contributing is the important thing.” Tekulve entered the game at the top of the eighth with runners on first and third and one out. He got pinch-hitter Len Matuszek to hit into a double play on his first pitch. In the ninth, he struck out Bill Madlock with no one out and a runner on first. “I think Madlock was looking for a sinker,” said Tekulve, “and I threw him a slider.”
The Kansas City Royals downed the Texas Rangers, 5–2. Angel Salazar drove in three runs and Danny Jackson scattered eight hits for Kansas City. The second-place Texas Rangers fell seven and a half games behind the California Angels in the American League West. Jackson (10–10) struck out six and walked two in his second complete game of the season. Charlie Hough (12–9) took the loss. The Royals went ahead by 4–2 in the sixth. With two out, Frank White singled and Mike Kingery walked. Salazar then doubled to right, scoring White and Kingery.
Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Atlanta Braves 1
Seattle Mariners 0, Baltimore Orioles 8
Minnesota Twins 0, Boston Red Sox 9
New York Yankees 2, California Angels 7
Toronto Blue Jays 3, Chicago White Sox 4
Chicago Cubs 11, Cincinnati Reds 3
St. Louis Cardinals 3, Houston Astros 6
Cleveland Indians 2, Milwaukee Brewers 7
San Francisco Giants 1, Montreal Expos 0
San Diego Padres 1, New York Mets 7
San Diego Padres 5, New York Mets 6
Detroit Tigers 4, Oakland Athletics 8
Los Angeles Dodgers 1, Philadelphia Phillies 2
Kansas City Royals 5, Texas Rangers 2
NFL Football:
The Atlanta Falcons smashed the New Orleans Saints, 31–10. David Archer threw for two touchdowns and set up two more with his running and passing. Cliff Austin added a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and Gerald Riggs ran 1 yard for a third-quarter score. Riggs’s touchdown capped an 87-yard, 21-play drive that lasted 12 minutes 39 seconds. Austin, who began his career with the Saints, entered the game with a total of 28 carries for 133 yards in three seasons. His total for Sunday’s game was 104 yards on 27 carries. William Andrews, who suffered what many thought would be a career-ending knee injury before the 1984 season, saw his first regular-season action in two years for the Falcons and finished with 28 yards on five carries.
The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 24–14. Jeff Smith scored the go-ahead touchdown on a pass from Todd Blackledge early in the third quarter. Breaking a 7–7 halftime tie, the Chiefs took a 14-point lead with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns. Boomer Esiason brought the Bengals to within 7 points midway through the fourth period with his second touchdown pass to Cris Collinsworth, but Nick Lowery clinched the victory with an 18-yard field goal for the Chiefs with 1:32 left.
Those expecting Super Bowl perfection from the Chicago Bears might have gone away disappointed today. The world champions were hardly the intimidating team they were last January, when they won the National Football League championship. Nonetheless, their 41–31 victory over the Cleveland Browns was satisfactory to Coach Mike Ditka and may well have served notice that the Bears are capable of returning to form sometime soon, in that they won despite an assortment of botched plays and a shoulder injury to their quarterback, Jim McMahon, who left the game early in the fourth quarter. “I’ve got no bad feelings about anything,” Ditka said. “All our players played hard. It was not our best football game. We helped them with some silly penalties. But it’s going to be hard for teams to beat us — I don’t care what you saw today.” The Cleveland Browns become the first team in NFL history to have a play reviewed by instant replay in this game.
The Detroit Lions edged the Minnesota Vikings, 13–10. James Jones rushed for a career-high 174 yards and scored his team’s only touchdown as Detroit spoiled the coaching debut of Jerry Burns. Jones, who tied a team record with 36 carries, surpassed his previous high of 116 yards. Over all, Detroit gained 224 yards on the ground to 62 for Minnesota. Chuck Nelson’s 35-yard field goal gave Minnesota a 3–0 after one quarter. The kick ended a 55-yard drive that featured Tommy Kramer’s 34-yard pass to Darrin Nelson. The Lions then launched a 10-play, 76-yard touchdown drive to take a 7–3 lead with 1:56 left in the half. Jones gained 45 yards on the drive, setting up his own 2-yard scoring plunge with a 39-yard run, the longest of his career. Eddie Murray added field goals of 33 and 44 yards in the second half as Detroit ended a seven-game road losing streak.
