European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 32 the stars and stripes sports tuesday september 12,1995 defense leads Dos bins Over by Bob Glauber -.,  new Day Foxboro mass. You think of the Miami dolphins and you see Dan Marino comebacks on Sun splashed sunday afternoons. You think of the dolphins and you see immortal coach Don Shula pacing the sideline with taut jaw and piercing eyes. But what you really see Are big fat linemen wiping dirt from their helmets grunting approvingly after a goal line stand. Or Fleet Young defenders leaping through the air for diving interceptions or in your face linebackers charging in for a sack. Well you d better take another look because Miami finally has a defense Worth talking about. While Marino stumbled through a nondescript afternoon and Shula s offence showed uncharacteristic flaws it was the defense that saved Miami in a 203 win Over the new England patriots sunday. / while the dolphins 2-0 took a major step in the race for acc East supremacy patriots coach Bill Par cells agonized Over his team s performance. I thought our team was past this kind of performance he said. It was shaping up As the kind of game in which you have Learned to fear the worst from the underachieving dolphins they get a comfortable Lead Early then Marino s offence bogs Down and the defense goes belly up Down the stretch. Perhaps last season s dreadful playoff loss to the chargers in which they blew a 21-6 Lead inthe second Hal will refresh your memory. True to form the dolphins started quickly sunday As Marino lofted a perfect sideline pass to Irving Fryar fora 67-Yard to and a 10-0 Lead with 2 40 to go in the first Quarter. It became 17-3 on Terry Kirby s 31-Yard option pass to Fryauf for a touchdown 2 22 before the half. Spas the dolphins came put for the second half there were plenty of opportunities for another night Mare. How about . Mcduffie s Muff on a punt re turn at the dolphins 24 Early in the third Quarter Well there was no problem this time. On fourth and-7 from the 21, linebacker Bryan Cox blitzed an forced Patriot quarterback Drew bled be to Fumble. How about running Back Bernie Parmalee losing the Ball As Miami was marching deep in Patriot territory new England recovered at its 7, and the patriots moved smartly upfield. Bledsoe linked his Way into Miami territory getting to the Dolphin 7 on a 6-Yard pass to Rookie will Moore. First and goal a touchdown cuts the Lead to seven with plenty of time left and Miami is folding its tent. But wait. Running Back Curtis Martin gets stopped for 2 Yards. Bled be throws incomplete to tight end Ben Coates. Dave Meggett catches a pass in the right Flatland is pushed out of Bounds at the 1. Fourth and goal from the 1. Bledsoe hands off to Martin the Rookie who pulled out last week s comeback win Over the Browns in the final seconds. There s the Hole just to Martin s right. He makes the Cut he s about to go in and. Boom there s line Backer Dwight Hollier blowing through the line on a Blitz pushing Martin Back for a loss of 2 after Marino goes three -and-6ut, new England takes Over at the dolphins 34 with 10 51 to go. Another Chance for a Miami collapse. Not this time. The drive ends at the dolphins 7 As defensive end Jeff Cross tips Bledsoe s pass and Cox intercepts. And just like that it s Over. G h d re e is up 11 it o u t san Diego a the san Diego chargers know they re not world beaters yet. After All it took a Strong fourth Quarter just to save themselves from an embarrassing loss to. The Seattle sea-,-hawks.--.-/. V. " a \ a we had a lot of Yards Charger re  Martin said we did to get a lot of Points on the  they got enough though thanks to Stan Humphries 15-Yard touchdown Pashto Ronnie Harmon with 13 41 left that gave them a 14-10 Victory sunday. Martin caught 13 passes a career High and the most in the nil this season for 163 Yards and the chargers first to. And natron Means returned froma jarring hit by Cortez Kennedy to com plete a 115-Yard game on 26 carries. I Felt like we got Back to the Wayne re capable of playing Humphries said. But we have to get better to stay competitive.".  