1998 NFL Week 16: Broncos @ Dolphins FULL GAME (Elway vs. Marino)

back in Miami let's go down to the sidelines and Leslie Fisher hopefully we could be playing our best football toward the end of the season with two games left hopefully you'll play a little bit better tonight than we did last Sunday a couple years ago you lost your competitive edge yeah I think so I think so last year we kept it so hopefully we can follow suit do it that way thanks a lot Mike Becky well all right Thank You Leslie a reminder that commentary for tonight's game can also be heard in Spanish by pressing the SI P button on your remote sold out pro player Stadium tonight as the Denver Broncos get set to kickoff these two teams leading for the first time since 1985 as Jason Elam who will be going to the Pro Bowl one of 9 John Avery and Brock Marion are back to receive for the Dolphins a Neelam's kick is fielded at the 8 yard line by the rookie Avery their number one draft choice and the fact of running back to Kareem abdul-jabbar after the 34 yard line he's tackled there by Tito Paul Dan Marino like Elway in year number 16 and on top of Elway and just about every important statistical category but the one thing John has that Dan doesn't of course is the ring behind him abdul-jabbar and Prichard Lamar Thomas gets the start outside with McDuffie and Drayton is the tight end and upfront Richmond Webb is hurt inactive tonight Brent Smith starts at left tackle box ruddy having a real good year Donnelly and James Brown Iran began Juden would normally start at one wide receiver spot missed the team meeting this morning and will not start but is in uniform and will play thus Thomas gets the start number 85 with McDuffie and motion on first down they start on the ground and for a loss of one abdul-jabbar taken down by Trevor price the Broncos number one pick last year let's look at the Bronco defensive line Hasselbeck for the injured Neal Smith trailer and price inside and Tana Vasa at right and mold likud res and Romanowski the linebackers Crockett Gordon Brown and Atwater in the secondary Atwater will go to the Pro Bowl as a starter and there is the injured left tackle Richmond Webb Richmond has a torn triceps tendon he came back and tried to play a little last week he had surgery back in early November he's going to sit up second and 11 in Marino's first pass caught by McDuffie and he's rolled down by Darien Gordon close to a first down up at the 46 yard line second and 11 Moreno clicks in the pregame how you talked about how last week they drop back 62 time against the New York Jets and Jimmie Johnson was second-guessing himself all week long saying how we need to run the football and you can see right here these are quick outs types of things you can do with Dan Marino's arm just put a guy in motion and send him one-on-one it just doesn't help any that the first time you run the football Trevor price is in your backfield this is a really banged up offensive line Kevin Donnelly the really solid right guard is coming back from a knee entry we documented web being out that this is not a dominating offensive line they don't punish people in the running game first and 10 and you saw the look on Jimmy Johnson's face if you missed our pregame show we talked about the fact that Jimmy's mother a lien at the age of 77 passed away last night in Port Arthur Texas so Jimmy emotionally racked as he works the sidelines tonight on first down another loss as they keep it on the ground and Abdullah they're gonna walk to 4-2 and the body language indicates the whistle had blown but they're not you know nobody yes normally somebody would point to the ground we saw Luckett there give us the tube for second Abbott normally you see a guy pointing at the ground signaling down well it doesn't look like a fumble but really when you think about this officiating crew and some of the problems that they've had this is the crew from Thanksgiving that kind of botched the coin toss this is also the crew that had the New York jet game with Vinny Testaverde against the Seattle Seahawks and right now it's Kareem abdul-jabbar not only losing ground but also shaken up coming out Keith trailer put the hit on them and with that duel Jabbar being helped to the sidelines that means we're going to see a pretty heavy dose of the rookie John Avery from Mississippi I'd like to see the officials get out there and make the call and show that it's down I mean it looked like there was a lot of indecision between both teams and the officials heads or tails second and 13 at the 41-yard line Avery at five nine 190 and quick and we'll see his quickness here if he can exploit it and a little bit of toughness as well as he takes it to the 49 yard line and that's what Jimmie Johnson wanted to see more from from John Avery well he told us about Avery I think he can be in every down back not being a real big guide 100 100 90 pounds you know he really has the look of that third down receiving kind of back the guy that maybe you give him a dozen or 15 handles a game but Jimmie said no he's tough enough to carry the ball 25 times well tonight we might find out key block right there was by number 85 Lamar Thomas on Steve Atwater and Steve a corner took exception after the play that looks like it's going to be a nice battle as the evening goes on Dan said looking like a third down back but oddly he comes out on third down they put Parmalee in on third and three and Moreno throws and it's not the way as Lamar Thomas was the intended receiver and Tino Paul who was beaten last week by Amani Toomer at the Meadowlands to stop the winning streak busts up the play well the fact of the matter is it's both of you know players have gotten so big in this game you just don't see every down backs anymore at 190 pounds Terrell Davis is a solid 210 and most of the regular backs in this game are on the far side of 200 pounds so classrooms Meyer will kick - scrimmage is the Denver 49 yard line Darian Gordon will let it go on wolves Meyer sends it into the end zone and Denver will take it at the 20 yard line with 1154 to go in the opening quarter John Elway and the Broncos with the ball when we come back [Music] John Elway and what figured to be at the beginning of the season his farewell tour but not necessarily so another great year for Elway despite being in and out of the lineup with injuries bubby Brister has done a nice job in reserve Davis and Griffin dak field Smith and McCaffrey outside and sharp is the tight end Tony Jones will be going to the Pro Bowl klaris Nayland Neal and Swain up front and Kareem abdul-jabbar shaken up on the first series walking and walking had to leave last week's game with a concussion Brown and poke throat on USC John Elway all the way right here the press coverage is going to flow it outside or run it outside and the wandering outside would Davis but he won't go anywhere as he's taken down by Kenny Mixon a good-looking rookie and of LSU mixing a number two draft choice in the spring has started every game let's look at the dolphin defense the coordinator is George Hill Mike Shanahan sending in a play on second down mixing Bowens to the Pro Bowl Gardner and Taylor up front Roger Zack Thomas and Robert Jones are the backers Buckley and Madison have done a wonderful job to the corners Jackson and Marion of the safeties Buckley and Jackson has 15 intersections between them on second and 11 they'll wait to take off and just does get back to the line of scrimmage maybe picks up one first by Taylor and then finally by Gardner Gardner and Taylor converging to stop it well the interesting thing about that play is that Denver emptied the backfield and put five guys out in the pattern and shannon sharpe was being chased by Zach Thomas if they can get that matchup downfield you would think that that's where they're going to try to exploit it and John out ways in the shotgun you could see the the pass rush coming out and he steps up nicely it just gets clocked from behind [Applause] eleven fires caught McCaffrey he'll go to the Pro Bowl as he floats over the middle makes the grab and knows exactly where the marker is and picks up the first down well he's had a tremendous year and he's been their big play receiver especially in the beginning of the year a lot of people were paying attention to both Shannon Sharpe and rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey came along and all of a sudden now teams are starting to look out him and now rod Smith has had a better second half of the year McCaffrey though was a big guy you wouldn't expect him to have such a gaudy average almost 17 yards per reception first down well Davis seeking the League of rushing title also a two thousand yard season and if he gets lucky he has a shot to break Erik Dickerson's mark of over 2,100 yards but that's a little dubious at this point I think when they looked at the schedule and saw Miami here in the 15th week that you would have to say that you'd have to have a big lead at trying to catch Dickerson you see them right there with the 18 hundred and one yards already but it's that average at 5.2 folks that's extraordinary company when you're running the ball at over five yards of cliff not many guys have ever done it second and seven Elway look at that protection and then he finds the open man and it turns out to be Howard Griffith who loses the football but no they say incomplete he never had it incomplete play is over well that's one official that waved that off the one official on the sideline in front of the Miami bench was going to treat it as a fumble well you know this is the type of thing that they've had problems here with because you know one official sees one thing and another official sees another you know and they're not real clear on their communication but it well Boomer though it's if one guy doesn't see it he shouldn't call it right that this is that's a completed pass that that is a fumble that's a completed that is a completed pass you must demonstrate possession of the football and have both feet on the ground that's a completed pass and then a fumble not even close Oh even replay couldn't overturn that but you know that is the classic example of the inadvertent whistle right there so even if replay had been in effect it would still stand as an incomplete past because the official had blown the whistle first break goes to Denver third down and seven as Elway throws and his sharp making the catch over the middle at the 43 so another third down conversion for the Broncos tackled by Marian Jimmy's still irate on the Miami sideline he's irate there because he felt shannon sharpe pushed off on the last reception but you could see right here clearly if anything he might be down before the ball comes out but that looks more like a completed pass and a fumble that it does is an incompletion eight-and-a-half minutes left in the open score this is the Broncos first possession of the game they have two first downs its first and ten Davis swinging to the left side this time and take him down after a gain of about three coming up from the corner is Sam Madison having a great year Jimmie Johnson telling us last night he hasn't blown one coverage all season he said he's been outstanding in every facet of the game and it's really an extraordinary combination with Madison and Buckley the two corners between them they have 15 interceptions Madison with seven Buckley with eight and as you saw right there at Madison more than just the cover guy awfully good on run support second and seven the Bronx had scored in every first quarter this user no team has ever gone through a season having done that in fact no team has ever gone this far and one of the reasons of course is Terrell Davis just keep feeding him the ball as they do here that's a first down every team in the league says we have to run the ball we have to run the ball but these guys do it with relative ease and and when you look at the other sideline with the Miami Dolphins how many years did they've been talking about we got we have to run it we have to run it and these are the reasons why you take a lot of pressure off your quarterback your play caller can be real aggressive especially when you get on the other side of the 50 yard line it is just truly a very balanced off or they're just not missing any pieces boomer everything is there a blocking pullback a wonderful tight end outstanding receiver and that Davis lines up wide to the right Davis there you go right in the middle of peep and over the middle goes shannon sharpe and he lives over the middle and shannon sharpe will be going to the Pro Bowl again as the AFC tight end first down at the 30 his seventh one for Shannon Sharpe but again it's an offensive team that that really if you're if you're going to defense them where do you start and because there are no weaknesses and here's Zack Thomas and they're trying to double them with Jones as well and you could see Shannon does a good job of coming back he does a nice job of changing direction and lue the balls even thrown before he turns around Shannon put on the brakes and those two guys could that's first down there in the shotgun you don't see that off burst insane at the 30-yard line and Davis wrapped up by Zach Thomas third year on a Texas Tech his story well known by now nobody thought that this kid had a chance and now everybody down here thinks he should be going to the Pro Bowl a very angry about the fact that that he wasn't selected go to the Pro Bowl for the AFC the inside linebackers juniors say ow and Ray Lewis to outstanding football players but there's nothing like playing football angry and Zack Thomas and the rest of this defensive team they're very angry second and 14 this is the 12th play of Denver's opening drive and a fascist errant intended for Rod Smith it'll be third down and 14 and again he'll miss one he's human although they might not think so in Denver but he does miss a few here and there but can you talk about the Pro Bowl and and as the next player out remember this time of year was very important to receive the accolades from your coaching staff from your from your team your peers around the league and you know there are players like Ray Lewis and jr. say oh that do belong in the Pro Bowl and players like Zack Thomas can easily be there with them that's right as a bottom up girl that's what makes it such an honor exactly third and 14 the brach converted each of their prior third downs Elway out of the guns slip-sliding away then throws and that seems complete and broken up by Madison interesting decision here now we're going to see if a long field goal attempt and obviously Jason Elam is up to it isn't he Alan well you know the funny thing is yet Elam is gonna go to the Provo having kicked the 63 yard it's like last week boomer in the sense Denver with a lot of plays a lot of yardage but coming up short as they did against the Giants you need touchdowns in this league and last week they were in the red zone three