PRO FOOTBALL : Marino Keeps Dolphins in the Playoff Picture, 23-21

Miami’s playoff chances were right where the Dolphins wanted them, riding on the right arm of Dan Marino.

But after Marino’s third touchdown pass of the night, a six-yarder to Mark Duper with 1:07 left gave Miami a 23-21 victory over Washington Sunday night, at least part of it is out of Marino’s hands.

The victory kept Miami (8-6) tied with Indianapolis for the AFC East lead, but if they both finish at 9-6, the Colts win, based on a better division record. So the Dolphins, who play New England next Monday night, need a loss by the Colts to Tampa Bay.

Miami also remains alive for a wild-card spot, but the Dolphins need help from other teams plus a win themselves to qualify.

“I just hope we can slip into the playoffs somehow,” said Marino, who completed 22 of 50 passes for 393 yards. Duper caught 6 passes for 170 of the yards.

The Redskins (10-4), who have already clinched the NFC East title, will not host a playoff game unless they beat Minnesota and Chicago loses to the Raiders next week.

Duper grabbed the winning touchdown pass with one hand after it bounced off his chest on the goal line in the left corner.

Marino also hit Duper with a 26-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, then connected on a 59-yarder 1:31 into the final quarter to give the Dolphins a 16-14 lead. Duper caught the ball at the Washington 40, broke tackles by Darrell Green and Todd Bowles and raced all the way.

“We were due to win a thriller,” said Miami Coach Don Shula, whose team fell behind on George Rogers’ two-yard run with 6:17 left, then drove 80 yards in 13 plays for the winning touchdown. “We’re still alive. We got some help today, but the Colts won.”

The key play on Washington’s drive to Rogers’ touchdown was a 31-yard play in which quarterback Jay Schroeder gained 16 yards on a bootleg and was hit late by Miami safety Bud Brown for an additional 15 yards.

Brown, who also had a personal foul earlier in the game, was ejected when he shoved an official after the play.

The Redskins also scored on a six-yard run by Kelvin Bryant and a three-yard run by Schroeder, who completed 19 of 30 passes for 272 yards and was intercepted once.

While the actual margin of victory was Fuad Reveiz’s 48-yard field goal in the second quarter, the work was all Marino.

It was his 26th 300-yard game in just five years, which puts him into a tie for second on the all-time list of 300 yard games with Johnny Unitas. Dan Fouts leads with 51.

A 67-yard field goal attempt by Steve Cox of the Redskins fell short as time expired. Ali Haji-Sheikh missed a 38-yard field goal for Washington with 10:41 left in the first half.