The crowd occasionally booed the de fending acc Champion chargers la particularly when Humphries overthrew Harmon on a third Down pass to end san Diego s first drive of the second half. There was no mix up the next time Humphries went Harmon s Way. The quarterback double pumped Harmon got behind cornerback Corey Harris an gathered in the 15-Yard pass just As he crossed the goal line perfect timing excellent throw coach Bobby Ross said. Humphries was 5 of 5 for 52 Yards on the winning drive which included a hold ing penalty against cornerback Carlto Gray against Shawn Jefferson two plays before the to. It was the first touchdown in seven Reg ular season games for Harmon who had a team Best 58 catches last year. Houston a the Pittsburgh Steeles did t need to be at full strength to beat the Houston oilers. With Rod Woodson and Neil o Don Neil sidelined by injuries Andre Hastings returned the first punt 72 Yards for a touchdown and Mike Tomczak directed the Steeles to a 34-17 Victory sunday. Hastings return helped Pittsburgh 2 0 take a 17-3 first half  Steeler Smade it 24-3 in the third Quarter on Erric Pegram s 22-Yard run with 2 51 elapsed. I got a couple of big blocks to Spring me Down the sidelines Hastings said. That set the  the oilers 1-1 struck in the third Quarter on a 1-Yard run by Chris Chan Dler who faked a Handoff and rolled left untouched into the end zone with 10 53.elapsed. But it was too late. The Steeler de sense made plenty of errors of its own but never let the oilers break out Chan dle r threw two interceptions one a 32-Yard to return by Carnell Lake and was sacked four times for 38 Yards in  Brown got three of the sacks. We just Hurt ourselves today Oiler coach Jeff Fisher said. When you play team that s played together like the Steeles for years you can t make mis takes like we  Colts rally to tip jets in of East Rutherford . Not Dyja boo. The farts held off from their familiar razing until the end sunday and for Good reason. The new York jets in their Home opener looked like a revitalized smart team making All the big plays a they danced their Way to a 24-3 Lead against the Indianapolis Colts dominating them into the third Quarter. And then came the errors followed by cascades of Boos As the costs tied the came helped by a Boomer Esiason Fum ble and another by Ron Moore. Each was turned into a Colt touchdown. Finally there was overtime when Rookie receiver Wayne Chrebet free at the Colts 40, dropped a third Down pass from Esiason. It led to the Colts winning drive on which Mike Cofer who had missed Field goals of 36 and 38 Yards hit one from 52 Yards to give Indianapolis a27-24 Victory. Perhaps if the jets Best offensive weapon Johnny Mitchell had not been sidelined by Back spasms it might have made a difference. But the errors merely lowered the jets Mark to 0-2 As Jim har Baugh helped direct a record equating comeback. The jets had a Large Early Lead because Esiason was Sharp winding up with 19 completions in 30 attempts for 198  connected for two touchdowns. Jim Harbaugh was 11 for 16 for 123 Yards and blessed with Marshall Faulk who ran for so Yards on 21 carries and added eight catches for 58 Yards. Bengal defensive end Wilkinson sacks jaguars Steve Beuerlein in second Quarter. Bengals nip jaguars Cincinnati a the Cincinnat bengals remained unbeaten by proving sceptics wrong on one Point they arc better than an expansion  better but better nonetheless. The nil s worst team Over the Pas two seasons got a pair of touch Dosun passes from Jeff Blake and seven sack from its usually pliant defense to hold off the Jacksonville jaguars 24-17 sunday. Cincinnati is 2-0 for the first time since 1992. But the Celebration was muted bythe realization that the bengals had to go Down to the last minute on their Home Field to beat an expansion team operating behind a backup quarterback. There s no Champagne popping inhere or nothing like that linebacker Steve Tovar said. Lord knows we mad enough mistakes " both teams Bumble around often blurring the distinction Between established team and new one. The bengals pulled it out by blitzing the overwhelming majority of plays to confuse and overpower Jacksonville s offensive  Haven t blitzed that much since my Rookie year said Bengal linebacker James Francis a sixth year Veteran. We knew they had t played  bengals did that most of the afternoon but still found themselves feel ing the pressure in the closing minutes. Mark Brunei filling in for injured Steve Buerlein ran 8 Yards on a Bootleg to Cut it to 24-17 Midway through the third Quarter. After the jaguars forced a punt Brunell converted a pair of third Down passes including a 22-yarder to Desmond Howard on third-and-17 to move to the bengals 43-Yard line. Then Dan Wilkinson dropped Brunell on fourth Down at the bengals 41 with 11seconds left