times and came away with three field goals this is a 52-yard ER as you can see Elam just about as good on the road as she is at the rarefied air in Denver from 52 yards away plenty of distance and right down the middle and that was close to a 63 order right there who cares about being at sea level huh you know you're right then they do have it everywhere don't know they do this is scoring points this is a football team without flaw he cleared it by about 10 yards a 52-yard ER by Elam Broncos lead three nothing [Music] pro player stadium this will be the site of the Super Bowl so the Denver Broncos hoping to return here the last week in January Elam kicks off to the goal line John Avery his second run back of the night is a 22-yard returned as he gets tackled by George Coghill mr. Marino coming back with his team trailing by three 540 left in the period [Music] abdul-jabbar shaken up on the first series but helmet on ready to play though he is not in at the moment as he seeks to another thousand yard season had one in his rookie year and John Avery begins this series on first down from the 23 yard line Maya Moreno show in its 16th season here Duffey emotion on first down then marino going OJ's way after the 33 yard line Darian Gordon makes the attack Oh Oh Jay came into the weekend as the leading receiver in the league in terms of receptions with 79 he's really done a nice job for the Miami Dolphins you know they really don't have a big play type of receiver and OJ's more of an athletic inside receiver you can see how big he is he's not afraid of croak go across the middle and and really with without the you know the threat of a big play type of guy they got to throw that throw the ball to him much more and he's really reaping the benefits of that what McGuffey doesn't have is just blazing straightaway speed he's about a four six forty guy when there are guys in his league they're down that for four for three range so much for the running game doing a Shannon drop impersonation all the way to the 32 tackle by Mobley you know the interesting thing here all week long about they have to run they have to run right well I think that Jimmie Johnson realizes just like he did last week when you play the Jets you play the Broncos you have to put points on the board you can't play it close to the vest and right here Dan Marino does a nice job with the play fake and he's his accurate as ever right down the middle Jimmy sucks a believer in in his defense winning football games but let's be realistic this is the Denver Broncos you are not going to hold them to 10 or 13 points tonight that's a 35 yard game to the two yard line talks to Avery the Whoopie that of Ole Miss it's taken down by mobile and one it is fun to look at John Avery though when he takes off with the football it's obvious the guy has a serious case of the quick he's a dirty really quick move kind of a guy and he is the one guy in a Miami uniform that when he touches the football can take it all the way to the end zone he just looks different when he's carrying the football he's moving parallel to the line makes the move back out back in good pursuit by Denver but this guy's this guy's got a motor they had abdul-jabbar in the game now but split and he takes the toss as Avery was flanked out and he gets thrust out of bounds at the 30 yard line so they had both Avery and abdul-jabbar in the game with Kareem as the running back and Avery is a wideout and a flawed blocking scheme there you can't pitch the ball without accounting for the corner for second and 10 down here is a is a play that you'd rather than throw the football and when we talk about throwing it you want to throw it effectively you don't want to have to throw it because because you have to throw it and right here now it's third and 10 you're gonna have to throw you're gonna have to put it back in the shotgun and it's difficult because you have guys outside receivers that are having trouble getting separation third down nine a Czech head in the game so a lot of action last week a guy who's been playing on special teams most of the year but McDuffie his favorite target and a big first down to the 13 yard line McDuffie has already caught three balls tonight the 39 yards it's a great play call here because they actually come with what is called a zone blitz with a linebacker blitz is on the outside of one of the interior defensive linemen drop back and avoid the zone as you see number 98 run back right there is right where McDuffie caught the football so with a nice play designed that time by Kippy Brown the offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins nice matchup when you've got Tana Bosco trying to cover OJ McGuffin it's about one-on-one ball zones and they're trying to confuse the quarterback a little difficult when he's going to leave 16 who had the wind knocked out of him and that was the report earlier there is Kippy brown last year they made the change Gary Stevens had been the offensive coordinator and should be very happy with the job Jimmy's done this year Kippy was the running back coach on Jimmy staff for a couple of years and he won Johnson's trust and and Jimmy when Jimmy has an offensive coordinator he really gives him a lot of latitude Jimmy pays a lot of time a lot of attention to the defensive team and doesn't met a lot with the offense just one the ball though yeah Neil Smith he will get along fine that's great Denver defensive end he's inactive tonight as a ton of time but the secondary does its job and there's nobody open McDuffie double-teamed on the play and I'm coming will be third down this is what you call managing your position at the quarterback fellows because both times we've seen now John Elway and Dan Marino sit back there they have time but they get they get rid of the football and you can take a look at here that the Denver Broncos get away with one that's a Ronda Gadsden who did not start because he missed a team meeting this morning but is in the game at the end of the period here and gray Crockett I guess figured that seeing that he missed the meeting I can go ahead and hold him in the end he doesn't deserve anybody third down and seven from the 10 yard line and a terrible looking play with all kinds of confusion intended for McDuffie with Bernie Parmalee also in the neighborhood and it's fourth down that's a quick screen trying to get the blockers out in front of McDuffie and that's an all timing play boomer and the timing was not up it really is and Bernie partly looks to me like he goes too deep and you can see right there Duffy doesn't have a chance to make the play but if Bernie can get closer to the line of scrimmage and McGuffey move towards the the quarterback that maybe they might have a chance of making that play work looked up he's got to come back a yard or two out of the line of scrimmage right and and and the running back has to go a little bit closer 21 is from a yard field goal attempt by [Applause] does no make it over the top of the goalposts over the top of the upright and no good from 28 and Jimmy will be drilling those R's in the name of Olinda Martin a three nothing Denver 126 left in the opening quarter after the mod a missed from 28 yards still three nothing Denver as the Broncos have it at the 20-yard line McCaffrey is in motion on first down and movement on the right side and that is harry Swain moving early it will be first and 15 after Phil Luckett makes it official prior to the snap false start offense number 74 five yards will remain let's set the the Miami situation once again for late tuners and in terms of the playoffs if Miami wins tonight they're in they're in the playoffs guaranteed or next week at Atlanta but what they really would like to do is to win tonight and at Atlanta next week because that would cement the number four seed meaning in the wild-card round they would play the first game here and not on the road from the 15-yard line another flag as that play is whistled dead Shannon Sharpe was moving [Applause] they could also back in gents by even if they lost and Tennessee loses to Minnesota in Nashville on Saturday Miami could actually really back into the playoffs losing their last three games I don't think they want to go to Buffalo or New England I could say that right now I you want to have one of those two teams here I would think simulating the snap right there with Shannon Sharpe and I can't imagine going into the playoffs having lost three games in a row that's a pretty safe to say a team that does that is going nowhere except home after the first way you'd be looking at three road games in the playoffs to get home as Davis takes it up to the 13 B's Miami would have to win all three playoff games on the road and then they get to the Super Bowl here right fat chance yes if they closed out three losses in a row Monday Night Football being brought to you by Ford Taurus Ford built to last Prudential bringing strength and stability to America's families to insurance healthcare real estate and financial services propecia and Bud Light for the great tastes that won't throw you up and never lets you down make it about light that still stands doesn't it no home team has ever played in their home stadium for Super Bowl right second and 17 sharp and Shannon looks with a flag looks like he yanked him down didn't it Byron Chamberlin huh it was Byron Chamberlin the other tight end and there is no flag Derrick Rodgers the linebacker with him Mike Shanahan pleading his case well definitely hooked him by the shoulders but the the ruling was that that was not a ball that he could have caught he was close you'd expect to see a flag more often than not they're saying what a guy they think as a great future fast and big as Elway guns it on third down intended for McCaffrey and the coverage is brilliant bachelor came back there with him and it's worth them now what you're seeing now by the Miami Dolphin defense is just exactly what they are they're aggressive they're fast they're young and maybe even more importantly they're cheap they don't cost a lot on that defense no there's not a lot of big money over there nope and they are aggressive an a lineup bump and run and they'll play you all the way down the field and they're led by this guy Terrell Buckley who told me before the game he's not worried about the Pro Bowl he just wants the punt return King average Tom ruint to punt and this is Buckley and Terrell slips that's one way to get it and down at the 43 to the consternation of special teams coach Mike Westhoff 23 Tech's left in the opening period 3 nothing Denver [Music] who played that inaugural aloha bowl many years ago yes I did from the 42 it's a great trip Moreno throws and it's brought over the middle and it is it Harry dragging rock it with him for a first down it Perry the second tight end is the quarter winds down and at the end of one its Denver three Miami nothing Monday Night Football resumes after this message and a word from our ABC stations back in Miami you'll talk about scheduling quirks the Broncos have not played a game in Miami since 1975 and it's just it's just the way the schedule work that I know people think that the schedule should be made up the guys like Moreno and Elway should play every other year but it's based on how you finish the year before exactly is avery gets taken down for a loss there but the Broncos of course would love that one more vision to South Florida on January 31st and I mean everybody right now anticipating his denver against Minnesota clearly the two best teams in the league they might be the two best teams but I will tell you right now the Denver Broncos have not played their best football this time of year and when you and I were talking about it today if I had to rank the teams right now you'd have to put the Jets the Falcons and the Vikings and maybe then the Broncos with just the way they played the last two weeks that's the way you would rank them no I said maybe the fact of the matter is if you want to go to the Super Bowl you're going to have to go to the Metrodome and beat the Vikings and you're gonna have to go to Mile High Stadium and beat the Broncos and I'm not sure that could be done no I agree with you but I'm just in the last two weeks of this season I mean that I mean the Vikings just look unbeatable last night the Falcons have played well all year long and now the Jets who have gone on the road against the Dolphins and the bills in one big games there's John Avery who is hurt so Jimmie Johnson has just watched Kareem abdul-jabbar gets shaken up on the first series tonight and come out for a while and now his backup John Avery is down and if anything that you can get out of the fact that the Broncos lost last week to the Giants and speaking to almost every player out there on the Broncos squad they were saying it was a wake-up call because we were not playing that well a look at Avery as he gets shaken here 55 seconds into the second quarter shaken up after the tackle by Hasselbeck back in a moment [Applause] John Avery shaking it off we'll get a report on him in the meantime it's third down and 11 and with abdul-jabbar out on third down Parmalee is in Marino out of the shotgun white ankle sprain is the report yeah what was that boy was snapped by Tim ruddy and Denver recovers it then Marino wasn't even anywhere close to expecting a snap well I'll tell you what he was doing he was moving up there to kind of redirect his offensive line and tell him what was going on and I think ruddy misunderstood Dan's commands he thought that he was going to be calling a snap count really what you have to do when you walk up there is you got to kind of settle your offensive lineman down easy guys easy guys you could see Dan is actually yelling instructions and ruddy misinterprets that as a snap count ouch oh boy boy that's that's the type of miscommunication between a veteran quarterback and a veteran Center you can see you got it right there it's just saying I know I know I shouldn't snap it you got decent field position your are inside Denver territory and then cap like that Romanowski recovers the woman now to give the ball to Davis they feed it to Terrell he picks up a yard getting to the 49 yard line it held Davis in check at least at the outset of tonight's game that seven carries for 13 yards for the guy who's the best back in the league right now you can see Dan Marino right there on the sidelines talking about it and you know one of it like I said one of the things that you want to do as a quarterback especially when the shotgun the center has a hard time hearing you if you're going to change the play or audible or move the protection around you have to do it ever so slightly you can't bark out commands quite quickly like that on second and 10 it is Elway take it off and getting the first down John Elway out of bounds at the 39 yard line a 12 yard scamper speaking of scampering Thursday night he knows if you've been bad or good Michael Madsen is coming to