The Houston Oilers topped the Green Bay Packers, 31–3. Warren Moon threw touchdown passes of 29 and 44 yards and ran 3 yards for another score. The Houston quarterback completed 14 of 21 passes for 218 yards. Mike Rozier rushed for 83 yards on 23 carries for the Oilers. Moon threw a 29-yard scoring pass to Butch Woolfolk in the second quarter as the Oilers built a 14–3 halftime lead.
The New England Patriots clobbered the Indianapolis Colts, 33–3. Tony Eason passed for 252 yards and one touchdown and Tony Franklin kicked field goals of 38, 39, 49 and 25 yards. Eason, who completed 18 of 29 passes, tossed a 43-yard touchdown pass to Stanley Morgan one play after Indianapolis had lost a fumble on a drive that went to the Patriots’ 10-yard line. The touchdown gave New England a 17–3 lead with 7:38 left in the third quarter.
John Elway threw two touchdown passes and caught one today to lead the Denver Broncos to a wild 38–36 victory over the Los Angeles Raiders. Elway’s 7-yard pass to Gene Lang with 9 minutes 49 seconds to play proved to be the clincher, giving Denver its first lead since the opening minutes of the game. Earlier, Elway caught a 24-yard scoring pass from Steve Sewell, a running back. Denver capitalized on three Raider turnovers in the second half to get back in the game after trailing by as much as 19–7 at one point. Marcus Allen, the Raider running back, scored his second touchdown on a 2-yard run early in the third quarter, putting Los Angeles ahead, 29–21. About four minutes later, Allen was stripped of the ball at the Raider 12-yard line by Ken Woodard, a Denver linebacker. Woodard took the ball and raced into the end zone for a touchdown that got Denver within 29–28. Los Angeles countered immediately as Marc Wilson fired his third touchdown pass of the day, a 57-yarder to Rod Barksdale for a 36–28 advantage. Early in the fourth quarter, after a 51-yard Rich Karlis field goal had cut the deficit to 36-31, Napoleon McCallum fumbled on a kickoff return and Denver had possession at the Raider 39. Helped by two penalties, the Broncos scored the go-ahead touchdown in nine plays, with Lang beating Stacey Toran to the end zone. McCallum, a Navy ensign who had been granted permission to play with the Raiders, was playing in his first regular-season game.
Eric Dickerson ran for 193 yards and two touchdowns today, leading the Los Angeles Rams to a 16–10 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Dickerson, who surpassed the 100-yard mark for the 25th time, scored on runs of 1 yard and 16 yards. He carried 38 times, the most in his career. The game, which marked the coaching debut of the Cardinals’ Gene Stallings, ended with St. Louis at the Rams’ 1-yard line. The Cardinals recovered a Dickerson fumble at their 37 with 1 minute 52 seconds left to play. They drove down the field but time ran out after Stump Mitchell was stopped at the 1.
Dan Fouts threw three touchdown passes and Buford McGee, a reserve running back, rushed for two scores, as the San Diego Chargers routed the Miami Dolphins, 50–28. The Chargers’ point total was the most scored against the Dolphins since Don Shula took over as head coach 17 years ago. It was the 10th time San Diego had scored at least 50 points in a game. Fouts, who completed 23 of 35 passes for 293 yards, threw two second-half touchdown passes as the Chargers put the game out of reach. The first was a 7-yarder to Wes Chandler and the second covered 17 yards to Pete Holohan. Dan Marino, who signed a reported six-year, $9 million contract Saturday, completed 23 of 36 throws for 290 yards. He matched Fouts with three touchdown throws, but the Dolphins were undone by four turnovers, three leading to San Diego scores. Marino threw his 100th career touchdown pass, becoming the fastest QB in NFL history to do so.
