Dilemma for Dolphins

A sticky situation could be developing in South Florida, where Damon Huard is 3-0 as the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins and could be on the job for at least three more games in place of the injured Dan Marino.

Huard, 26, has won praise from Coach Jimmy Johnson, who threatened to bench Marino earlier this season for making bad decisions and committing too many turnovers. The coach has repeatedly raved about how Huard has willingly embraced a conservative offensive approach.

“Damon is young enough that he’s really been listening,” Johnson said in a veiled reference to Marino, 38.

Johnson, who likes to motivate veteran players by agitating them, further fueled the debate this week.

“I didn’t say there wouldn’t be a quarterback controversy,” he claimed, contradicting earlier comments.

The latest target date for Marino’s return is Dec. 5.

Ray Lucas of the New York Jets, who spent a season with the New England Patriots, mainly running under kickoffs and punts with the practice squad, will start at quarterback against his former teammates Monday night.

“[I went] from . . . special teams on [the] practice squad to starting quarterback,” said Lucas, who replaces the struggling Rick Mirer for the floundering Jets. “I think anybody who sees me now says, ‘Wow, this kid has come a long way.’ ”

CENTRAL / Banks Has His Chance

The Baltimore Ravens have two first-round picks in next spring’s draft, one of them the top choice of the struggling Atlanta Falcons, and Tony Banks will be given an opportunity to show that neither should be used on a quarterback.

“He would not be here as our starting quarterback if I did not think he was capable of getting the job done or potentially have a chance to develop into a long-term quarterback for us,” Coach Brian Billick said of Banks, who started 43 games in three years with the St. Louis Rams before being traded to the Ravens in April.

Banks, 26, began the season as the Ravens’ third-string quarterback but jumped to the forefront after Scott Mitchell, then Stoney Case, failed to move the offense.

No team is worse offensively than the Cleveland Browns, who are ranked last in the NFL in scoring, total yards, yards passing, first downs and third-down efficiency. Averaging about nine points a game, the Browns could become the lowest-scoring team in the NFL since the league adopted a 16-game schedule in 1978.

Don’t blame the offensive coordinator. The Browns don’t have one.

Coach Chris Palmer, who had little time to assemble a staff after he was hired in January, has been pulling double duty this season, simultaneously overseeing the club’s Monday-through-Sunday operations, and also running the offense.

He plans to hire a coordinator next year.

WEST / Galloway Eager to Go Joey Galloway ended his contract holdout this week and pronounced himself ready to go, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will play for the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night against the Denver Broncos.

“I’m going to get him on the field as soon as possible,” Coach Mike Holmgren said of the team’s top receiver. “[But] quite frankly, I have to fight the urge to do it too early. I just have to make the right decision there. It’s not as much of a slam-dunk as people might think.”

Galloway, who averaged 11 touchdown receptions during the last two seasons, says he kept himself in top-notch physical shape during his 100-day holdout at his home in Dublin, Ohio, even playing quarterback in a flag football league.

Speaking of quarterbacks, Chris Miller will start for the Broncos against a team that elected not to sign him last spring because of fears about his playing on the Kingdome’s unforgiving surface.

“Seattle was courting me real hard,” said Miller, who was out of football for three years because of a series of concussions. “I took four or five trips up there, and I think I probably would have signed with them if their doctor had been more comfortable with me playing on [artificial turf]. That was one of his main concerns, and they really chose not to sign me just due to that fact.”

At Oakland on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers, Raider cornerback Charles Woodson is finally expected to get a chance to play receiver.

“I was told I was going to play offense a couple of times before and it didn’t happen, but this time I think it’s the real deal,” said Woodson, who made cameo appearances at wide receiver for Michigan while becoming the first primarily defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy in 1997.