A roundup of the week Sept. 17-23

PRO FOOTBALL—Five of the six teams that entered the fourth week of play unbeaten kept their records unblemished. The only one to stumble was San Diego, which lost 27-21 to New England. Patriot Linebacker Steve Nelson preserved the victory with an interception of a Dan Fouts pass on the New England two-yard line with 1:37 remaining in the game. Joe Ferguson tossed five touchdown passes—four to rookie Receiver Jerry Butler—as Buffalo rolled over the Jets 46-31. Butler ended up with 10 receptions for 255 yards, and Ferguson completed 19 of 30 for 367 yards. When Craig Morton replaced Norris Weese as Denver's quarterback with 9:19 left in the third period, the Broncos trailed Seattle 34-10. Seven minutes later Morton had thrown three TD passes, and by the time he was finished he had rallied Denver to a 37-34 victory. Larry Csonka scored three touchdowns for only the second time in his NFL career, and substitute Quarterback Don Strock hit on 12 of 17 passes, including eight straight in the second half, as Miami beat Chicago 31-16. The Dolphin defense held Walter Payton, the league's top rusher, to 43 yards on 15 carries. Led by rookie Quarterback Jeff Komlo, who completed 19 of 35 attempts for 289 yards, Detroit edged Atlanta 24-23 to pick up its first victory. For the second week in a row Tim Mazzetti missed an opportunity to win a game for the Falcons in the closing seconds. This time he was wide with a 47-yard field-goal attempt with five seconds left on the clock. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, Tony Fritsch didn't miss a 29-yarder with 32 seconds left in overtime. His kick, which ricocheted off the left upright before falling through, gave Houston a 30-27 triumph. The Bengals had jumped out to a 24-0 lead behind the quarter-backing of rookie Jack Thompson, who started in place of Ken Anderson, out with a sore back. Cincinnati's Chris Bahr booted a club-record 55-yard field goal with 3:26 left in the last quarter to send the game into O.T. but then missed a 32-yarder in overtime. Oiler Running Back Earl Campbell gained 158 yards on 34 carries. Wilbert Montgomery carried the ball 29 times for 126 yards and hauled in a 53-yard scoring pass from Ron Jaworski as Philadelphia defeated the Giants 17-13. Paced by Ahmad Rashad, who outmaneuvered two defenders to grab a 20-yard pass from Tommy Kramer with 3:18 gone in overtime and then raced 30 yards for a score, Minnesota upended Green Bay 27-21. In the opening period Rashad made a dazzling one-handed catch of a four-yard Kramer pass to give the Vikings their first TD. Tight End Bennie Cunningham ran 28 yards with a Terry Bradshaw screen pass with 5:41 to play to score the deciding touchdown in Pittsburgh's 17-13 victory over winless Baltimore. It was the unbeaten Steelers' third come-from-behind victory in four games this year and gave them a club-record streak of 12 victories over two seasons. Gary Barbara's 70-yard return of an interception and J. T. Smith's 88-yard run-back of a punt ignited Kansas City to a 35-7 rout of Oakland and its first defeat of the Raiders in four years. Oakland, which at 1-3 is off to its worst start since 1966, didn't score until the game's waning minutes and managed only 121 yards of total offense. In other games, the Redskins, who crushed the Giants 27-0 on Monday night, beat St. Louis 17-7; New Orleans racked up 512 yards in total offense en route to a 30-21 win over San Francisco; and surprising Tampa Bay knocked off Los Angeles 21-6 (page 26).

GOLF—SANDRA POST shot an eight-under-par 284 to win the $100,000 Kansas City Classic at Overland Park, Kans. by two strokes over Donna Caponi Young. Trailing Young by three shots entering the final round, Post fired a 70 to earn her third LPGA victory of the season.

John Fought birdied the final hole for a one-stroke victory over Buddy Gardner, Alan Tapie and Bobby Wadkins in the $300,000 Anheuser-Busch Classic at Napa, Calif. In winning his second straight tournament, Fought shot an 11-under-par 277.

HARNESS RACING—HOT HITTER ($2.20 and $2.40), Herve Filion in the sulky, won the $226,455 Little Brown Jug in straight heats at the Delaware (Ohio) County Fairgrounds. The 3-year-old pacer finished a length ahead of Set Point in one of two elimination heats and a neck in front of Tijuana Taxi in the final race. He paced the mile heats in 1:57[3/5] and 1:55[3/5] (page 62).

HORSE RACING—AFFIRMED ($2.80), Laffit Pincay Jr. up, won the $191,000 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park by 2½ lengths over Coastal. The 4-year-old covered the 1¼ miles in 2:01[3/5] (page 59).

Sensitive Prince ($3.20), ridden by Jacinto Vasquez, defeated Prince Majestic by 1½ lengths to win the $115,600 Michigan Mile Handicap at Detroit Race Course. The 4-year-old was timed in 1:52[3/5] for the 1‚Äö√Ñ√∂‚àö√±‚àö¬µ miles.

With Jeffrey Fell in the saddle, FLUORESCENT LIGHT ($10.40) finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Tiller to win the $86,025 Manhattan Handicap. He covered the 1¼ miles at Belmont in 2:04[4/5].

MOTOR SPORTS—BUDDY BAKER, averaging 75.119 mph in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, won the $122,000 Old Dominion 500 in Martinsville, Va. by 18 seconds over Richard Petty, also in a Chevy. Baker's victory in the 262.5-mile race was his third of the season.

TENNIS—PETER FLEMING upset top-seeded John McEnroe 6-4, 6-4 to win the $175,000 Jack Kramer Open in Los Angeles.

Bjorn Borg won a $75,000 Grand Prix tournament in Palermo, Sicily with a 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 defeat of Corrado Barazzutti.

WATER SKIING—JOEL McCLINTOCK of Canada won the men's overall title at the world championships in Toronto. Carlos Suarez of Venezuela was second. CINDY TODD of Pierson, Fla. was the women's overall champion, while Deena Brush of West Sacramento, Calif. came in second. The U.S. outpointed Canada to win its 16th consecutive team championship.

MILEPOSTS—AWARDED: By NBA Commissioner Lawrence O'Brien to Portland as compensation for San Diego's May 13 signing of Trail Blazer Center Bill Walton, Forward KERMIT WASHINGTON, 28, who has an 8.1-point career scoring average over six seasons; Center KEVIN KUNNERT, 27, who has a six-year average of 9.0; the Clippers' first-round draft pick in 1980; and either Guard RANDY SMITH, 30, an 18.6 scorer during his eight seasons, or $350,000 and the Clippers' 1982 first-round draft choice. The compensation award was the largest in league history. San Diego chose to give up the 1982 pick and the cash instead of Smith, whom the Clippers then traded to Cleveland for a 1980 first-round draft pick.

VOIDED: By Federal Judge Robert L. Carter, NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien's compensation award to Seattle for New York's signing of SuperSonic Center Marvin Webster last year. O'Brien had ordered the Knicks to give player Lonnie Shelton, their 1979 first-round draft choice, and $450,000 to Seattle. Judge Carter ruled that the compensation was excessive. The NBA is appealing the decision.