A Return to Splendor

Two decades of pent-up playoff energy poured out of stands that were blackened by Raider fans Saturday.

“Deafening,” Raider quarterback Rich Gannon said. “It was hurting my ears. It was that loud.”

Coach Jon Gruden swore he’d never seen anything like it.

“The place was rocking. The music, the costumes, the noise,” he said. “It was relentless.”

So were the Oakland Raiders.

Their 27-0 victory over Miami in front of 61,998 at Network Associates Coliseum was so dominating it should send a silver-and-black shiver through the NFL.

The Raiders are in the AFC title game for the first time since the 1990 season and one victory from their first Super Bowl since the 1983 season, both when the Raiders were still in Los Angeles.

Saturday’s game was the first playoff game in Oakland since 1980, and next Sunday the Raiders play the winner of today’s Baltimore-Tennessee game.

If the Titans are upset, the game will be in Oakland.

“If the championship game is here, it could be scary,” receiver Andre Rison said.

Against Miami, the Raiders ran all over one of the best defenses in the NFL--only Baltimore and Tennessee give up fewer points a game--and they stopped the Dolphin offense cold, holding Lamar Smith to four yards in eight carries a week after he rushed for 209 in 40.

Never in their playoff history had the Dolphins been shut out.

“It’s hard to get a shutout in the preseason, the playoffs, any time,” Gruden said. “That’s a great tribute to our defensive football team. They were flying around today. They were ready to go.”

No one was more ready than cornerback Tory James, who began his phenomenal performance by picking off Jay Fiedler’s third pass of the game at the Oakland 10-yard line and sprinting 90 yards for a touchdown less than 3 1/2 minutes into the game, strutting the final 25 yards.

That got the Raiders rolling, and by halftime their lead was 20-0.

James had another interception in the fourth quarter, and very nearly scored another touchdown in the third, scooping up a loose ball on what at first appeared to be a lateral by Fiedler. But officials ruled that Fiedler’s arm was going forward when he was hit by Tony Bryant, making the play an incomplete pass, and Gruden’s challenge on the call failed.

James also made another play to help preserve the shutout, rejecting Fiedler’s fourth-down pass for Leslie Shepherd in Raider territory with one hand, and earlier was credited with forcing a fumble by Smith.

“When I was out there, I really couldn’t feel anything,” said James, a fifth-year player from Louisiana State and the Raiders’ third corner behind Charles Woodson and Eric Allen. “It was like I was in a dream.”

It was quite the opposite for Miami, as the Dolphins were thumped in the divisional playoffs for the third year in a row.

They lost to Jacksonville last season, 62-7, and to Denver, 38-3, the year before.

“What really killed us was turnovers,” safety Brock Marion said. “When they scored on that 90-yard return, it really took the wind out of us.”

Almost as remarkable as the Raider defense was the success the offense had against a Dolphin defense that gave up about 14 points a game during the regular season.

Gannon, making his playoff debut at 35, completed 12 of 18 passes for 143 yards and a six-yard touchdown to James Jett without an interception. Even more important, he scrambled for 31 yards in five carries, always seeming to sense the ferocious Miami pass rush.

“You’ve got Rich running around and getting an inch past the first-down marker, two, three times in a row,” said receiver Tim Brown, one of the few Raiders to play on the last playoff team in 1993. “That caused some arguing among themselves. They’re a good defensive team. They just ran into a buzz saw today.”

It was a buzz saw that revved itself at all the talk about Miami’s defense.

“Our defense took it personally when everybody talked about them being the best defense and weren’t mentioning ours,” said running back Tyrone Wheatley, who rushed for 56 yards and a touchdown in 19 carries as the Raiders ran for 140 yards and controlled the ball for more than 37 minutes.

Defensive tackle Darrell Russell nodded his agreement.

“Some people took it to heart the fact nobody ever mentioned the Raider defense,” he said. “We’ll show them something.”

The Raider defense ranked 17th in the NFL in yards given up during the season, playing inconsistently at times and three times giving up more than 30 points.

Not this time.

The Dolphins managed only 10 first downs--two of those by penalty--and 204 yards.

Fiedler completed 18 of 37 passes for 176 yards and three interceptions, but the impressive number was the Dolphin rushing total: 40 yards.

“Throw everything else out. Our focus was on stopping the run,” Russell said.

Smith’s workhorse performance in an overtime victory over Indianapolis the week before left him with a sore ankle and not much resilience.

“We didn’t really stop him. He had 40 carries last week. He had a hell of a fight against Indianapolis,” Russell said. “They gave all they had just to get here. We had a bye. We came in here energized.”

The closest the Dolphins got to the goal line was the 16-yard line, right before James’ interception turned Fiedler’s pass into a touchdown.

“We were in for the fight of our life. Next thing you know, old No. 20 is screaming down the sideline,” Gruden said.

“Tory James stepped up and put us in the AFC championship game. Believe me, we’re giving him the game ball.”

He had the best claim, but not the only one.

Offense, defense, Gannon’s scrambles, James’ ramble.

“I don’t know,” linebacker Greg Biekert said. “You can’t discount what our offense did against their defense.

“If there’s a complete game we’ve played this year, this was it.”

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Hook, Line and Stinkers

Miami has finished its last three seasons with crushing playoff losses by a combined score of 127-10.

Jan. 9, 1999: at Denver, 38-3

Jan. 9, 2000: at Jacksonville, 62-7

Jan. 6, 2001: at Oakland, 27-0