THE NFL TITLE GAMES / TWO VIEWS : Raiders Lean Heavily Toward Miami Because of Dan Marino

During the Raiders’ bizarre journey through 1984, they happened to bump into both combatants in Sunday’s AFC championship game, taking a bizarre 1-1 split. They beat Miami, 45-34, but lost to Pittsburgh, 13-7.

In order to save integrity then, the Raiders would do well to publicly back Pittsburgh Sunday, right?

Wrong.

“It’s academic,” Raider cornerback Lester Hayes said. “It’s Miami. The Dolphins have the second coming of Joe Namath in Dan Marino.”

But Lester, what about Pittsburgh quarterback Mark Malone?

“Mark Malone? Mark Malone is the second coming of Mark Malone,” Hayes said.

Respect for Pittsburgh was equally tough to come by among other Raiders Thursday.

“When we lost to Pittsburgh, we were not a good football team,” said linebacker Matt Millen, who is back home in Whitehall, Pa., having just signed a three-year, $8-million contract. “They may have beaten Denver (in the first round of the playoffs), but, I hate to say it, Denver was just not a dominating team. They did play well together, which is something we didn’t do at the end of the year. Our game against Pittsburgh was just a joke.”

There was, however, one Raider dissenter.

“I take Pittsburgh,” safety Mike Davis said. “Chuck Noll has been there (to the Super Bowl) four times. He knows what it takes to get his teams ready. . . . When you get to the playoffs, it’s a whole new ballgame.

“Pittsburgh has so many guys who know what that means. Guys like (center Mike) Webster and (linebacker Jack) Lambert and (linebacker) Robin Cole. Guys that have been through it. Guys that are wearing that ring. Guys that can show that to other players and say, ‘This is what we have to work for--the Super Bowl ring--the epitome.’

“Remember the Rams a few years ago (1979)?” Davis said. “They went through the regular season at 9-7 and they went on to the Super Bowl (where they lost to Pittsburgh, 31-19, in Pasadena). When the playoffs come, everybody’s 0-0. Miami is 1-0 now, but so is Pittsburgh.”

Davis padded his prediction by speaking glowingly of Pittsburgh’s receivers--John Stallworth, Louis Lipps and Calvin Sweeney--but Miami’s are not exactly ham-and-eggers, either. Mark Clayton set an NFL record for touchdown passes this season and Mark Duper made the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Still, if Davis had to choose which pair he’d rather not cover, he’d pick Stallworth and Lipps. “Those two get into the end zone and they didn’t tail off all season long. They just kept going steadily up the graphs. Miami’s guys weren’t like that. Duper was up there, but then he plateaued out. Clayton was in a valley for a while, but now he’s coming to a peak.”

That choice flabbergasted Hayes. “He picked them? C’mon, Mike! You’re dreaming! I had to cover those guys (Duper and Clayton). They’re tough. In fact, the only two cornerbacks in the National Football League who did not fear them were Mike Haynes and myself.”

And so it is that Hayes says the only way for Miami’s defense to stop the Mark Brothers is to give them no slack.

“You watch films and you’ll see that most cornerbacks gave them a vast territory to maneuver in--played them seven to nine yards off the line,” Hayes said. “There’s no way possible a defensive back can play off those two guys at seven to nine yards off the line and be successful. Hey, we played one inch off them and they still gave us trouble!”

What positives the Raiders hand out to the Steelers usually begin and end with the Steelers’ 28-year-old defensive coordinator, Tony Dungy, and Dungy’s high-pressure blitzing defense that was modeled after the Chicago Bears’. It was that blitzing on all downs that doomed the Raiders on the last Sunday of the regular season.

Still, the Raiders believe that the Dolphins have a not-so-secret weapon impervious to even the best blitzes in the NFL.

“Marino is the best quarterback I’ve played against besides Joe Montana,” Davis said. “You can be in the backfield with him and think you have a sure sack and all of a sudden, he flicks his wrist and the ball is gone. On any other quarterback, you know it would’ve been a sure sack.”

Hayes said: “Marino must be the best quarterback of the decade. You know, I dug up some old film on Joe Namath and I think that Marino may be even better than Joe Namath--and Marino patterned himself after Namath. It’s amazing how much he looks like Namath--even to his walk. Actually, Marino doesn’t walk, he struts. Like Namath. . . .

“I’ve charted a lot of receivers and a lot of quarterbacks and I always thought that the model Dan Fouts was the best I’d ever seen,” Hayes said. “But I’ve had a distinct change of heart.”