McGahee’s first start memorable

He threw forearms. He punched stiff arms. Willis McGahee moved the middle, turned corners, grew more productive as the game grew longer and did exactly on Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y., what most people expected him to do on this Buffalo team.

He made it a decision whether he or the injured Travis Henry now starts.

“I’m still not the starter,” McGahee said after gaining 111 yards on 26 carries. “He was out this week, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be back and I’m looking forward to playing with him.”

Making his first start since being hurt in the University of Miami’s national championship game against Ohio State, McGahee showed the form that made him a first-round pick in April 2003. It wasn’t just that his longest run was 31 yards or how he gave energy to the league’s 28th-ranked offense.

Two fourth-quarter plays exemplified his game.

On the first, he took a shovel pass from Drew Bledsoe on third-and-6 at the Dolphins’ 15-yard line with the Bills leading 17-13. He cut through the line, got the first down, ran toward the goal line and got shoved out of bounds before Dolphins safety Antuan Edwards flattened him with a hit that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty.

That play set up a field goal, as well as a script for a second meeting with Edwards. As Buffalo tried to run out the clock after the two-minute warning, McGahee ran over the right tackle hole and kept running. Edwards tried to stop him, but McGahee stiff-armed him to the ground and kept running for a 31-yard gain.

“I didn’t know it was the same guy,” McGahee said. “I was just trying to get into the end zone.”

Titans’ injury woes mount

The Tennessee Titans lost their top healthy tight end to an emergency appendectomy hours before kickoff, then lost the AFC’s leading rusher in the third quarter when Chris Brown hurt his right shoulder and couldn’t return.

The Titans already had 12 players on the injury report.

Tight end Shad Meier became sick Saturday and was taken to a hospital.

Doctors diagnosed appendicitis, and they operated around 6 a.m. Sunday. He’ll miss two to three weeks.

Panthers’ Rucker sidelined

Carolina defensive end Mike Rucker left Sunday’s game against Philadelphia after the first series with an irregular heartbeat.

Coach Mike Fox said Rucker, who had 12 sacks last year for the NFC champion Panthers, had also experienced an irregular heartbeat last week.

Jackson won’t play tonight

Of all times to be injured, Tyoka Jackson is about to miss his biggest rivalry game.

The St. Louis defensive lineman is doubtful for the tonight’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for whom he played for five seasons, because of a pulled left hamstring. By his count he’d missed only one practice in his career before getting hurt.

“This is a bad time for me right now,” Jackson said. “I don’t like missing practices and the thought of missing a game is just killing me, it’s tearing my heart out — especially against these guys.”