Marino Takes Fish To The Playoffs
The Miami Dolphins are in the playoffs, and the Denver Broncos are in a slump.
Dan Marino dominated in his first matchup against John Elway since 1985, throwing for 355 yards and four touchdowns to lead Miami past Denver 31-21 Monday night.
Miami (10-5) clinched the final AFC playoff berth as a wild-card entry, giving the AFC East four teams in postseason. The Broncos (13-2), who were unbeaten and looked unbeatable two weeks ago, lost their second consecutive game.
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"When you play a team like Denver, you've got to score every opportunity you get because they have a lot of firepower," Marino said. "We knew everybody had to play well for us to win because they're the best team in the league."
The Broncos had little incentive because they had already clinched the home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Their loss to the New York Giants last week dashed the tantalizing prospect of an unbeaten Denver team playing in Miami, where the 1972 Dolphins are revered for achieving the NFL's only perfect season.
Miami fell behind 10-0 before Marino threw scoring passes of 9, 56 and 17 yards to Lamar Thomas, who came into the game with just seven touchdowns in a six-year career. Marino then hit Oronde Gadsden with an 8-yard scoring pass for a 28-13 lead.
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| Miami's Lamar Thomas caught three touchdown passes in the Dolphins' 31-21 victory over the Broncos Monday night. (AP) |
"John is a special player," Marino said. "He's the best quarterback I've ever seen. To play against him was fun, but the more important thing was winning the game."
Marino went 23-for-38 and surpassed 3,000 yards passing for the 13th season, an NFL record.
Denver's Terrell Davis managed just 29 yards in 16 carries, leaving him 170 yards shy of 2,000.
"Our guys really gave a great effort, every one of them," Miami coach Jimmy Johnson said. "I don't know if you can say enough about our defense."
Johnson coached the game despite the death of his mother Sunday in Port Arthur, Texas. He said nothing to the team about the situation before the game.
"Jimmy is very businesslike," Thomas said, "but we gave him the game ball."
The Broncos scored on a kickoff return for the first time since 1972 on Vaughn Hebron's 95-yard runback with eight minutes left, and Bubby Brister's two-point conversion pass to Ed McCaffrey made the score 28-21.
But a 42-yard field goal by the Dolphins' Olindo Mare with 1:10 left clinched the victory.
The Broncos shut down Miami's feeble running game, but Marino got hot late in the first half. After a controversial ruling cost the Dolphins an apparent fumble recovery deep in Denver territory, Marino moved Miami 50 yards and hit Thomas with a 9-yard touchdown pass, cutting the Broncos' lead to 10-7.
A 56-yard catch-and-run play by Thomas -- helped when George Coghill failed in his attempt at an interception -- put Miami ahead for the first time at 14-13 early in the third period.
On the next possession, Thomas made an acrobatic catch for a 17-yard touchdown and a 21-13 lead.
"It feels great," said Thomas, who made six catches for 136 yards. "We came out tonight and played our hearts out."
A pair of fumbles led to the Broncos' first touchdown. Miami lost the ball at midfield when center Tim Ruddy hiked the ball from shotgun formation off the hip of Marino, who wasn't ready for the snap, and linebacker Bill Romanowski recovered.
Ten plays later, Denver scored when Elway fumbled as he was being tackled at the 1-yard line, and teammate Rod Smith dived on the ball in the end zone.
Two other apparent Elway fumbles were ruled incomplete passes by referee Phil Luckett, who was involved in the notorious Thanksgiving coin-flip fiasco and an erroneous ruling on the final play that cost Seattle a victoy against the New York Jets.
Denver's Jason Elam kicked field goals of 52 and 44 yards but missed a 43-yarder.
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