Bills Aren't Finished, but Shula May Be : AFC: Buffalo continues success against Miami in a 37-22 decision that could lead to Dolphin shake-up.

By BILL PLASCHKE

Dec. 31, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The middle of the house was filled with confetti and conquests and Super Bowl promise, but Saturday may be remembered for what occurred in one quiet corner.

There stood a giant who has never looked so small, shaking a fist that has never seemed so harmless.

A 37-22 victory in the first round of the AFC playoffs at Rich Stadium belonged to the resilient Buffalo Bills, but the game could be forever linked to Miami Dolphin Coach Don Shula.

Because after 33 NFL seasons, it could be his last.

Less than a week after his owner said he wanted Shula to finish the final year of his contract--and Shula agreed--the Dolphins spent three embarrassing hours that apparently made both men reconsider.

Shula’s team was battered for 341 rushing yards, the most in AFC playoff history. It was victimized by 10 dropped passes and four turnovers. It fell behind by 24 points in the first 24 minutes.

And, yes, it was wholly outcoached.

Afterward, a man who has never waffled on anything would not comment on his future.

“I’m not going to address that now,” Shula said when asked if he would be coaching next year.

And the owner who had issued that vote of confidence? He suddenly cast an absentee ballot.

“I have nothing to say today,” Wayne Huizenga said when asked about Shula’s future. “It’s just a very disappointing day.”

The way Huizenga glared at his team as it passed him by the locker room afterward left little doubt about what he didn’t have to say.

A game that was supposed to provide some answers about one of the league’s most expensive lineups only raised more doubts about its leader.

No. 1: Can Shula, who has won more games than any other NFL coach, still motivate a team in the playoffs?

“A lot of guys today just quit,” Dolphin cornerback Troy Vincent said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Several times, particularly on reverses that Bill Coach Marv Levy inserted to fool Shula, the Dolphin defenders simply stopped running and tackling.

On the sidelines, Dolphins either argued or huddled underneath capes and avoided each other. The more Shula shook that fist, the more they seemed to ignore him.

“After that third touchdown the Bills scored, it was like, guys just starting moping,” Vincent said. “I’m jumping around hitting everybody’s pads, and I shouldn’t have to do that. The adrenaline should already be there. We brought in a lot of players last year to get us to the promised land, and some of them didn’t show up.”

The loss makes it 22 consecutive seasons without a championship for Shula, tying him with Chuck Knox for second place on the all-time ledger of coaching futility in the four major professional sports. Baseball Manager Gene Mauch went 26 years without a title.

“This is a tough way to remember the season,” Shula said. “We didn’t compete, and all of us have to live with that.”

Now the other question: Does Shula still have the ability to adjust?

Some of the Bills don’t think so.

Two weeks ago, the Dolphins lost the division title to the Bills here, 23-20, in a game in which the Dolphins were outrushed, 208-42.

The Dolphins played Saturday as if they had no memory. The teams set an NFL playoff record with a combined 1,038 yards, but the game was notable for all the extra ones the Dolphins allowed.

“They were in the same defense as in the other game. We were very surprised,” said the Bills’ Thurman Thomas, who rushed for 158 yards Saturday after rushing for 148 two weeks ago.

And once again, despite 30-degree temperatures and a gusting wind, the Dolphin offense didn’t try to run, with only 14 carries for 70 yards. Dan Marino, meanwhile, threw 64 passes, including 28 in the first half when they were still in the game.

“You would have thought it would be the other way around,” Dolphin running back Bernie Parmalee said.

Toss both questions into a blender, slap the resulting concoction on a cookie sheet, and it comes out looking like one thing.

Jimmy Johnson.

The former Dallas Cowboy coach is available, the minute he signs somewhere he will be the best coach in the league, and he wants to come home to Miami.

Why would Huizenga want to make Johnson wait one more year--thereby risk losing him to another team--in exchange for a tired and very lame duck?

And why would the proud Shula, who will be 66 this week, want to be in that situation?

At the very least, Huizenga is going to make Shula sacrifice assistants such as defensive coordinator Tom Olivadotti and offensive boss Gary Stevens.

But who would want to take their place, knowing that Shula would be gone in one year?

“Don said he wants to stay another year, but I don’t know,” tackle Richmond Webb said.

The Bills faced other questions after Saturday’s game. Such as, how to become only the third first-round winner to win in the second round since the NFL playoffs were expanded in 1990. There have been 18 losers.

However, the Bills were one of those winners, in 1992. Their victims were the Pittsburgh Steelers, whom they will visit next Saturday.

“If we keep playing like we played today, see you in Arizona,” said Thomas, referring to the site of Super Bowl XXX.

After holding the Dolphins to five yards in the game’s opening possession, the Bills took over and drove 58 yards to score on Thomas’ one-yard run. The Dolphins were particularly demoralized that 45 of those yards came on passes to tiny Steve Tasker, who wasn’t even a wide receiver until six weeks ago.

“I think they were a little surprised, yeah,” Tasker said.

The Bills scored a field goal on their next possession after 26 yards worth of runs by Thomas, then the biggest blow occurred the third time they had the ball.

On a third down from their 17-yard line, quarterback Jim Kelly faked a handoff to Thomas. Then faked a reverse to Tasker, who bedeviled the Dolphins with that play two weeks ago.

Then he handed the ball to Bill Brooks running the other way. Brooks gained 21 yards, and the Dolphin defense was never the same.

“How can we let that happen?” safety Louis Oliver asked. “I mean, a fake double reverse? C’mon!”

The Bills scored their third touchdown early in the second quarter when rookie running back Darick Holmes broke three tackles on a 21-yard run, and the game was essentially over.

The final embarrassment, which made the score 34-7 in the fourth quarter, came on a 44-yard run up the middle by Tim Tindale, a fullback from Canada’s Western Ontario University whose longest run had been six yards before then.

“Number 33, I don’t even know his name,” Vincent said.

“I’m in shock,” Marino said.

Jeff Cross, Dolphin defensive end, shrugged.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if nobody around here came back next year,” he said.