Another Super Sunday for Lions, 31-21 : Dolphins Do No Better in Detroit Than 49ers Did a Week Ago

The Detroit Lions, who last week upended the San Francisco 49ers, 23-21, Sunday scored their second consecutive victory over a Super Bowl XIX team when they defeated the Miami Dolphins, 31-21, in front of a crowd of 75,291 in the Silverdome.

More upsetting to the Dolphins than their loss, however, was the fact that they played like losers.

“I really think we just gave this game away,” quarterback Dan Marino said disgustedly. “This was a really disappointing loss because I thought we had a better football team than Detroit. Also it was a disappointment because we were tied for first place, but now we’ve dug a hole.”

Miami fell to 5-3 and slipped out of a first-place tie with the New York Jets in the AFC East.

The Lions, meanwhile, improved to 5-3 and became the first team to beat the previous year’s Super Bowl teams on consecutive weekends.

Marino, who attempted to lead the Dolphins back from a 24-14 deficit in the second half, found it an impossible task despite completing 23 of 44 passes for 247 yards.

Detroit Coach Darryl Rogers had no explanation for how Detroit kept the Dolphin offense out of the end zone in the second half.

“I wish I could give a solid answer to that, but I don’t know,” Rogers said. “I wish there was something I could say. It’s hard to pinpoint something that we’re doing. If we could, we would have done it sooner.”

Marino knew what the Lions had done defensively.

“Detroit basically did what we thought they’d do,” Marino said. “They play a very loose zone defense and occasionally go man-to-man. Their defense is such that you can’t go real long. And that killed us.”

The Lions sparkled offensively for the first time this year. Quarterback Eric Hipple threw for 239 yards and three touchdowns, and James Jones rushed for 114 yards on 36 attempts.

“It’s just an evolution of our offense,” Hipple said after completing 14 of 19 passes. “I’m not saying we’re there yet. I think it’s more of the pieces starting to fit together. Today, it was just a matter of hitting the big plays and keeping them off-balance.”

Said Miami Coach Don Shula: “I’m very disappointed in our football team. We did everything losers do in losing this one. We gave them every opportunity in the world to win and they did.”