town with a vengeance vengeance unlimited Thursday night at eight o'clock seven central right here on ABC difference there's if you're bad he'll just kill you it's right it goes way beyond having a lump of coal in your stock I'm gonna put this coal in my stocking or the beach' with little overkill the first down at the 38 yard line Davis and Tyrell dragged down by Thomas after a gain of four so unlike some teams the Denver Broncos will continue just a hammer Terrell Davis right up the middle at you they know sooner or later you're gonna get tired and their game plan is is to beat you down and right around the third or fourth quarter that's when he really starts to take over this is nothing but straight ahead the little draw play where the full-back leads and tries to get through on a linebacker and Griffith had a little trouble getting through there on Zach Thomas and Zack Thomas made that made the play on 2nd and 5 as familiar deep drop of Elway and then another familiar move sliding for a first down to the 25 yard line must have been watching Steve Young last week well John is what John is doing right now is really rattling Miami's defense sure is take off twice and run like that for you know relatively easy gains this really shakes up a defensive football tee and look at John there's no indecisiveness the minute he saw that they were failing to cover up a running lane he took off with the football he'll know going into the game plan that Miami likes to play a lot of Man coverage or at least man in their zones and he'll know that they're voided out there and he'll take off now Davis and his 9th carry of the game is his best to this point as he takes it to the 18 yard line he had been limited to just 18 yards and he is the leading rusher in the league coming in with 1801 at the store to play tonight interesting tonight as we Chronicle the careers of these two Hall of Fame quarterbacks what we just saw to John Elway those last couple runs the big difference between these two guys it really is and Dan Marino does not do that ever but eight years ago John used to do more of it right now he just does it when he knows he can be effective and who can ever forget the play that he made in the Super Bowl last year yeah that may be the signature play of his career Davis almost dropped the football and is able to secure as he gets tackled by Burton very close to a first down he didn't have a great game passing in that Super Bowl but if there was one play that really set the tone for his football team was that play and everybody knows it as when he took off flip and did a little helicopter down close to the goal line and made a first down with it Miami almost got the ball back Terrell Davis did not field that handoff from Elway cleanly stayed with it luckily wasn't challenged right away 10 minutes left in the half 3 nothing Denver rocks trying to capitalize a fumble off the missed snap and timeout is called by John with a third and one upcoming [Music] tonight's aerial shots being provided by the bud one airship there it is floating high above pro player Stadium which opened before business in 1987 this is an area here where you might see a play paper thrilled certain sorts of Miami to be aggressive third and one from the 17-yard line off the fate away throws caught first down Raj Smith pulls it in at the 8 yard line is boomer called to play to a guy Raj Smith who last year was the key guy and now he's been doubled so much this year that McCaffrey has been the beneficiary and he and McCaffrey really has and we talked about that early on in the season it seemed like every time you turn on some highlights Ed McCaffrey was making a touchdown and then now as the season has progressed Smith has really caught up to him now and you could see they're just so dangerous not only at the wide receiver position but a tight end running back in quarterback as you said Dan they're fully loaded the season for Rod Smith first and goal from the 7 TD inside the 5 shoved out of the 4 yard line by Sam Madison 2nd and goal and there's nothing really glamorous about that as we look at George Hill up in the in the Miami press box running the defense but it's a way that everybody on Denver stays on their blocks their offensive linemen know how to finish they get on somebody they stay there till the whistle blows and as we saw in that play right there the outside guys block and McCaffrey is out here on the point in his block gives Terrell Davis another 4 or 5 yards there's McCaffrey right out on the corner blocking on Sam Madison everybody finishes a block in a white shirt can I go and there's a fumble and Davis picks it up and at least retains possession for the Denver Broncos as Terrell Davis was alert enough to pick it up at the 9 yard line and keep the ball third and goal now watching that play the interesting thing was you could see John Elway actually looking out to his left he noticed that there was a blitz coming and looked like he tried to get out underneath the center before he had the ball you could see him look to his left and the ball just slips through his hands yet Tom Malins the center he delivered it he put it right in Elwes hands and the ball is squirts away from John almost looked like a head Vaseline or so third down and goal and Davis stays in the game but he's wide to the right Terrell at the top of the screen is the the empty backfield out of the gun he looked forward Davis he couldn't get open so John's gonna take off losing football in the endzone and it is recovered there in the end zone by Rod Smith for the touchdown Jason Taylor was able to punch the ball loose and of all things blemish been that kind of a year for the Denver Broncos really has that mean it's something to behold when you can make a play this is again vintage Elway just moving to his left this time and knowing that he's going to take it and that's when I decided to retire when the defensive lineman could track you down from behind while Jason Taylor could run just he can run down any quarterback didn't flake from behind if you're wondering about a fumble into the end zone what time of the day but what downward if it's a fourth down Elway would have had to recover it himself where in the last two minutes of the game he would have but in this particular circumstance that is allowed you can't recover it as was the case Smith of the TD Elam for the conversion so the Broncos with two fumbles inside the 10 but wind up with seven points and was 756 to go in the half it is 10 to nothing Broncos [Music] Miami home of the Marlins the heat Panthers and the Dolphins the University of Miami University of Miami Kane yep whew great race tracks at the 3 yard line this is Brock Marion Proc Marian put himself into one of those really awkward positions where he could have been seriously hurt tackled at the 22-yard line in the meantime look at this again the Elway fumble there's Jason Taylor he comes down and got hit John right in the elbow and John pretty careless with the football dangling it out there just in one hand and fortunately one hops right to Rod Smith what a great play by Jason Taylor however really I mean it just goes to show you how quick and how fast his defense is when you have a defensive end coming from all the way around the corner tracking your quarterback down and forcing a fumble there aren't many defensive linemen in this league faster than Jason Taylor John Avery has gone back to have his ankle x-rayed to the backup running back is out abdul-jabbar over the left side out to the 25 yard line for the Dolphins remember who missed a field goal from 28 had a fumbled snap at the 50 have nasty Avery go back with a right ankle sprain Jabbar had the wind knocked out Jimmy of course emotionally racked and we've talked about that tonight and this is a team that must win two games to secure a home game in the playoffs and right now they're finding themselves in the position that most of Denver's opponents find themselves in behind relatively early in a ball game having to play catch-up second down and seven from the 25-yard line [Applause] great mix around go flag and there is no yellow on the field third down and seven nothing else but a few stories to talk about it has been a very unusual year in Pittsburgh third down and it is incomplete as a rhombic ganden can hold on covered by Torrey James so you just see an offense that it's so struggling their receivers can't get away from anybody and really what Denver does to you on defense as they put pressure on you by bringing linebackers and dropping off defensive lineman and this is the problem that you have when your when your receivers are banged up as Ronda is he does not get any separation from the defensive back whatsoever the quarterback really has no place to throw the football Darren Gordon back to receive Dan I promise Klaus that we call him Ville Meyer one villains it is my said my father to cross scene you will love it in Toronto so films Meyers kick hauled in by Gordon at the 31 and he's out of bounds at the 38 Klaus you fill punt the ball and you villa putz it valve 641 left on the half and there's a flag down so hold the band hold the band stop this is either got to be some sort of unsportsmanlike conduct or holding there you have it it looked almost to me like it was a clip in the back down here along the sideline an illegal block in the back but they didn't see it you can see Jimmie Johnson was arguing on a sideline because he wanted them he wanted the clip in the back down here Phil Luckett making the cool watch number 39 right here Stevie Team number 89 heard during the return 10 yards first down and that was right in front of the side judge right there and Jimmy Johnson was screaming wanting that penalty it moves it back to the 28 641 to the half 10 zip Denver oh yes it's the first night of winter ladies gentlemen feeling no effects down here in solid or it's beautiful down there temperature today in the low 80s nice breeze off field now Michaels Dan Deirdre Boomer Esiason Lesley Visser 10 nothing Denver Bronx have it at the 28 yard line and he'll way by in time with that fake and then it's incomplete over the middle intended Rochon and sharp who looks around and says where's that flag Shannon looking like a jewelry store out there he's beautiful now he'll tell you a few things about himself on the field and also tell you a few things about yourself boomer take a look at this last family face Marino and 85 13 years ago four guys on the left still active Cunningham moon de Berg and Craig but six guys announcing football including me they are right at the bottom there proves it's easier to talk with the boy this second and 10 oh you would know them awfully B and C boomer why do you take everything as being derogatory I was just making a blanket statement have nothing to do with you but boomer is still shell-shocked from the announcement earlier today as you look at Gary Kubiak the Jake Plummer the Arizona Cardinals just signed a four-year twenty nine million dollar extension with a fifteen million dollar bonus second-highest contract in the history of the NFL to Steve Young hey I'm happy he gets it but you know what when I was here they told me they had no cash it's all the money he's been saving up the last 30 years to the market third down and ten Elway under pressure throws it's a short throw and Smith adjusted but couldn't make the play Brian Walker back on the coverage along with Jerry when Jerry Wilson had blitz that time to put the pressure on Elway a safety blitz off the side and forced John to throw the ball quickly and he tried to lay it up there give Smith the chance you can see number 24 come right off the corner here John sees him no panic just throw it up and give you a receiver a chance to make a play for it Tom ruin to punt now at the 28 yard line you're not gonna you're not going to force these quarterbacks in the pan again they've seen it all in they handle we've had success against all those different blitzes Terrell Buckley that's a good kick it's a great kick 54 yards and Putney brings back to the 26 yard line [Applause] and it's Keith Bern's down there to stop them with the ends and so the interesting thing about the jake plummer contract is that you know they're gonna be a few other guys that are gonna come up here now for three negotiations and extensions and really jake has done a great job out there i think he has eight comebacks in the last two years and we talked about comebacks when you talk about great quarterbacks these two here tonight I think Jake's off to a great start first half from the 26 yard line Marino throws and it's caught up at the 31 the catcher hold in there by nature ket tackled by Gordon boomer I only wish I had my Instamatic when I broke the news to Elway before the game what plumber got in that deal hey you know it's all about timing and being in the right place at the right time and Jake's a local hero there you know he played for ASU and it's smart boat by the Cardinal right you know and they're they're struggling and somebody was telling me that they they I guess they think between ten and fifteen thousand more fans are going to the games for him you know maybe they can get back on track but getting to the playoffs for the first time in many years this year second down and four at the 32 yard line as well no throws and that's caught wide open is Lamar Thomas and Miami gets the big play it needs at this point all the way to the 42 yard line Thomas brings free over the middle and picks up 26 boy Thomas landed awkwardly though I think he banked himself up a little bit when he came down well he was digging for every extra yard but he's going to go off the field this had this illegal mark the way he landed and I'll tell you somebody blew a coverage zone there might have been Romanowski looks like he got back pretty deep and and Thomas came underneath now if you're gonna make a mistake Romo is gonna make you pay for it at the end there I should know because he intercepted me here in the Super Bowl many years ago first down at the 42 yard line after lil Jabbar what a memory boom oh one I tried to forget but every time I see this part of the field down here and pro player this is exactly where it took place meanwhile James Brown the big right tackle of the Dolphins into a little shoving match with your buddy the aforementioned Romanowski he's in a little tussle oh well look at that guy boom I guess it really happened rolling throwing and I can't believe he threw that bass roll and a ski intercepts for the 49ers he'll go on to win on that Montana Drive John Taylor's touched ok ok ok ok our defense held them and they missed the field goal after that gotcha I was reminded before the game thank you a turnover that did not result in points that's where our defense kept us in the game thank goodness they were there timeout Miami the second and tenth upcoming 10-zip Bronx Melvyn and Lola's um Brennan had a cattle ranch in Lusk Wyoming probably some of the gentlest