Raiders, Dolphins Prime This Time : AFC: The two teams with the NFL’s best Monday night records meet tonight at Miami.

In a matchup made in prime-time heaven, two resurging Monday Night Football giants meet tonight at Joe Robbie Stadium in a battle of war horses who have put aside the old stories long enough to devote some time to winning again.

Two years ago, a game between the Raiders and Miami Dolphins was barely cable worthy. Now, it makes for nice sound bites.

The Raiders, 6-3, back from the dead under Coach Art Shell, the NFL’s first black coach since pre-Depression, assume their throne as winningest team on Monday night at 27-6-1. But all is not well. The Raiders have dropped two consecutive games after a 6-1 start. Quarterback Jay Schroeder, owner Al Davis’ pet project, has slumped after a fast start, and now some eyes stray to last year’s starter Steve Beuerlein, the former Notre Dame player who held out all summer to improve on his 1989 salary of $140,000.

Beuerlein’s sentence has been nine weeks of sideline clipboard duty and street clothes. He hasn’t been in uniform this season. Reduced to a scout-team quarterback in practice, how far have Beuerlein’s skills regressed?

Shell fends the media off with some of his deft All-Pro blocking. Schroeder is his guy. Wanna make something of it? Vince Evans is his second guy. Beuerlein is a guy.

Does Nike know the Raiders are 1-2 since Bo Jackson arrived? In three games, Bo knows 3.7 yards per carry. Weren’t the Raiders doing OK without him? How long can superstar Marcus Allen keep quiet taking five carries a game, his contribution to last week’s ugly loss to Green Bay. Hard to knock Allen’s percentage, though. Two of his five runs were touchdowns.

In a related note, the Raiders still lead the AFC West. As for that two-game slump, Shell said this too shall pass.

“It’s just a valley you’ve got to fight out of,” he said. “As a player, I went through it. I know what’s going through their heads. But when you start second-guessing yourself, you’ve got big problems.”

Now, the 8-1 Dolphins, the second-winningest team on Monday night with a record of 24-14. Apparently all those Dan Marino passes in recent years had made Don Shula a dull coach. Some suggested the game had passed him by after last season’s 8-8 finish marked the fourth consecutive season the Dolphins had failed to make the playoffs.

But Shula fooled the critics again in 1990, unveiling a team that bears no resemblance to Miami teams of recent years. The defense has risen from 24th overall in 1989 to No. 1 this season. The Dolphins lead the AFC in sacks with 35. Marino, once a passing machine, has been retooled into the AFC’s answer to Phil Simms--a conservative, effective, ball-control quarterback.

Two years ago, the Dolphins invested a first-round choice in a running back, Sammie Smith. This year, Shula remodeled the left side of his offensive line by drafting, then starting, first-round pick Richmond Webb at left tackle and second-round choice Keith Sims at left guard.

“We felt we couldn’t win being one dimensional,” Shula explained. “We gravitated to a one-dimensional team. We thought we had to be more physical on both offense and defense. And being more physical on offense means running the football.”

Miami is averaging 3.9 yards per carry and allowing opponents only 3.1. Smith has gained 501 yards. The passing game has suffered some. You say 10 touchdown passes for a quarterback aren’t bad? In 1984, Marino threw 48.

Why didn’t Shula think of this in 1985?

“We tried to do it, each and every other year,” he said. “That was our goal and objective. We just weren’t able to accomplish it. . . . What happened here was that we made mistakes in the draft.”

Some things don’t change for Marino. With his quick release, he’s still the toughest NFL quarterback to sack, having been dropped only 10 times in 1989 and only six so far this season. Once, he put together a streak of 759 attempts without a sack.

This isn’t good news for an aggressive Raider pass rush. Last week, it dropped Packer quarterback Don Majkowksi eight times but sets its sights lower tonight.

“It could be a situation where we don’t even get to him,” defensive end Scott Davis said. “But if we can apply some pressure, and we let him know we’re coming, we’ll let that weigh on his mind. You have to settle for that maybe. That’s hard to do sometimes.”

Raider Notes

The Raiders are 13-3-1 against Miami. This is the Dolphins’ best start since 1984, when they opened 9-0. They have won six in a row. . . . Raider Coach Art Shell on this year’s Dolphins’ no-name defense: “When you watch the film, you learn the names quickly.” . . . Last week against Green Bay, the Raiders were forced to play on defense nearly 40 minutes, which has its consequences. “It makes them tired,” Shell said.

Generation gap: When Don Shula was named coach of the Baltimore Colts in 1963, Shell was a sophomore at Bonds-Wilson High School in North Charleston, S.C. . . . The Raiders won’t have to worry about All-Pro receiver Mark Clayton tonight. He injured a knee last week and is expected to miss four to six weeks. . . . Shula said he thought he had his team turned around last season, when it was 7-4 after 11 games. But Miami lost four of its last five and missed the playoffs.