A marvelous fourth-quarter mano a mano passing duel between two quarterbacks who waited three years to meet ended today with the Jets hanging on for a 28–24 victory over the Bills in the season’s opener. Each team produced two touchdowns in the final quarter, but a record Rich Stadium crowd of 79,951 will remember Jim Kelly’s smashing debut of three touchdown tosses — including two in the closing 15 minutes of the game. But the Jets’ Ken O’Brien, who threw for a pair of scores, including one in the last quarter, was able to sustain a drive in the closing seconds to run out the clock. This is a Jets’ team that, for this game at least, against an unknown defense, had the missing ingredient: time.
The Washington Redskins today introduced a new player, Kelvin Bryant, who promises to do wonders for their offense. The running back from the United States Football League scored two touchdowns as the Redskins routed the Philadelphia Eagles, 41–14, before the usual capacity crowd of 53,982, the 150th consecutive sellout at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. The Eagles, in Buddy Ryan’s first game as head coach, bore little resemblance to Ryan’s former team, the champion Chicago Bears. The Eagles were outscored in the second half, 21–0.
The Seattle Seahawks crushed the Pittsburgh Steelers, 30–0. Dave Brown returned an interception 18 yards for a touchdown and Dave Krieg threw a pair of touchdown passes. The Seahawks intercepted Mark Malone three times and also forced Walter Abercrombie and Frank Pollard to fumble. Krieg completed 21 of 33 passes for 195 yards including a 4-yard touchdown pass to Daryl Turner in the second quarter and a 10-yard scoring pass to Steve Largent in the fourth quarter. It was the Seahawks’ first shutout since they blanked Kansas City, 45–0, in the Kingdome on November 4, 1984, the last of three Seattle shutouts that season. Pittsburgh had not been shut out since 1982. Bobby Joe Edmonds, a rookie, returned four punts for a Seattle club record 101 yards. He had a 44-yard return in the third quarter to set up a 24-yard field goal by Norm Johnson. Curt Warner of the Seahawks picked up 114 yards on 21 carries.
The San Francisco 49ers demolished the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31–7. Joe Montana passed for 356 yards and one touchdown and San Francisco intercepted Steve DeBerg seven times. Montana, who missed three weeks of the exhibition season with a sprained right ankle, completed 32 of 46 passes. He threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wilson in the first quarter. The 49ers, who led by 14–0 at halftime, also scored on a pair of 1-yard runs by Roger Craig, Jeff Kemp’s 10-yard touchdown pass to John Frank and Ray Wersching’s 30-yard field goal. Tampa Bay, 2–14 last season and losers of 39 of its last 49 games, averted a shutout when DeBerg threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Carter early in the third quarter.
Atlanta Falcons 31, New Orleans Saints 10
Cincinnati Bengals 14, Kansas City Chiefs 24
Cleveland Browns 31, Chicago Bears 41
Detroit Lions 13, Minnesota Vikings 10
Houston Oilers 31, Green Bay Packers 3
Indianapolis Colts 3, New England Patriots 33
Los Angeles Raiders 36, Denver Broncos 38
Los Angeles Rams 16, St. Louis Cardinals 10
Miami Dolphins 28, San Diego Chargers 50
New York Jets 28, Buffalo Bills 24
Philadelphia Eagles 14, Washington Redskins 41
Pittsburgh Steelers 0, Seattle Seahawks 30
San Francisco 49ers 31, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7
Born:
Jodie Turner-Smith, English actress (“Nightflyers”), in Peterborough, England, United Kingdom.
Andrew MacDonald, Canadian NHL defenseman (New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers), in Judique, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Troy Nolan, NFL safety (Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears), in Los Angeles, California.
Spectacular Blue Smith, American hip-hop and R&B singer and musician (Pretty Ricky), and social media entrepreneur (Adwizar), in Miami, Florida.
Died:
Omar Ali Saifuddien III, 71, the 28th Sultan of Brunei (1950-67).
Ruth Polsky, 30, American record promoter, after being run over by a cab.
Vladimir Alexandrovich Vlasov, 83, Russian-Soviet conductor and composer.
History Diaries 