cattle in this area he sorts through all his cow statistics on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets I can take one cow and I can go back and look at all the calves that she's had and if they're all good ones that keep the cow Melvyn uses software to manage his herd because his livelihood depends on his cops [Music] Greg Robinson the defensive coordinator and a guy who's a name gets mentioned once in a while in terms of head coaching vacancies the other guy we've been seeing tonight Gary Kubiak is a serious contender you would think at this point in fact they're with the Cleveland Browns in the next few days allowed to begin to interview coaches Gary Kubiak is one of those guys who will I'm sure be interviewed by the Browns every other team has to wait until that particular team's coaching staff is done with their season regardless of how deep they go into the playoffs only the Browns have an exemption this year from that rule I think what they start next week next I believe it's next Monday yeah I think so cool you spend that much money on a football team you fight against in the breaks second and ten in the passes behind Thomas so Lamar was shaken and then Ken comes back and can't Bowl that one in third down and ten should we go to Marita Martin aroma for a report or not never mind third down and ten from the 42 yard line it's a pax isn't complete and it's worth on Iran de Gadsden was the intended receiver you have to remember that Dan Marino has had some great wide receivers here with in his tenure playing here and right now Ron de gatz is playing with too bad turf toes he's also coming off a Lee a year in the Arena League and has kind of beat up you could see him limp in there a little bit and you know it's frustrating for a quarterback when you drop back and you don't have confidence in your guys to get open especially when it's against press coverage like that Gadsden played with the Portland the forest drug into the Arena League and that is a high floating taking the fact the infield fly rule is in effect on that Wilms mire boot that winds up rolling dead at the 23 yard line the consternation of the crowd let us go to Lesley Visser Lesley evening gentlemen well you may know al dat ten minutes after the Giants beat the Broncos Nick wanna count he was on his way here to pro player Stadium how good did that champagne taste very very good Lesley I'll tell you what everybody says don't you wish that you know the Miami Dolphins had a chance to beat the Broncos I said no the Giants got my new favorite team everyone want to know how would your 72 team handle the 98 Broncos oh I think we do pretty well against them we had a great running game we had a great offensive line great Hall of Famer named Paul Warfield in a defense I set the record for the fewest number of points in NFL Thank You Leslie [Music] first out from the 22 ill way going deep and incomplete intended from a calf recovered by Terrell Buckley but John's going to have to complete a few passes just to get up somewhere close to 50% yeah it's a you know and really what they do Dan is when you see that press coverage you know you they're inviting you to go after it and you can see Terrell right here sticking with McCaffrey and sometimes the quarterback you try to be too pinpoint and too accurate when maybe just give me a guy a chance to go up and make a play for you but I know when I played against this type of defense you always want to think you can get the big strike on them but it's not that easy Elway an uncharacteristic 4 out of 12 33% and on second and 10 Davis winks on the outside could attack the Lex and Madison again mentioned before not only great in coverage but run support that's the second time he's made a great play on run support tonight the whole concept of this Miami defense is built around the two big guys inside Gardner and bones and then forcing everything to the outside where they count on their team speed to always be able to get to the sidelines and that was an excellent illustration if Madison wouldn'ta made that tackle there were two other Miami defenders in there getting ready to make the hit this group can't run third and 14 and the play clock down to zero and there's no play delay the delay of game against the Broncos Oh Dan talking about this defense not only is it young and it's quick but it's very simple [Applause] [Music] Jimmy Johnson wants to keep his players active on the field and he wants to do it by not asking him to think too much he wants to be able to put young players out there say this is what your responsibility is just go out and do it nine times out of 10 plays you're going to be doing the same thing over and over again so let it loose and go play aggressive 2:13 to the half the momentary stoppage here to put some time back on the game clock and as the quarterback this is really really gets nasty on the road the fans are into it the defense is fired up you got to make their quick decisions third down and nine sir Chambliss and the pole is loosely gonna rule it a fumble hamish one official yet one official finally said no bill look at the referee finally comes in three or four seconds afterwards and rules that an incomplete pass right it had everybody was in play and then there was a late call ruling an incomplete pass well I'll say it is closed right here watch this John Elway stepping up he's actually going down that's a fumble yes it is and it's Jason Taylor again that's a post helmet that's Jason Taylor one more time getting to John Elway and that is well let me rephrase that that should have been ruled a fumble yep that is not a fumble it should have been knocked it loose with his helmet and again it's one of those quirky plays even with replay it still stays in him complete banks because the whistle got blown is tom ruined a putt Buckley backs up all the way back to the 35 yard line and Tyrell swinging all the way across the field is out of bounds at the 50 the only thing on that last play out I would have liked to have known when the whistle really did blow me too because something tells me it didn't blow right away I don't think so either 149 left this is the two-minute warning [Music] crowd chanting I guess they don't know if the luck it's named there yelling referee and you know the rest you know I could understand from watching from behind how the how the referee couldn't couldn't see the fact that Jason Taylor's helmet hit the ball but up the thing that you and I were discussing is whether or not they blew the whistle on the moment that they saw it it looked like there was some indecision there there was first down at the 50-yard line now for the Miami Dolphins damn threw the punt and Marino with two timeouts at his disposal that passes incomplete intended for Iran the ganzen covered there by Torii James it's amazing when you're in the pocket and you drop back and you see the receiver and that and the DB is draped all over him as a quarterback you just cannot deliver the ball comfortably you just don't feel very confident about putting it in there and you can see right here watch out there run right next to each other there's no separation whatsoever where velcro come to mind gonna and again it goes back to irani he has too bad big toes and he's not moving very good second down ten marina throws over the middle and that's broken up and tended to McDuffie and getting a hand in there is a 10-year veteran raycrockett third down a thousand feet above pro player Stadium the Budweiser blimp floating high above pro player Stadium built by the late Dolphins owner Joe Robbie the stadium was named for him for a number of years I thought you are talking about the blimp there for me oh yeah go Robbie built it blue look at the heat here we go you can see ruddy now turning around looking at Henry no say okay what are we doing here going back to basics right exactly third down and ten and here comes the all-out blitz has to get rid of it in the hurry and is able to adjust and make the catch despite the coverage by Tory James NATO caught five balls last week a 29 yard pickup here a kid out of San Diego State drafted by Indianapolis released by them picked up this summer by the Dolphins and has spent time mainly on special teams again in the face of the blitz the quarterback does not panic and he throws it up down the sideline and Jacquet makes the play on a DP he's got his back turned Moreno saving time acid Stanley Pritchett the full-back good fall and a first down inside the 10 first and goal the first down and a stoppage of the clock so that was good execution by the Miami Dolphins they got the long completion they were they were at a good pace and getting up to the line of scrimmage and they ran a play picked up 11 or 12 yards and stopped the clock maybe this was really nicely done you can see the Blitz on the previous play and Moreno standing in there and giving his receiver a chance to come back to the underthrown ball one of the more difficult situations that DB finds himself in first and goal from the 9 four-man rush marina throws the end zone by Thomas Lamar Thomas locked up with Tito for the defensive back beaten last week by Amani Toomer for the game-winning touchdown at the Meadowlands again it's just a nice throw to the outside it's kind of a fade route and you try to throw it behind the head of the defensive back and defensive back that's called ball skills getting up there and going after the football something Tito didn't do in that particular play money for the point after Thomas had not caught a touchdown pass since the third week of the season and for Dan Marino that is career touchdown pass number 404 but I think it tells you everything that we need to know for this game about where the Dolphins are offensively and either running or throwing the football first and goal at the 9 yard line with two timeouts remaining they go to the shotgun formation they are using their strengths they're using their phd in offense dampering they really are and it's you say this it's kind of funny that Dan Marino is now in an offense that is so simplified that really any player that comes in here off the waiver wire should be able to pick it up and that's why Jimmy Johnson did it plus the combination of young receivers and young running backs takes the onus off of them mentally and emotionally but it really puts the handcuffs on Dan Marino but they had plenty of time to run the football if they would have wanted to they could have gone into a regular offensive set with the two timeouts but no put it in the arm of the guy that brought you here they dream it's 19 this year and the 404 of course is a record more than a record by Audi we've got more touchdown passes and some franchises 16 years and Dan wants to stick around for a while he was not thinking about retirement it's a bouncing ball field it at the 16-yard line this is deep Ron Smith they back up fullback taking it up 31 yard line with 50 seconds remaining in the half and Elway has two timeouts 10 7 Denver I don't necessarily know about that kick here this is not a terribly difficult situation for John Elway to be and this is something that he relishes and he does very well the two-minute drill at the end of a half and you know this is still a dangerous situation for the Miami Dolphins they might think that they have momentum on their side but this guy right here can call that in a moment's notice first content from the 31 in this battle of the quarterback class of 83 go away throws and that's caught up at the 38 yard line by Terrell Davis and he's tackled at the 39 one thing that Miami has done tonight is they really kept the Denver ground game in check Davis making the catch here but on the ground 13 carries 26 yards I think I would have called timeout right there the save a few precious seconds but Who am I to argue with number seven out there second down and two it's a point well-taken bull Rubeus with under 20 now it's caught over the middle now climbing this is Griffith at the 47 now they have to take one and they have one remaining but they're still well out of feet well I say well out of field goal range Jason Elam but they're out of field goal range but but fairly close timeout they have one left there is Jason Elam he of the 63 yard record-tying field goal earlier this year against Jacksonville putting his name into the book alongside Tom Dempsey you know the theory about the timeouts is is that you know you don't want to leave any timeouts on the board if you're at the end of the half especially in this type of situation and they probably could have saved a good 20 seconds they might be sitting here with 34 seconds as opposed to 14 you know if they don't gain a single yard here and Elam comes out you're looking at a 64 yard 265 no way throws and Caffrey who gets banged down by Marian he stays inbounds tried of telling them to take their time out here I don't think it had much of a choice where he lands no no and somebody had a goal timeout for them and you talk about a tough guy this is Ed McCaffrey down the sideline knowing that Marian's going to come and lay a hit on them one of the more dangerous passes to throw down a sign for a receiver is in the zone of a cover to between the cornerback and the safety that will leave a lord that sure will that'll leave a mark and forehead he goes over a thousand yards in receptions this season and he'll remember that one and that's how you tackle you tackle with your shoulder not your helmet so the line of scrimmage is the 26 the field goal attempt by Elam now as they set it up Rouen will put it down at the 34 so a 44 yard and that would have been more fun if he would have been an incomplete 44 yarder after as earlier see - and 63 earlier this season this is like a sandwich form and it is good well give Denver credit for being aggressive it would have been real easy to just sit on the football run out of the run out the clock go to the locker room with a three-point lead at halftime that's why I don't understand to kickoff by Miami after they had just scored instead its Denver 13 Miami 7 at the half the Toyota halftime show coming up as Monday Night Football returns after this message for the National Football League and a word from our ABC stations ah yes it's the holiday season in Miami as we strive the second half at pro player Stadium now Michaels with Dan Dierdorf bloomer Esiason and Lesley Visser and they turned the lights down at the half because they were honoring white Stephenson the former dolphin Center who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer and it's taken a little while for there goes Dwight after a very nice ceremony at the half and it's taken a while for the what is it the foot-candles to get back up that's real bright down by the goal line and in the end zones and yet pretty dim right there at the 30 where the ball is it's gonna be pretty dim if the Dolphins can't come from behind in the second half here as the second half kickoff is taken by Derrick LaBelle