Chargers Put More Than Ball Airborne in Romp Over Dolphins
It started innocently enough with a harmless-looking flare pass.
It ended with a halfback’s instinctive move that wouldn’t be out of place in an Olympic highlight film of the floor exercise or maybe the three-meter dive.
Gary Anderson of the San Diego Chargers caught a short pass from Dan Fouts and looked upfield at the Miami goal line, 19 yards away. There was only one Dolphin to contend with--safety Bud Brown.
Their paths intersected at the 5, where Anderson went airborne, vaulted over Brown and somersaulted into the end zone. Anderson decided in midair that the ball might be jarred loose if he landed on his stomach, so he casually opted to do a flip.
Anderson’s safe landing provided the first touchdown in a 50-28 victory for the Chargers, marking the most points ever scored on a Don Shula-coached Miami team.
Anderson’s sidekick, Lionel (Little Train) James, was taken aback by the play, which underscored the enormity of Miami’s task in trying to contain the Chargers.
“I’m still looking for the phone booth he jumped out of to become Superman,” James said. “He jumped from 15 feet out, must have gone up about 10 feet and came down with no splash. I give him a 10.5 on the dive. The only man who can compete with him is Greg Louganis.”
Fouts also was impressed.
“I thought he’d at least make contact with the guy he was leaping over, but he didn’t,” the Charger quarterback said. “That play set the tone for the rest of the day.”
The bedazzled Dolphins watched as the Chargers:
--Ran for 224 yards and controlled the ball for 38 minutes, 50 seconds. The rushing yardage was the most by a San Diego team in six years.
--Passed for 276 yards and three touchdowns, effectively negating the 294 yards and three scores by Miami’s new millionaire quarterback, Dan Marino.
--Gave a credible imitation of a respectable defense, sacking Marino four times, pressuring him throughout the game, and confining the Miami running attack to 45 yards.
“When you get beat as badly as we did, about all you can do is congratulate the other team,” Shula said. “The Chargers have one of the most sophisticated offenses you’ll ever see . . . I hope.”
Marino, who just signed a 5-year, $9-million contract, also was impressed by the San Diego offense.
“They played an incredible game,” Marino said. “What we had to do today was score every time we had the ball . . . and we couldn’t. When a team gets ahead like that, they usually play more zones, but they kept blitzing.”
Marino touched upon two significant points. At one stage, the Chargers had scored on 7 of 9 possessions and ended 9 for 12.
The Dolphins are one of the few teams in pro football capable of matching those figures, but they were stymied Sunday by the aggressive new Charger defense.
Linebacker Billy Ray Smith, who got to Marino twice and each time forced a fumble, said he was satisfied, sort of.
“About one-sixteenth,” he said. “We’ve played only one game and I won’t be satisfied until we’re in the playoffs. When I say my prayers at night, I’m thankful I’m on this team. It’s got to be the most difficult offense to play for any defense in the league. We’ve got so many skilled players and the formations our coaches dream up are really mind-scramblers.”
Miami got an early taste of what lay ahead as the Chargers played an impeccable first quarter that netted a 17-0 lead en route to a 26-14 halftime spread.
The Chargers controlled the ball for 11 minutes 23 seconds, and amassed eight first downs while surrendering none in the first period.
One of the few high points for Marino was his 49-yard pass play to Mark Clayton for the touchdown that pulled the Dolphins within 23-14. It was Marino’s 100th career touchdown pass and broke a Johnny Unitas record for the fewest number of games to attain triple figures at the outset of a career. Marino needed 44 games, Unitas 53.
A potential third touchdown pass was dropped by James Pruitt, who had beaten his man near the San Diego 20.
That miss loomed more significantly when the Chargers staged a 10-play, 71-yard drive that culminated in a 33-14 lead after five minutes of the third quarter.
One of the few significant problems for San Diego was a knee injury suffered by rookie defensive lineman Terry Unrein. He was to undergo arthroscopic surgery for cartilage damage Sunday night and is expected to be out four weeks, a Charger spokesman said.