Mr. Marino: Marvelous, Murderous

What would the Miami Dolphins be like if they had a solid, complete team--a defense and a running attack, say--to complement superarm Dan Marino?

That’s what people have been asking for the last few seasons.

The answer might be that they would be a lot like the Rams, who now have a real nice quarterback and a very solid team.

But Sunday at Anaheim Stadium, one of a kind beat a full house.

Dan Marino, turning in what several of his teammates described as a routine performance, beat the Rams and their quarterback, a Marino in the making, 37-31, in overtime.

Marino the Magnificent routinely completed 29 of 46 passes for a routine 403 yards and 5 routine touchdowns, including the game-winner.

Routine. This was Marino’s third 400-yard day of the season, and seventh of his career.

The youngster, Jim Everett, had a commendable 18-for-31 day for the Rams, 251 yards, and 2 touchdowns.

A couple months ago, who would have believed the Rams would be involved in a quarterback duel with anyone, especially Dan Marino?

It was easily one of the finest, most entertaining pass-offs of the season.

“He’s frightening,” Ram cornerback Johnnie Johnson said of Marino.

Routinely frightening.

“When you look at his passes on film they look like blurs,” Johnson said. “You have to be close to their running backs. You can’t give them a step.”

Is the Dolphin reputation as a one-man show overrated?

“You start with a coaching staff,” Johnson said. “Then, you build a team around a certain individual. We do that with Eric (Dickerson). He (Marino) has great receivers to work with, but Dan Marino is what

makes that team click.”

The Rams have twin clickers, offensively. Dickerson, once forced to carry the entire load, now has a sidekick in Everett. Sunday, Dickerson ran for 124 yards but was overshadowed by Everett, who was cool under pressure.

Dickerson wound up almost unnoticed on an afternoon when he broke the Ram record for touchdowns. His one-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter gave him 56, one more than Elroy Hirsch.

Dickerson also had two big fumbles, one of which got a lucky bounce and turned into a Ram touchdown.

Crazylegs, meet Crazyhands.

Dickerson was the only Ram running back to carry the ball. That qualifies him as an honorary USC tailback.

In the end, though, the game was a tale of two quarterbacks.

“I think he’s an excellent quarterback,” Marino said of Everett. “He can make all the throws. He has a good understanding of what they’re trying to do. He’s not in awe of any situation.”

And Everett on Marino?

“He’s terrific,” the Ram rookie said with enthusiasm. “His ability to get the ball off . . . He’s definitely the best I’ve ever seen.

“Dan runs a different type offense. We have a guy named Eric Dickerson. Maybe in time, I’ll be able to accomplish some of those things.”

Everett accomplished some of those things Sunday. At times, he looked like a slightly rougher model of Marino.

Everett is big, unloads fast, throws deep with touch, throws the hard strikes underneath. Sunday, he threw on the run and in the face of defenders. He made acrobatic, running, scrambling throws with accuracy. Just like Dan.

Like Marino, Everett is hard to sack. The Rams got Marino once Sunday, a fluke sack. The Dolphins sacked Everett three times.

Marino, with his fabled quick release, simply throws the ball too quickly to be bothered by distractions like onrushing linemen or blitzing linebackers.

On the game-winner, for instance, Marino knew the Rams would blitz because they desperately needed a sack to take the Dolphins out of field-goal range.

“Two plays before they were in a man-to-man defense, and they jumped the I (closely covered the post pattern),” Marino said. “So we figured we would fake it.”

Mark Duper faked a post and simply ran deep. Marino, doing everything but laughing out loud in the face of the blitz, lobbed up a 20-yard strike to Duper.

“Just like routine,” Duper said of Marino’s day. “He’s been doing it for three years.”

“I wouldn’t say it was a typical day,” Marino said. “Our offense did a lot of things very well . . . I think I played pretty well today, but I had a lot of help.”

Like from whomever gave Marino that arm.

Using it like a corkscrew, he twisted the Rams’ defenders into the ground as they tried to cover the 9 or 10 pass receivers the Dolphins seemed to send out into the Rams’ defense every play.

Marino’s arm is so good that the evolution of wide receivers hasn’t quite caught up with it. Clayton, as dangerous a wide receiver as you’ll see, dropped three Marino passes, including one scorcher he tipped into the air for an overtime interception that was disallowed because of a penalty.

In the end, though, the one-man show was too much for the new Rams, one of the league’s best balanced teams.

Marino was Marino.

Routine?

“Pretty much so,” said Miami rookie wide receiver James Pruitt, who caught one pass, for a touchdown, of course.

Pruitt shrugged. He has seen this before.

“It’s old Dan,” he said.