on a bouncing kick by Marte and brought back to the 41 let's check in with Lesley Visser al Jimmy Johnson said at halftime that this is strange to save a 38 year old but they have got to limit Elway scrambling he also said with Avery out and Kareem abdul-jabbar dingey said our offense is severely limited and they do not want Dan Marino to throw the ball 57 times as he did last week they're going to have to because they can't run it sometimes the subsidy forces you to do things that you don't want to do from the 40-yard line as OE begins with a bomb to start the second half and hitch launch Smith who had beaten Sam Madison and we had talked about Jimmie Johnson telling us last night that Madison hadn't beaten all season well he's just beating their 35 yards Jimmy's looking for a little help from the official saying that the ball was not held by Rob Ron Smith he that he was juggling it on the sideline it's an absolutely perfect throw by John Elway dropping it right over Madison shoulder right into the hands of Smith and let's take a look at it he pretty much demonstrated possession sure that Davis gets tackled there by Robert Jones for Terrell Davis a very unstable I gave you this point 14 carries 27 yards what's the two yards a carry for a man who comes into the game averaging a sparkling 5.2 Broncos 30 straight wins when leading at the half as is the case tonight longest current streak in the league no you have to remember this is the third ranked defense in the NFL coming into this weekend the Miami Dolphins are and they had trouble against San Diego which is one of the better defenses as well so we've not a slouch defense that they're playing against second and 9 and sharp makes the catch at the 20-yard line taken down they're about 5 yards shy of the first down George Hills defense trying to hold Denver right here is we look at the numbers of the first 30 minutes of competition Denver on top five six and by Denver standards a hundred and thirty nine yards at halftime a pretty anemic production a good half for the Miami Dolphins on the other hand with 180 total yards but the one turnover you know boomer you talked about this defense of Miami's being third coming into this weekend that's in yardage they're number one number two counts points allowed right Lorenzo bro Mel moving he's been a great story for the Miami Dolphins a rookie a fourth round draft choice who already has seven sacks number two in the NFL for all rookie defensive lineman only Bonnie Holiday Green Bay has one more of a you know it's kind of interesting centers try to get away with the little muscle twinge in their arm and defensive lineman I'm not really watching the football they're looking for movement either by the quarterbacks legs or by the other or by the offensive linemen in front of them well we're done we're down here in South Florida where seafood is really big this Center becomes snapper down here and what he's saying is that now and made a quick move when he dropped his butt like that he will say he was daelin third down and 11 Elway for the endzone and Shannon Sharpe does everything he can to try to draw a flag with Buckley me with great coverage and Sharpe doing a wonderful acting job to make it look like an appearance and guys that's the matchup that you want you don't want shannon sharpe showing up against Zach Thomas running down the field but you could see because of the alignment that they put properly right on shore up and sharpen I mean Buckley could stay with him he's not going out muscled him but he can definitely stay with him now Elam for a 43-yard attempt he's made them from 52 Oh from 44 Tom Rouen to hold it mister he hooked them they did Victor and that means the ball will come back to the 34-yard line 12:42 remaining in the third period denver up by six [Music] wayne Huizenga the owner of the Miami Dolphins and the man who brought Jimmy Johnson into the fold Jimmy not completing his third year at the helm and watching his team with the ball of the 33 yard line first down and tan is Dan Marino down by six as the ball for the first time in the second hands buying time Kareem abdul-jabbar and he's up to the 38 yard line and he's tackled thereby and order these are the types of things I think that they have to do because they're not able to run the football they'll try a few more times just to keep trying to keep the Denver Bronco defense honest but by action look down the field if you can't find anybody you know Dan has the whereabouts to get the ball off to his late release in backs or as tight ends and this is the type of thing they're gonna have to do offensive ly because they can not move the ball running it second and five bill Romanowski aligning himself there's linebacker spot McDuffie emotion we know throws and it's pork at the 45-yard line bakit is there for the tackling gents of all the interesting things with this moreno Elway match the first time in 13 years we forget going all the way back they were great baseball players and in 1979 as we watch the completion here the Kansas City Royals drafted Dan Marino in the fourth round and John Elway in the 18th round so Marino and Elway could have been teammates with George Brett that would have made Whitey Herzog a happy man and neither chose to sign though Elway was subsequently drafted by the Yankees and did play one season of minor league ball for the Yanks abdul-jabbar tackled at the line of scrimmage a lot of people drafted John that way and didn't get his services stop and think that this guy could have played his football career in Baltimore the Colts then were by the bay and John made a known no way was that going to happen and Denver for a whole bunch of players and whatnot ended up with the rights to John Elway and the rest as they say we all know what happened second and 11 10:40 on the third Chris Hinton one of the guys that end up going to Baltimore for a little good player Thomas and Thomas is able to get free for the touchdown his second oh boy did George Coghill make a mistake he went from the interception and as opposed to playing the man and the football and again that was that scene throw against that cover too and he threw it to the sideline is 12 Brock Marion just absolutely laid out and McCaffrey of the Broncos and this time Coghill goes for the football as opposed to will the man he's still got enough gun in his arm I could tell you that a dangerous play by a safety Thomas just does it easily the rest on his own so Miami with the lead Mata is pick gives them the lead and in Thomas's six-year career this is the first time he has scored two touchdowns in a game and he couldn't have picked a better time 1413 [Music] this crowd reeling into it now as their dolphins are up by one ma Bay's kick fielded by one timbren at at the 21-yard hey check it now la coming out as we take a look at the quarterback comparison the first meeting of these guys since 85 I think Dan Marino is trying to make a statement here tonight you know they you will talk to both of them and they'll say we're not playing against each other but every quarterback goes out on the field wanting to outplay his counterpart and in a game of this magnitude with these types of players they both is so competitive that there the wind that they want the covers on their side even more basic Miami wants to get into the playoff a win tonight they clinched a playoff spot as ill way.this flushed out rows underneath and they bust up the play as Davis makes the catch but right there to bring him down was Darrell Gardner doing a real indication of that guys is that we didn't see the rushing statistics for John Elway but when he started to make plays with his legs it goes to show you just how important this game means to him well he wants this one very badly there's no question about that tonight he's rushed four times for 23 yards he almost has as many yards as Davis has in 14 carries please he's like Steve Young in that respect he really can't play any other way it's just not in his nature Davis and he that's their equivalent he gets taken down immediately as the play is made by Robert Jones well it's keep in mind now we talked about it earlier this is a defensive football team that really feels that they were slighted in the Pro Bowl balloting only defensive tackle Tim Bowens is why to Hawaii and they really came in on this national stage wanting to prove something tonight and look at that stick by joan textbook I cannot even begin to tell you how nasty it is back there for the quarterback loud it is here how quipus defense is playing third and 13 they blitz Denver picks it up that gives Elway the time to throw but good coverage in the secondary Raj Smith hasn't broken up by Patrick surveying and that's the rookie that Jimmy Johnson says is going to beat great their second round draft choice this year and he came up big that time look how tight he is all over Rod Smith you can see both guys covered and entertain actually getting in there and trying to get some hands on him and Elway tries to under throw the ball at smart play but certein was right there for the answer that time it's Smith they can't get separation Tom ruined a putt Terrell Buckley back to accept it nice pick really good kick 52 yards Buckley from the 30 taken down at the 36 yard line the tackle made there by John Mobley hey 33 left in the third Miami up by one [Music] well the Denver Broncos now defensively as their team is down by a point after the last Miami Drive resulted in the Lamar Thomas touchdown via Smith again is not playing the night inactive on the shelf hope to have him back next week says Mike Shanahan in the meantime John Avery who went in for x-rays on his ankle is fine in fact he's back in the game as the ace back in this set and on first down a quick throw over the middle to the tight end that is Troy Drayton up to the 43 yard line for a gain of seven that'll make it second down and three the old adage about blitzing Dan Marino and sometimes the price you pay because of how quickly he makes the decision and how even quicker than that he delivers the football boomer all these years we've been watching it it's still a beautiful thing to say it really is and one of the things that Greg Robinson the defensive coordinator for the Broncos has to figure out is you know when to blitz him when not to Blitzen and when to put pressure on these receivers they've kind of looked through sewers get off the line of scrimmage to a little bit too easily tonight on second and two back to the ground touch the FAQ great move and Avery picks up a big first down to the Denver 40-yard line what a movie put on Tito ball Pete Oh getting a lot more airtime that I'm sure that he won yes in the last eight days Tito's a wonderful athlete I've actually played with him in Cincinnati in Arizona and tonight he's he's had an opportunity to make two plays that he was able to make and right here's one of them that's what we call a win and you talked about the quickness however of Avery and what he can do when he has the football and this is just a cutback he starts one way and then cuts all the way against the grain a good way to play against a an over pursuing defense like the Denver Broncos from the 40-yard line Marino over the middle guns that one to his tight aim two passes to great first down tackled by Coghill at the 20 I've been engaged with every know who's gotten hot and you choose we won't do anything you can to get him out of his rhythm and right now you're seeing just how masterful he can be when he's given the opportunity to throw footballs at the right time on first down and on second down and he is just picking the Denver defense apart right now he doesn't have to throw he's throwing when he wants to right now first out [Applause] 6:42 go in the third to the ground again to Avery and Avery get stopped after a gain of one maybe two by speed 1/4 Moreno tonight a good night statistically his rating computes to 128 and the the interesting thing about Dan all season long and going back to the middle of last year he has not had a single game where his pass rating has been over a hundred I thought what like 19 game exactly but you know what Dan Marino is a chronic time player guys we all know that tonight this game has been billed a match between he and John Elway and both are going toe-to-toe and right now you would say that Dan Marino is on his game second in a and Marino throws [Applause] trick Forum here goes the third ball up into the stand what a night for Lamar Thomas played collegiately here for the hurricane football I had two touchdowns coming into the game tonight none since week three look at this adjust foot to the ball and then the grab over Darian Gordon fabulous what a great catch and how many times that we've seen that this year the underthrown go pattern and the DBS are unable to adjust to make a play mata is on the point after two quick Miami strikes here in the third quarter 553 left in the third it's Miami 21 Denver 13 [Music] dan Marino and Lamar Thomas have now combined for three touchdown passes in a span of ten minutes one second dan has completed his last nine straight and like two heavyweights going at it Elway loosening up ready to come back in with the Broncos down by eight ma days check fielded and dropped and picked back up at the 1 yard line by Vaughn heparin and heparin brings it to the 19 yard line almost losing the ball in the process first down Denver at the 19 the three touchdowns to Thomas he had not scored since week three against Pittsburgh that one as he beats Tito pull then getting by Crockett here Coghill can't make the tackle that gave Miami the lead and then a moment ago adjusting reaching Wharton covering on the play touchdown Miami poor receptions on the entire evening three of them for score right and on that second play pockets got to get a hand on from the 19 now it's Elwes chance and he hits McCaffrey and McCaffrey gets rolled down at the 28 yard line tackle made there by Sam Madison at all and all the things you know for all that Miami has accomplished now in the last 10 or so minutes you know they're only up by 8 points and this is exactly a bomb mike shanin this is exactly the situation I want my team in right now on the road you know that they really have nothing to play for they need to be tested this is exactly where you want your football team to be at the end of the year to show me something right now second and a law from the 28 yard line Davis and Davis rusting Ford comes close to picking up the first an Jason Taylor is there with under five minutes to play in the third Dan that might have been his best run of the night right there because he would have gotten stopped and it looks like he lunged forward enough for a first down little runs like that great running backs are able to accomplish the little things and breaking tackles falling falling forward to gain a half a yard or two yards for a first down this is why he's one of the best in the league right now and have really