Dayne, Palmer Power Giants

The much-anticipated debut of Eli Manning was upstaged by another once highly regarded New York Giant first-round draft pick and a budding television star.

Ron Dayne showed flashes of his Heisman Trophy days, scoring on runs of 29 and 67 yards, and Jesse Palmer threw an 11-yard touchdown pass with 6:32 to play, rallying the Giants to a 34-24 exhibition win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday night at East Rutherford, N.J.

Trent Green and the Chiefs gained 311 first-half yards and scored on four of five possessions in shredding the Giants’ rebuilding defense.

Manning, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft by San Diego and then traded to the Giants, played about two quarters with mostly a backup crew. He completed seven of 13 passes for 91 yards after getting a big ovation when he took over in the second quarter for Kurt Warner, who was three for seven for 49 yards.

The big story for the Giants was the revival of Dayne, who was inactive for all 16 games last season despite being healthy.

After gaining five yards in three carries, Dayne woke up the Giants by bouncing off linebacker Shawn Barber on a third-and-short and going untouched for a 29-yard touchdown to cut the Chief lead to 14-7.

The next time Dayne touched the ball, he took a handoff from Manning and went 67 yards for a score.

“That’s a plus,” Giant Coach Tom Coughlin said. “No question about that. We just asked him to take pride in himself and prove to me he is a football player.”

Palmer, television’s “The Bachelor,” is battling to be the No. 3 quarterback. He threw the winning pass to David Tyree two plays after Robert Peace recovered a fumble deep in Kansas City territory.

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In other exhibition games: Rohan Davey threw two touchdown passes and improved his bid to become the backup quarterback in leading the New England Patriots to a 24-6 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at Foxboro, Mass. In his Eagle debut, receiver Terrell Owens caught three passes for 14 yards.... J.T. O’Sullivan, a former UC Davis standout, completed 10 of 13 passes for 141 yards to lead the New Orleans Saints to a 23-13 victory over the visiting New York Jets.

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Pittsburgh Steeler backup quarterback Charlie Batch underwent season-ending knee surgery and was put on injured reserve.

Batch, in his seventh NFL season, had soreness in his knee this week and doctors found damage when Batch underwent an MRI on Thursday.

The Steelers signed quarterback Kurt Kittner to replace Batch on the roster.

Kittner, a third-year veteran from Illinois, spent the last two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons.

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The Cincinnati Bengals’ exhibition opener with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers scheduled for tonight was postponed because of Hurricane Charley. The game may be rescheduled for Monday.

The Bengals arrived in Orlando late Thursday for the game and planned to wait out the storm there.

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Cornerback Kevin Thomas cracked a bone in his left hand and is expected to sit out the Buffalo Bills’ exhibition opener against Denver on Sunday.

Coach Mike Mularkey said that he doesn’t expect Thomas to be out for an extended period. Thomas was hurt in practice Thursday.