In Week 11 of the 1990 season the 8-1 Miami Dolphins hosted the 6-3 Los Angeles Raiders on Monday Night Football. Both teams started 6-1, but the Raiders came into Miami off a two-game losing streak, having lost on the road in Kansas City, and at home to the Green Bay Packers. The Dolphins meanwhile, had a streak of their own: six wins in a row. With a bye-week sandwiched in that run, the Dolphins had lost since a 20-3 drubbing at the hands of the eventual Super Bowl-champion New York Giants on September 23.
During their six-game winning streak the Dolphins were giving up only 7.5 points a game, and they came into the Week 11 matchup with Los Angeles having not given up an offensive touchdown in 12 quarters—three whole games. Dan Marino was having a somewhat modest season; his rating was just over 79 and he had just 10 touchdowns against eight interceptions through nine games. The Dolphins were running the ball well, mostly thanks to Sammie Smith, who led the team with 501 yards and six touchdowns. Veteran fullback Tony Paige led the team with 30 receptions, and Mark Duper, Mark Clayton, and Jim Jenson all had 20 catches or more.
The Raiders relied on a slightly different approach. Jay Schroeder had almost identical stats to Marino: eight touchdowns and seven interceptions, with a quarterback rating of 78.5. But the Raiders ran the ball a lot. They had run the ball over 260 times, compared to the Dolphins 176 rushing attempts. But in their last two games, both loses, the Raiders had managed a total of only 149 yards on the ground.
That changed on this Monday night. The game started slow, with neither team scoring in the first quarter, before the Raiders scored 10 points in the second quarter, including a 2-yard Marcus Allen touchdown run. The Dolphins got what would be their only touchdown on a 14-yard pass from Dan Marino to Scott Schwedes near the end of the half. The Raiders stubbornly battered away on the ground in the first half, out-rushing the Dolphins 104 yards to 3.
The second half went about the same, with the Raiders defense giving up almost nothing. Los Angeles added a field goal in the third, and the Dolphins Pete Stoyanovich pulled Miami back within three points with a 26-yard field goal four minutes into the 4th quarter. But that is where the scoring ended. The Dolphins finished with only 14 yards on 12 carries, while Allen and Bo Jackson ran 19 and 17 times respectively, and Raiders grinded out a 13-10 victory. Miami had come into the game knowing that the Buffalo Bills were already 9-1, and they finished the night one game back of the eventual AFC champions.
The Dolphins finished the regular season at 12-4, and one a playoff game before losing to the Bills for a third time in 1990 in the AFC Divisional round. The Raiders maintained their lead over the rest of the AFC West, and went on to win that division with a 12-4 record...and then lose to the Bills in the AFC Championship.
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