again though you're right boomer it was a fine effort by Terrell Davis but again you just have to continue to praise this defensive unit of the Miami Dolphins every yard for the Broncos tonight is something they have had to scratch for everything's been contested and we'll see some more balls thrown downfield I guarantee it with the way Madison and Buckley are playing coming out of the second half Elway got a chance to throw it down to Rod Smith I wouldn't be surprised if we see a few more of those plays right here along this part of the game and it's what Buckley and Madison have seen all year there is one press coverage against every team they they do well I talked to Buckley before the game of his hey man I'm matched up I'm ready to go come on pull the ball at me first down at the 29 yard line and on an end around the dolphin sniff that one out and the spirit of Jason Taylor takes care of Rod Smith they are having a great night even though he won't get credit for a couple of things that he did earlier creating fumbles he knocked the ball loose from John Elway a couple times in the first half and this is just again an illustration of Jason Taylor and his remarkable athleticism and speed look at that burst as he gets inside Carswell he looks like a power fall we got a clinic sell a race I was down on next to him on the field he looked like a power forward oh I'll guarantee if Karl Malone's not that fast that's a 10-yard loss at second down in 20 Elway under pressure here he goes and at the age of 38 still nimble enough to get up to the 35 yard line breaking a tackle earlier by Shane Burton earlier in the play and picking up 16 setting up third and four now keep in mind John Elway has had hamstring problems earlier this year and I'm sure every time mike shanin sees John Elway digging out of the backfield like this at 38 years old he has to be a little concerned he has to be but it's still about being battle-tested watching your quarterback your leader your football team team do things like this game means something to him but the rest of those players on the football field third down and four and that's tipped and incomplete and the Miami defense does its job so the offense has taken the lead they've scored twice and two possessions the defense will get the ball back now for the offenses for them for its pressure and emotion and you could feel it in this building right now the Dolphins feed off of that here and that's something that Jimmy Johnson wanted to instill and this building was a a distinct home-field advantage [Applause] Tom ruined to punt Terrell Buckley back to receive it loh liner 45-yard boot buckley from the 2014 yard run back out at the 34 with 307 to go in the third the Dolphins trying to cement the spot in postseason play leading by eight [Music] what a night for Lamar Thomas who at the moment is on the benches Miami has a first and 10 from the 33 yard line and Dan Marino going to the Aires ten straight that's McDuffie making the catch a gain of eight let's go to Leslie Alva Lamar Thomas's family is all here to support him he's enjoying tremendous support he is joined by his uncle Mac Carter his aunt Patricia Carter and his grandmother heiress Thomas who raised him in Ocala he came over and he told them all this is an early Christmas present for you the three footballs they said the best thing is that all the touchdowns are in this endzone and they haven't had to run to the other side ha ha well they're gonna get 50 yard line seats next week if he keeps playing like this no kidding oh boy what a what a night for Lamar Thomas luxury suite second in one every and they're able to spread them out and John Mobley is in there to make the tackle behind the line of scrimmage and they've just turned a second and one into a third and four I'll just keep throwing the ball forget this you can't run it it's for you you can't throw it every down oh why not spoken like a true quarterback but this guy is on fire tonight this is not like last week where they were struggling offensively and they had opportunities to win but are you seriously saying you wouldn't run the ball again the rest of the game get it you're listening with the SA P button he's in Fuego third down and four from the 39 yard line we thought about boomer or Marina bulbs this is Marino throwing and that is intercepted by Atwater it was a carom and Atwater winds up with it and Denver has the ball raycrockett and OJ McDuffie battling for it and the ball careened into the arms of Steve Atwater and Steve Atwater who's going to the Pro Bowl this year for the 8th time incredibly that's his first interception of 1998 so you got to run the ball that's what I was saying yeah I knew that's what you'd be saying well we're really right here this is a nice setup by Crockett he gets inside and gets right as the ball arrives and that order is right at the spot where the ball comes down that was really well done by ours it was proper grammar Denver on first down draw play Davis and still nothing happening right there and Terrell Davis tonight that 16 carries for 29 yards less than two yards per lift Elway tonight as five carries for 39 yards so who would have who would have thunk this second down and nine from the 39 yard line ruch enough he put on Elway that it was a wobbly duck that his ain't complete intended for Davis Derrick Rodgers back there covering and Jason Taylor coming out holding his arm know if John if John Elway could get just a little bit more time he's got McCaffrey wide open over the middle about 15 yards deep but he's kind of the pocket is kind of collapsing they're coming around the corner and they're doing a good job of keeping him in the pocket right now they've been burned and I'm sure they've been told on the sidelines stay in your rush Lane stay in the rush yes would be swag Taylor ah and nine go away and they have around the shirt that's a backward pan so it's a live football and it's picked up by my end they're rolling at they're gonna roll that did Jerry Wolfson picks it up if they're ruling it dead I don't think there's a chance in 10,000 that that wasn't a backward pass yeah Phil Luckett waved it off Zach Thomas created it he was the guy who got lways arm this has gotta be a that's what Jim both arguing Jimmy's going to be apoplectic because this is another call it's going to go against him what an amazing set of circumstances for what officials tell you and you can hear the these fans sitting on the big board up top and they're reacting to it take a look CENTCOM has polls John all right he's hit two forty six and a half yard line and the ball lands on the 48 that is a fumble it is a lousy call well I mean I think we're pretty fair to the officials and we've tried to me on this show through the years but this crew has just had a miserable month miserable ruins kick and denver down it and they do at the one-yard line so instead of Miami having the ball at about to Denver 40 they have it at the 1 and Jimmy I don't blame you an outstanding stand by Miami defensively notwithstanding that it should have been their ball the referee does his job correctly the first part of it in determining that it is a pass not a fumble but that's only half of the job it has to be a forward pass that was certainly a backwards pass and a live with no the interesting thing is is did they pick the ball up and how far did they run it down today it doesn't matter because I'm an lowing Louis hole yeah I know that but I'm just saying it should have probably been I can't see how we're on it to about the 40 I thought when they actually get tackled yes it was Jerry Wilson and he did get tackled you know the thing is is that the officials have a tough enough job as it is but when calls like that go awry you're talking about teams that are going for playoffs coaches that are have to have jobs players that are affected in the meantime they have to get out of the end zone here and they do here is John Avery takes it up to the one-and-a-half Monday Night Football being brought to you by Cadillac in your Cadillac dealers Southwest Airlines proud sponsor of the NFL and official airline of the Superbowl and by 20th Century Fox's The Thin Red Line the most anticipated movie of the year and by the way al if you're keeping score at home another instance where replay would not have correct with absolutely replay is not the panacea but it certainly would help not tonight though end of three Miami 21 Denver 13 Monday Night Football resumes after this from our ABC stations [Music] John Elway and he and the Broncos have been the beneficiaries of three atrocious calls by the officials tonight this last one precipitating that Jimmie Johnson reactions boy he has every right to be angry I mean his team is fighting for a playoff spot and to have those calls go against it he's got to be unbelievable how frustrating the second and nine and this is Eddie Murray taking it after the eight yard line and during our commercial break Phil Luckett went over there to explain the ball went backwards it's a fumble that's what he's saying now I'm not gonna tell you what he said there oh I could lip-read the adjective you know and it's right in it as I was saying there's so much stress and pressure put on coaches and players week and week out the people to be basically at three calls go get us this real third and three and that is incomplete as it is Troy Drayton who tries to fall it in at the 15 and now Miami is forced to punt again and we mentioned it a couple of times earlier but if you weren't with us Jimmie Johnson's mother passed away last night in Port Arthur Texas so forget for Jimmy it's just a just an emotionally racking night along the sideline to begin with I don't know how he can do it to be honest I mean it's not an easy thing to coach in the NFL but to have that hanging on your hardening boy and Jimmy very close with his parents is George Coghill accepts this kick off the foot of Wilms Meyer and brings it back to the 41 yard line so very good position now for the Broncos who trail by eight a minute into the fourth [Music] well gents you know when we saw the schedule come out this year we knew this would be a big night to begin with Marino against that way then we had the specter of the undefeated season which went away but it's Marino in LA again and it's quite a show and it's also a Miami Dolphins team that is playing for a spot in the playoff in there playing with that kind of intensity tonight first and 10 Elway going deep is not in bounds rod Smith with the coverage by Sam Madison and the side judges right then down there to say he wasn't in and that was Laird Hayes the side judge making that call and it looks from here he made the right call so you know you got to get credit when they make the calls right and you see right here Smith steps out right there but we're going to see some more of that tonight as the night goes on just because of that particular type of coverage and how aggressive they are we keep talking about it the opportunities for plays are there second and ten Davis squirts through the middle flag comes in Terrell's longest carry of the night nine yards we'll have holden here so no ground game at all for the broncos tonight then and that's kind of front page news it's no ground for either team and holding offense number 66 ten yards fames looking out with this dolphin defense makes you make decisions quickly they force you into situations with their penetration and their speed and whether it be the running back or whether it be the quarterback or the receivers down the field you have to be on target and you have to make them right and for most of the game tonight the Denver Broncos have been off in their decision-making well this is a well schooled unit George Hill their defensive coordinator 65 years old a lot of wisdom going into this group second dominant 20 there's another flag and there's no play this plane was whistled dead before it started prior to the snap start that's Tony Jones who in his 11th season at a Western Carolina will finally get to the Pro Bowl this year [Applause] but you sing now you know the Bronco is getting a little bit of their own medicine here the noise in this stadium is really heating up on the defense feeds off of that emotionally in and they just Jack themselves up that much more second down at 25 la a ton of time throws an out for McCaffrey and that's broken up by Buckley right on them to I mean right there it is hard to stick with a guy who comes back as far as Ed McCaffrey came back to help out John Elway it's amazing to me that neither one of these corners that Pro Bowl recognition really I mean you watch them I mean they're right in there and there's no zones this is actually his own and Buckley doesn't nice has a nice understanding where McCaffrey is and stays right with him well the three corners from the AFC tile off Aaron Glenn and Shawn spring poke those guys I know that's the thing man 15 I am Bucklin third down 25 la with about a half hour and then adjusting but not making the kanjis Duane Carswell the tight end going all the way downfield and Lorenzo Brummell makes the acquaintance of John Elway is that passes launched well you'd think after a half an hour he had somebody open well you know that time they only rushed three guys in a left eight the secondary and really very very few balls have been uncontested by the defense tonight you can see right here John Elway takes the pop and again Terrell Buckley right there where the football is and can't say enough good things about these guys back in the secondary the Dolphins OJ McDuffie goes back to receive his Tom Rouen wobbly kick and McDuffie fields it on the run at the 19 and brings it back out to the 28 yard line tackled there by Tito Pole we have 12 41 left in regulation Miami 21 Denver 13 alongside Bob Griese is Miami hazard at the 28 yard line and Kareem abdul-jabbar the 31 you know Jets we haven't talked about the fact that the reason these teams haven't played since 85 day and touched on and earlier was scheduling quirk a lot of people think the league makes out of schedule and people this week a number of people said to me how can the league not have paired these two guys when it has nothing to do with that but our may and our Director of Information Steve hurt went into the archives put his green eyeshade on went back to his old univac computer and figured out the odds against that happening that they weren't paired up over 12 years 458 to 1 were the odds mathematically that that would happen I would have thought a little bit somewhere in the 4/7 I thought so too Marino on second and 7 throws incomplete I don't have enough time in my life to figure things out like that well when you think it is amazing because if a team wins a division title for instance if you win the AFC West the next year you play the champions of the other two divisions then the Dolphins and the Broncos have each won a lot of titles but never in the same season they would had to bed up at