Broncos Find Air Marino Can Still Be a Strike Force

Dan Marino dominated in his first matchup against John Elway since 1985, throwing for 355 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Miami Dolphins past the Denver Broncos, 31-21, on Monday night.

Miami (10-5) clinched the final AFC playoff berth as a wild-card entry, giving the AFC East four teams in postseason. The Broncos (13-2), who were unbeaten and looked unbeatable two weeks ago, lost their second game in a row.

The Broncos had little incentive because they had already clinched the home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. Their loss to the New York Giants last week dashed the tantalizing prospect of an unbeaten Denver team playing in Miami, where the 1972 Dolphins are revered for achieving the NFL’s only perfect season.

Miami fell behind 10-0 before Marino threw scoring passes of nine, 56 and 17 yards to Lamar Thomas, who came into the game with just seven touchdowns in a six-year career. Marino then hit Oronde Gadsden with an eight-yard scoring pass for a 28-13 lead.

The Dolphin defense did the rest. Elway, playing in Miami for the first time in his 16-year career, completed only 13 of 36 passes for 151 yards and was intercepted twice in the fourth quarter.

Terrell Davis managed just 29 yards in 16 carries, leaving him 170 yards shy of 2,000.

Marino went 23 for 38 and surpassed 3,000 yards passing for the 13th season, an NFL record.

Denver scored on a kickoff return for the first time since 1972 on Vaughn Hebron’s 95-yard runback with eight minutes left, and Bubby Brister’s two-point conversion pass to Ed McCaffrey made the score 28-21.

A 42-yard field goal by the Dolphins’ Olindo Mare with 1:10 left clinched the win.

Miami’s Jimmy Johnson coached the game despite the death of his mother Sunday in Port Arthur, Texas.

The Broncos shut down Miami’s feeble running game, but Marino got hot late in the first half. After a controversial ruling cost the Dolphins an apparent fumble recovery deep in Denver territory, Marino moved Miami 50 yards and hit Thomas with a 9-yard touchdown pass, cutting the Broncos’ lead to 10-7.

A 56-yard catch-and-run play by Thomas--helped when George Coghill failed in his attempt at an interception--put Miami ahead for the first time 14-13 early in the third period.

On the next possession, Thomas made an acrobatic catch for a 17-yard touchdown and a 21-13 lead.

Two other apparent Elway fumbles were ruled incomplete passes by referee Phil Luckett, who was involved in the notorious Thanksgiving coin-flip fiasco and an erroneous ruling on the final play that cost Seattle a victory against the New York Jets.