Raiders-Dolphins: Memorable Matchup

The Raiders and the Miami Dolphins, who brought you one of the great games of the 1984 season, or any other, tonight present an exhibition.

If it’s 1% of what they did last Dec. 2, it’ll be the exhibition of the year. If it’s not, it won’t be the surprise of the summer. The Dolphins will be without quarterback Dan Marino and about half their starting lineup.

How great was last season’s game? The losing coach, Don Shula, said: “It had to be one of the great games ever played in the regular season.”

How great was it? The winners almost had to be carried home on stretchers.

“I remember it was hot,” Raider cornerback Mike Haynes said. “My shirt was soaking wet. I remember being extremely tired. All they did was throw the ball.

“After I ran that 97-yard interception for a touchdown, the rest of the game my legs were rubbery. They just kept throwing the ball. (Mark) Duper caught a six-yard fade (pattern) on me for a touchdown. I was begging to come out of the game. I was trying to cover a man who runs a 9.2 100. They said I could get the job done. I just basically had to go with what I had.

“Our whole secondary got tired. On the airplane coming back, just about all the defensive backs had cramps.”

Raider cornerback Lester Hayes said: “I remember playing against the second coming of Joe Namath--Dan Marino. I think he threw something like 57 passes.

“It was a fans’ dream game. It was not a cornerback’s dream. The temperature was in the 80s. The humidity was in the 90s. That is not a cornerback’s dream.”

When the sun rose over Miami on Dec. 2, 1984, game day, the Dolphins were 12-1. They had won their first 11 games before the Chargers upset them at San Diego.

They would score 70 touchdowns, 13 more than the second-most prolific team, the 15-1 49ers. Marino had already tied the record for touchdown passes in a season, 36 by Y.A. Tittle and George Blanda. He was going to finish with 48, which was more than 21 NFL teams scored.

The Raiders were 9-4. They had just ended a three-game losing streak with victories at home over the Chiefs and Colts. They hadn’t scored more than 21 points in a game since October. Jim Plunkett was out, and Marc Wilson was playing with a sore right thumb.

The Raiders won, 45-34. Marino passed for 470 yards, a personal record and the most the Raiders have ever allowed, and four touchdowns.

The Raiders sacked him three times. Marino had been down seven times all season until then.

The Dolphins marched right down to the Raider three-yard line. There, Haynes intercepted a Marino pass, ran past the quarterback on the sideline and went 97 yards to score.

The Raiders went up, 24-13, and stopped the Dolphins for three plays at the goal line as the half ended. The Raider defenders ran off the field with their hands in the air.

The Dolphins went back ahead, 27-24.

Wilson hit Dokie Williams off a scramble for a 75-yard scoring pass play that put the Raiders ahead, 31-27.

Haynes intercepted another pass and returned this one 54 yards.

The Raiders went ahead, 38-27, with 6 minutes 7 seconds left.

Marino drove the Dolphins 86 yards and threw to Duper for the touchdown, cutting it to 38-34 with 2:07 left.

The Raiders had third and six with 1:53 left and the Dolphins still holding two timeouts. Marcus Allen then started left on a sprint draw, popped back to the right at the line and went 52 yards for the touchdown that finally put it away.

Allen finished with 158 yards and three touchdowns.

Raider Notes

Game time is 6 in the Coliseum. The game is nationally televised but blacked out in Los Angeles. . . . As anticipated, the Raiders placed Cliff Branch on injured reserve, meaning he can’t return until mid-October and would have to clear waivers first. Owner Al Davis: “He struck fear in the hearts of every opponent. He was a pressure player, a clutch player. You can never count Cliff Branch out. I’m certainly not. In 1980, they said he was through, and he had one of the greatest stretch runs ever. We had that playoff in San Diego, where all they were talking about was (John) Jefferson, (Kellen) Winslow and (Charlie) Joiner. And this sumbuck killed ‘em.” . . . Branch: “There’s no question about it, I plan on being back. The Raiders plan on having me back. Somebody claim me? With me being 37 and the contract I’ve got? I can’t imagine playing anywhere else. The Raiders have been part of my family. I’ve been part of their family. I’ll always be a Raider.” . . . Don Strock will open at quarterback for the Dolphins. Joe Pisarcik may relieve. Three days ago, Don Shula said Lou Pagley, a former Notre Dame backup, would play the second half, then cut him the next day after signing Pisarcik. . . . The Raiders’ Todd Christensen will play his first exhibition, and Kenny King returns after missing one. . . . Shelby Jordan, the 280-pound Raider left tackle, will sit out the game with a stomach pull suffered when Washington linebacker Neal Olkewicz leveled him with a blind-side block last week. Olkewicz then leaped to his feet and gave Jordan an Italian salute. It was either that or he was slapping a mosquito on his right elbow. Jordan had to be told about it by teammates later. Jordan: “I went up to him after the game and asked about it. He apologized. He said he got carried away.” . . . Also out for the Dolphins: Bob Brudzinksi, Jim Jensen and Glenn Blackwood (unsigned free agents); Bob Baumhower, Eric Laakso, Don McNeal and Ed Newman (injured) and fullback Pete Johnson (AWOL). Johnson is said to have ballooned to the size of a sumo wrestler and is hoping for a trade. “Presumably to a team with a good chef,” Charlie Winner, Dolphin personnel director, told a Miami reporter.