the same time or down at the same time right there biorhythms were completely opposite that's what it amounts to but tonight we have this harmonic convergence Zack Thomas getting stretched out there and it's third down and seven at the 30-yard line not quite as harmonic as it could have been seven days ago eight days ago Marino and that's pot first down and rolling to the 50-yard line and picking up that first down as a running the Gadsden and Dan Marino another 300 yard night it's the 59th time in his career and the difference is with Dan he wins most of his three hundred yard games well you know for the longest time that's how they won their games they threw the football and for most of us who had some 300 yard games we were usually thrown from behind the reason that most teams wind up on the short end first and tan at the 50 yard line Miami a fire abdul-jabbar no game talking about Dan Marino and how much he's throwing the football it's one of the things I really admired about Don Shula and his coaching style no coach in the league was more committed to the running game than Don Shula was zonka kick and Mercury Mars he just pounded the football a big day for Bob Griese was 12 or 13 throws but he realized what he had when he drafted Dan Marino at the tail end of the 83 draft you know and he changed his entire system to take advantage of this Thomas Alert Lamar Thomas in the game with three touchdowns bottom of the screen on second and 10 Moreno escaping throwing for ejected incomplete Nate covered by raycrockett on the play oh yeah I don't really care how good you are but when you have guys draped around you and you have pressure coming in up the middle in the form of Langford res of those are the types of things that force in accuracy and you can see the pressure right here coming right up the middle you have a little play fake so you turn your head and there goes Cod res right past them but he's got a hold of them it's very disconcerting for a quarterback a pretty effective job by Jabbar of getting something on cut res rerouting him enough that all he got was a hand on moreno but you're right it was enough to disrupt the path but you got to come after the guy can't let him sit back there third and ten Moreno then nobody home nobody even close to that one Jack and I guess the the closest to that fast but he was ten yards away no interesting in this particular series are a couple passes that want to ride on him and I think it was a little miscommunication between he and one of his one young receivers this time it looks like he's trying to get it to OJ McDuffie and I think that he was a little bit off base with him tonight's aerial shots provided by the bud one airship of room high above pro player Stadium here in Miami Wilms mired a punt pooches it to the 12 yard line where it's fair caught by Coghill Darien Gordon getting arrest and popular to return it 10:09 left in regulation Denver as the ball back Denver first and 10 from the 12 Elway has missed six in a row and make that seven but there's a flag down holding you know it's going to be holding Jason Taylor's in the midst of it again this was a full blown tackle here you know Miami has not had a single penalty assessed against them tonight if this one's accepted this will be the 8th on Denver holding offense number 77 is declined second down 77 is Sony Jones at the top your screen Jason Taylor takes them inside and Joan seem completely unprepared court and this book came and dragged him down Elway 11 out of 29 he is old for his last seven and now he's old for 8 with a pickle and his amber Madison inside the 10 first and goal at the 6 over 8 becomes AM date you run out of superlatives for this Miami Dolphins defense you know it's about pressure it's about man coverage and Madison this time shows great fall skills the ability to turn around and make the play on an under thrown ball John tries to under throw it to give Smith the chance to make a play but it's about pressure it's about guys get downfield and sticking with their receivers and look at the ball skills that Madison has to be able to turn around and make a play on it you see this time and again every week to look at DD's and you say who has got the ball skills to go after that football and certainly Madison and Buckley have shown that they have those skills tonight boy what a play that is $28 this season 8 for Sam the 28 tops in the league by far first and goal from the 6 yard line out of the eye a little toss to abdul-jabbar he gets taken down for 9 yard line Keith's trailer with the tackle just to give you an indication of those 28 interceptions as we look at Sam Madison in action again and boomers right on about the ball handling skills just keep in mind Buckley and Madison have 16 interceptions between the two of them the Denver Broncos as a team only have 17 and that rating for John Elway [Applause] 37.4 coming into the game 95.6 for the season that's his career-high a miserable night for John courtesy the dolphin second and goal Blake clock down to one abdul-jabbar to the 8 yard line is going to set up a third down and goal the interesting thing is that I'm watching the body language of Dan Marino and he is really one of the more demonstrative players in the game today and you could see that he's frustrated by those first two calls and he wants to throw the ball when they got down there the last time first down and they throw it to Lamar Thomas for a touchdown and they're unable to get anything done on the ground so now you stick to player it's third and eight and you stick them in a situation where you know he has to throw Dan Marino's a quarterback that Bobby Lane would love and in your face to yata you do something wrong pat you on the back of you do something well and watch the outside guys they're locked up again one on third and goal it is takes the defender into the endzone for the touchdown he dragged torie James over the goal line outside to his left and they've been thrown those little fig patterns this time it's a little slim off the fade move and he gets right underneath James and the fall is delivered perfectly down low you can see gassing it in front of James and now it's all up to Gatson and his bad toes to get in the end zone police got big toes he's 6 to 220 pounds keep in mind this guy played in the Arena League tonight this is like 41st ball game of the year the forest of dragons and the dragon may have just slain the giant I don't care some of that football was it doors outdoors on roller rink that's a lot of football 28:13 [Music] and in Miami the kickoff here fielded by Vaughn heparin and Vaughn with a big run back out in front and he's going to put Denver right into the game the Broncos haven't had a kickoff return for a touchdown since 1972 and Vaughn Hebburn takes it back 95 yards the Denver Broncos have gone 408 games without a kickoff return for a touchdown and Rick Dennison happy-happy happy-happy are you kidding me oh boy and the Broncos were ready to put bubby Brister back into the game here and Elway was going to get the rest of the night off now you have to wonder if that's going to change nobody's in there now they're gonna go 4-2 right here I guess Mike Shanahan going to stick with it outstanding blocking never touched by a Miami defender and Vaughn heparin running away from the field amazing thing about an NFL game boy I'll tell you just a one play can change the momentum dictate a new way well this is this isn't wire that guaranteed goalie I don't know why they going for tune if you pick it you're within a you know if you miss it you're nine points down but if you kick it you can score by getting into the end zone with one and A two points but they get in but I don't know why and I think McCaffrey is hurt McCaffrey made the cat's okay he's all right boy he twisted it around the wrong way but whatever the card was they were going off of his wrong in that particular case you make it 28 28 because if you missed it you need two scores if you kick it you only need one score and the two-point conversion but you're gonna have to get a two-point conversion later anyway knowing the tough thing is is putting in a backup quarterback and his first play is a two-point play now the you know the good news is I guess if they wanted to go for a touchdown and a two pointer now they could win it but that doesn't make any sense either at now whatever card they looked at was wrong if they looked at a car they looked at a joker but if anybody thought for one moment that the Denver Broncos were going to give up obviously they've quieted that crowd this is a team that obviously is very proud about what they've accomplished last year and up to this point this year and they're not going to go down without a fight here but how about that for history that the Dolphins with an undefeated team in 72 and that's the last time I mean think back to the dolphin season 272 and how long ago that seems and that's the last time the Broncos had a touchdown off a kickoff return it was done by Randy Montgomery in 1972 they had returned more than 1,350 kicks in the interim you're right O's right up the middle is terrific blocking and it was good set up and Vaughn never did a nice imitation of a little bit of like Terrell Davis back there just took one step to the right and boom right up the middle 1362 returns is the official number he's like what more do I have to do now well it's so frustrating to be on the other side of it you work work work to accomplish something and in the span of about 11 seconds there goes seven points of it right out the window or in this case eight and think about that and that in the baltimore game last week against minnesota they have three kickoffs returned for touchdowns in the first quarter alone and this is avery who was trying to duplicate the feat but gets taken down up at the 37 yard line here you are Dan Marino you just throw another touchdown pass you go to the side a little Gatorade you sit down coach don't your great job great job and before you know it you got to go back out of the mo because your team just gave up a long kickoff return I can't tell you how frustrating that is for a player especially one who's just been battling all night long I'll tell you what's frustrating I remember one time if memory serves me correctly back in the 70s we ran a kickoff back for a touchdown and then we kicked off and and the Redskins ran a kickoff back back to back what about the moralizing first down for the dolphins up at the 37 yard line was 7:45 trying to take some time off the clock now but then one nowwhere abdul-jabbar gets taken down after a minimal game abdul-jabbar tonight has carried the ball a total of 13 times as you look at Marino's numbers make it 12 times for four yards and that's why the Dolphins are winning when you look at Marino's numbers because they certainly negated everything that's happened on the ground this is where you would love to have a running game that takes some of the pressure off of you in your passing game now a minute ago you're running into throw everything I just said this is where you wish second and nine and it's caught by Lamar Thomas with his three touchdowns tonight to the 48 yard line in the first down the Denver 48 I'd say the secondary the Broncos are having a heck of the time covering these guys and then when they do catch the ball they're having a heck of a time trying to tackle it well they're there they're blitzing they're stunning they're trying a lot of different avenues to get to Dan Marino but again they're finding out and maybe it's because they haven't played them since 85 this guy gets rid of the football in a hurry sure you know the thing we're talking about Mike - Mike Shanahan yesterday he was telling us how you know hey this game we're playing it to win it Darian Gordon meanwhile out of the game at one corner for Denver with a bruised shoulder flag comes in this has have Google Jabbar there is Gordon the cornerback and also their punt returner hands to the face and that's against Denver so still no penalties against Miami tonight for a moment there I thought bill was so upset with himself he was inflicting some illegal hands to the face defense number 35 five yards from the end of the with an automatic first down shocking like Shanahan will take his team home after the game they wrap it up against Seattle at Mile High next week we'll see that their penalty here [Applause] they called that on ya Darius Johnson what touchy-feely it looked like to me it was the other way around then oh yeah [Applause] first down Broncos home next week and then off remember the the wild-card week they have the bind their next meaningful game is the weekend of the ninth no team in any game this season in the NFL has gone through the entire game without a penalty and this is abdul-jabbar [Applause] see that water the other thing that's going on tonight is that Denver has a streak a long streak of games with sacks 50 in a row in fact and they do not have a sack tonight and it's Dan Marino what else is new be very difficult to get to him especially with the way he's thrown the football tonight now last week they gave up five sacks of the Jets but they did drop pack 62 times so that probably had something to do with it and going into that game last week they only had 16 sacks on the year so it's nothing new dan Marino and his offensive line League leaders every year of his career second and 11 hello a story James makes you acquaintance of OJ McDuffie as you roll from passion and when I say League leaders they're not number one every year but they are always in the top five and it is just the Dan Marino knows where he's going with the football and he just delivers the ball quicker than anybody in my mind that has ever played the game of flip and you know he's not worried about his completion percentage certainly he wants it to be high but you know he'd rather throw the ball way than take a sack he's an unselfish player in that sense but he'd rather complete the year than the past right put their players in this league that will take the sack and are afraid to throw the football away third down and nine stunting up front and that's incomplete good defense by raid Crockett on the fast intended for McDuffie and for those of you that hurt boomer make that comment and wondered if he'd lost his mind he's right on and the reason is a sac doesn't count against the quarterbacks radiant that's exactly rowing the football away is an incomplete pass and that does and it does and you know it takes a little bit of confidence in yourself and in your ability to not worry about what your completion percentage is but most coaches will tell you that they'd rather have the quarterback throw it away than complete 62 or 63 percent of his pass there's Loomis Meyer kickin and it is caught but is it in the hitch well it's tossed back by Todd dachshund who's actually one of the backup quarterbacks and special teams guy but he was in the end zone now the question is