Raider Goal: Put Marino on His Back

Six weeks into their season, the Dolphins were racing impressively down the road to the Super Bowl, drawing comparisons to the greatest team in Miami--and arguably NFL--history.

Fourteen weeks into their season, the only road the Dolphins are trying to go down is the road to recovery. Nobody is comparing them to the 17-0 Dolphins of 1972 or any other championship team.

Never mind 17-0 and the Super Bowl. This club would gladly settle for 10-6 and a wild-card spot after losing five of its last seven to drop to 8-5, heading into tonight’s game against the Raiders in Miami.

What happened?

What changed the Dolphin fortunes so dramatically?

It usually begins in Miami, good or bad, with quarterback Dan Marino. This season is no exception.

Over the last 14 quarters, the Dolphins have scored only two touchdowns.

Two touchdowns in 3 1/2 games? That’s pretty hard to believe, considering this is a team with not only Marino, who threw a record 48 touchdown passes in a season, but also such offensive weapons as receivers Mark Clayton, Keith Jackson, Mark Duper and Tony Paige and running backs Mark Higgs and Bobby Humphrey.

The obvious assumption would be that Marino is hurt. But the only thing hurting Marino is his pride.

The most stunning statistic of all in Miami’s offensive collapse is the sack total. Over the previous 14 quarters, Marino has been sacked 13 times.

This is the same Marino who led the league in fewest times sacked in each of his first eight seasons. It’s the same Marino whose quick release often left pass-rushers still at the line of scrimmage as the ball was launched.

But last season, Marino was sacked 27 times, worst of his career. And he has reached nearly half that in 3 1/2 games.

What’s the problem?

The Dolphin quarterback has no clear explanation for the alarming sack attack.

“We played four pretty solid football teams (Buffalo, Houston, New Orleans and San Francisco), teams that can rush the passer,” Marino said. “It just has happened. It isn’t any one thing. . . . We’re just going to have to correct it.”

One place to start might be at running back.

It was hoped in Miami that the off-season acquisition of Humphrey from the Denver Broncos to complement Higgs would give the Dolphins a strong alternative to the passing game to keep opposing defenses honest.

Instead, the ground game has been nearly grounded. Last Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, Miami, a 27-3 loser, finished with 40 yards rushing. Humphrey gained 21 yards in eight carries, Higgs 11 yards in six carries.

Such a lack of production on the ground leaves opposing linemen free to set their sights on Marino.

It could be an ideal situation for the Raiders, who come to town with a strong defensive line, led by Anthony Smith, Howie Long, Nolan Harrison and Greg Townsend.

Smith began the weekend as the AFC sack leader with 13. A second-year man, Smith has been used sparingly, despite the sack total. He rushes only on passing downs. But there figure to be plenty of those tonight.

“You need to rely on the running game sometimes,” Marino said, “especially against a team like the Raiders. They are just going to tee off and try to rush the passer. With the people they have, it’s going to make it tough on our offensive linemen, so we’re going to have to have some semblance of a running game to slow that down a little bit.”

The difficulty of Marino’s task will be determined by which Raider team shows up tonight--the team that was manhandled by the San Diego Chargers two weeks ago, 27-3, or the team that dominated the Kansas Chiefs last week, 28-7.

These days, there’s no certainty. The Raiders are 6-7 and lost their first four games. But in this topsy-turvy season, they find themselves still in contention for a wild-card spot heading into the stretch run.

It would take a stretch of imagination to see the Raiders making the playoffs.

For one thing, they began this weekend with eight teams ahead of them in competition for six AFC postseason spots.

For another, the Raiders must play their final three games, beginning tonight, over a span of 13 days, including another coast-to-coast trip, to Washington, on the final weekend.

But these days, nothing is as bright or as bleak as it sometimes seems in the NFL.

Just ask the Dolphins.

Raider Notes

Miami linebacker John Offerdahl, who missed a month with a strained abdominal muscle, is questionable for tonight. Offerdahl attempted to return last week against the 49ers, but took himself out in the second quarter because of his ineffectiveness. . . . The Raiders are the NFL’s best Monday night team at 29-9-1. But they have lost their last three Monday night games and are only 5-6 over their previous 11.