who's coming in to play quarterback for the Denver Broncos on its Elway now Todd dachshunds the quarterback is gonna be smarter than that now now bubby comes in to do the two-point conversion look he's man he wants to play look but but Mike Shanahan says we're going to try to win this game this is what he said going in we are playing to win and obviously a man of his word and this is John Elway time right here four and a half inch a little bit less than four and a half minutes to go for now by seven john elway no stranger of course to being winning drives in the fourth quarter and overtime and that number two right number too old in fact we had enough well Moreno and Elway one two in just about every category and they want to and comebacks as well Elway old for his last nine and finally that streak ends but not with a first down sharp makes the catch setting up third and two always seemed to me watching John Elway over the years and you know the first part of the game really you know he wasn't really into it but then when I got it to the fourth quarter and they wanted to their no huddle offense their two-minute drill where he could call the plays he really got into the game got it to the rhythm and got it to the flow and not only would he complete a lot of passes to take off and run - from the twenty-eighth crowd in full throat first down caught by Rod Smith forced out by Marion at the 37 officially Elway has led 40 drives in his career game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime second among active players and of course the guy who's number one with 45 is on the other bench and that's a drive that puts a team lead to stay in the regular season you see those numbers all over the joint but those are the official numbers merino 45 Illinois 40 first and 10 in the 37 yard line and that is not caught by Smith who adjusted on the backpedal and couldn't hold it in that was almost the exact same play that they were picked off by Madison on this time Smith was running up the field straight and again John tries to under throw the football and Smith really should have made this play this is the play that he normally makes and Patrick certeyn was right there but it's a play that rod Smith one way he could see was upset with himself by not making it no way that's dropped by Lily green luckily with a coverage of third and ten now he's right there again it looked like to me he got his hand in there a little bit but you can't say enough good things again about this secretary the right there right where the ball is being thrown there right on the money in there boy they aggressive let's take a look here this time John roses slant inside Green probably should have had that one as well raucous as it's been all night on third and ten that is a so full and effective Jerry Wilson comes up with it he and Shannon Sharpe each had possession well if it ends up simultaneous position is awarded to the offense but before it got to that point Jerry Wilson ripped it away from Shannon Sharpe unbelievable John Elway is what 13 of 36 with two intercepts what a job by Wilson first of all he's got it sharps got it and Jerry stays with it Wilson has more of it there sharp ends up with more of it there I think and then Wilson gets it back boy that that's that's really big-time stuff and this is avery and for Jerry Wilson who is in his fourth season that's his first career interception now the Broncos will start to call timeout here to save some time so it's a good move by Mike Shanahan to do this it's a great rule on the other side of that you've got to stop them otherwise you've wasted your time out and then the opposition can run the clock out here's a reminder tomorrow if the holidays have you a little stressed here's the cure laughs a night away with the new family comedy America loves the huge leaves tomorrow at 8:30 well it's been awhile since John Elway is had a passing night like tonight now he hasn't had tons of help he's had some dropped balls by some of his receivers but still the coverage by these members of the Miami Dolphins defense look at a 13 of 36 a 26 5 rating and down there around a 33 percent completion average that's that's stunning they will look at this film tomorrow and they will see Miami green all over their receivers downfield and when he did have guys open yet pressure well let's face it over every team that's gonna face Denver in the playoffs is going to spilled over and over and over second down and nine Stanley perched at the floor back has come out goes to the air to move to change and Thomas says the smart thing by staying to keep the clock going and that Denver is forced not to use a timeout here because you have a first down what a terrific call by Kippy Brown this time he fakes the ball has Dan Marino faked the ball Dave rien though the line to the left and he actually rolls them out something that you don't see Dan Marino do very often his throw on the run like this and he's very capable of doing it in a real nice play by Thomas that time staying inbound and catching the foil they thought about it for a minute and in Denver decided they might as well take the time out of here look what's the the rock and hard place cliche right now with a first down and only one timeout on the two-minute warning Moreno tonight 355 yards away 151 and Davis I mean that's the other story tonight Terrell Davis 16 carries 29 yards you know what they're not my high though that's the thing if it were if we're a mile high and it was something like these kind of numbers I would I would definitely be alarm but on the road when you have nothing to play for against the team that is as desperate as Miami is I don't really know how significant that is no it's it's certainly I don't think anyone in the Denver organization is going to panic he won't be benched next week they'll be huh they'll be they'll be sorry they lost he'll be happy if he leaves here healthy right and that's the key but as Shanahan was saying last night and we talked about it tonight he wants his team to be playing well at the end of the year and that is not the case right now first and ten from the 29 a ver e and he picks up five burr will take its final timeout with 241 so how does this make the Minnesota Vikings look right now and obviously last night they looked they looked awesome last night again and Walt ie Denver hadn't been going on here now undefeated undefeated nobody's really talking about the Vikings we were and we saw them a few times they were exciting but really right now at 14 and 1 and congratulations must go out to the teams like the Atlanta Falcons and Dan Reeves and they want a big game and clinched their division and also the J ETS Jets Jets Jets finally in our 1969 my thoughts with Dan Reeves as well as many of you know Dan had to be readmitted to the hospital yesterday he will not be involved in any gameplay the Miami game I want to give him the fit and ready to pull the sidelines second weekend of January and that's where the the bye week really comes into play for the for the Falcons buying daenerys the next row we've goes recuperation you know and another huge win yesterday New England over San Francisco with backup Scott zoic who's from how do you figure that it was from I don't care where he's come on well you know he's not from Michigan he's from hey where's Jake comer from richest guy in Arizona second and five and Avery gets stopped near and this will take us to the two-minute warning because Denver is out of timeouts Lucy from Hofstra is that where he's from are you been touting Hofstra no no Scott selects from Maryland so come on oh how could be a mono now it's Merrill no come on come on what give him you know give me you don't worry there with this big win yes it was thank you very much it was a big win well the 49ers are now forced into a situation where they have to defeat st. Louis at home or have Green Bay lose against Chicago to make sure that that playoff game the Green Bay San Francisco game is out west have you ever noticed that we have picked congratulates on T of boomers vine quarterbacks win games all by themselves so one-man show two-minute warning [Music] with two minutes to go its third down now third and four a reminder to stay tuned to ABC after the game for the late local news or the programming or you'd like to see a postgame show go over to ESPN third down and four if they don't pick it up Jimmie Johnson has an interesting choice coming up here with a seven-point lead they need four don't come close now they have the ball at the 24 and a half do you go with ma day to kick a 41 a 42-yard field goal if he misses Denver's gonna get the ball at the 32 with about a minute and 15 seconds remaining well the one thing you do know is he'll let the clock run all the way down and they'll probably take a timeout with about what you say about a minute and 10 seconds well I don't think you have a choice of course to kick the field goal well your options aren't very attractive they lost a couple of yards on that last run we got fourth in almost six yards I know this my scent a little goofy but what about a pooch pitch yep because I mean if you have a field goal blocked or you missed it I mean Elway has gone up a million times you ought to be able to execute a field goal you would think they're going to send Mata in definitely it's just like that lutely you ought to be able you ought to be able to execute he missed the 28-yard earlier well that's because we were singing we were well he better make this one we'll give him peace and quiet seventy-five seconds left if Denver gets the well they'll get the ball back but if they're in a position to win the game is wayne Huizenga goes down onto the field and his opposite number the owner of the Broncos Pat bowl and also on the sidelines Elway will have no timeouts but for just not rarely eats them if he's gonna have to play a lot better than he's played to this point the game this is a 43-yard attempt by oh Linda mata Anna Lindo and that does everything to make it officially unless of course Lord heparin runs another kick back for a touchdown [Applause] 3121 officially it's 42 [Applause] well you don't think it means something it sure does it doesn't matter how much money you make or not but the fact of the matter is you want to win these ball games and certainly the Miami Dolphins came in here a little downtrodden after their loss last week to the New York Jets who by the way really have played very well the last part of the season here in Bill Parcells and those guys have done a great job in New York yes we've known if you only mentioned the Jets about ten Long Island boom we got the point matter you know I played there got almost got killed there the point is what Miami knew was that they had Denver in Atlanta the last two weeks of the season and if they lost both those games in Tennessee were to win this coming Saturday they're out but Miami's work isn't done but Tennessee's work will be done as far as the playoffs are concerned if Miami holds on to this lead Miami would be in boilers are out this is born Hebburn can he do it again this time he's out of bounds at the 23 last guys as well from the 23 yard line Brewster is in the game bubby throws that's caught and staying in bounds Derrick Lavelle up at the 35 so Brewster down by 10 want to thank Lynn Vandenberg who patrols our booth our statistician George Hill no relation to the Dolphins defensive coordinator no Lin does a good job and she one's got a these great guys you guys are constantly eating well you know growing babies here let's drop by in McCaffrey and our spotter is Malibu Kelly Hayes who as you know boomer lives in Aspen and yeah what happened Kelly he wants you to know that there's plenty of snow up there who just went to Napa this week I hear right what are all these crumbs over here in front of you those are not crumbs those are shells from Joe's stone crab the best part of this job you get all kinds of free stuff oh one knocked Leno oh why don't you Dan meanwhile John Elway has not had a rating that low in the game since 1986 in the second half la 6 out of 20 as Brister gets sacked by Lorenzo bro Mel and so Miami was in the playoffs Tennessee will be out if Miami wins next week at Atlanta and the Falcons have nothing at stake in the game they're locked into the number two seed in the NFC West as the crowd the parts here then Miami would host a playoff game against either New England or Buffalo Brister launches one man did he throw that Dade County Wow Willie green I didn't know he can throw the ball that far either good 65 yards in the air that was pretty impressive not bad for what is bummy 36 years old bobby is 36 years old let's talk about those 36 37 year olds huh throw on the pro ball let's talk about the Jets Simone let's talk about the car boss Palace hey they got a shot they sure do yeah he's just over the Twizy through from about the 24 yard line that ball landed about what the 12 that was a fun passing kick territory right there 64 yards so you know what those two you know what those two teams have in common don't you the Cardinals and jets for many our here's green and seeking to stop the clock and he does in his time for one more play but the Miami Dolphins will have cemented a spot in the playoffs clearly a most bittersweet night for a very Payne dolphin head coach Jimmy Johnson losing his mother last night and somehow able to work his way through the game and it's been a tough one for him and they've overcome a lot tonight I mean they had the three atrocious officiating poles that all went against them and give Jimmy Johnson credit he had his guys ready to go tonight they were emotional and they were flying all around especially on defense and what can you say about Dan Marino who had just really a terrific night and Lamar Thomas who really came up with some huge plays and gave some Christmas presents to his family and ends and the Miami Dolphins at the postseason play as year three of the Johnson rain winds down and the Broncos who went 13 and O are now 13 and 2 a Seattle coming up and an off week and certainly Mike Shanahan hoping as we mentioned at the very outset that history doesn't repeat in the form of 1996 when they didn't play a meaningful game for a long time and were upended in the playoffs by Jacksonville so Miami wins it the final score is the Dolphins 31 and the Broncos 21 we'll hear from Leslie and wrap it up from Miami in a minute [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Classic Sports

Views: 10,210

Keywords: iMovie, nfl, football, nfl football, nfl 1998, john elway, john elway 1998, dan marino, dan marino 1998, denver broncos, broncos 1998, denver broncos 1998, miami dolphins, dolphins 1998, miami dolphins 1998, nfl miami, monday night football, chris berman, abc, abc on espn, espn nfl, nfl on espn, monday night football on abc, al michaels, al michaels abc

Id: l7kn_vKlQD4

Length: 138min 14sec (8294 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 11 2020