Dan Marino

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Dan Marino's tenure as the Miami Dolphins' top football executive ended before it really started. Marino, who accepted a job as senior vice president of football operations three weeks ago and was to begin next week, surprised team owner H. Wayne Huizenga yesterday by telling him he would not rejoin the organization he led as a quarterback for 17 seasons. In a statement released by the team, Marino said he wasn't prepared to make the "significant lifestyle change" that the position would require for him and his family, which includes six children.

It's time for another leap of faith. Four years after asking fans to take a disastrous jump with Scott Mitchell, Ravens coach Brian Billick is starting a new quarterback era with the same, old, controversial flair. He is handing the keys to a potential playoff vehicle to rookie quarterback Kyle Boller when all the warning signs tell him otherwise. History says Billick is wrong. Popular opinion says he's foolish. Even his own track record says to reconsider. The safe bet would be to go with little-used veteran Chris Redman and bring his first-round pick along slowly.

No. 1 then ... When Unitas retired after the 1973 season, he topped the quarterback charts. Attempts Totals 1. UNITAS ............................ 5,186 2. John Brodie....................... 4,491 3. Fran Tarkenton ................. 4,449 Completions Totals 1. UNITAS ........................... 2,830 2. John Brodie ..................... 2,469 3. Fran Tarkenton ................ 2,459 Yards Totals 1. UNITAS ......................... 40,239 2. Fran Tarkenton ............. 33,248 3. John Brodie .....

Fan support The Browns, with 73,358 fans, had the biggest crowd in the four-year history of their stadium. Second-half struggles The Falcons are 24-9 since the start of the 1997 season when leading at halftime, but 0-2 this season. Century man Ricky Williams became the first Dolphin with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games since Bernie Parmalee in 1994. He's also the first Dolphin to open the season with two 100-yard games since Mark Higgs in 1991. Indy 100 The Colts' Edgerrin James broke Eric Dickerson's club record with his 25th career 100-yard rushing game.

It was only a 3-yard pass, hardly worth watching on a highlights film. John Unitas, the Colts' rookie quarterback, flipped the ball to his tight end, who fell into the end zone. The play averted a Baltimore shutout. It also provided a glimpse of a pattern that would come to grip Colts fans for much of the next five seasons: Unitas passing for touchdowns, game after game, a seamless stretch that would evolve into one of the most enduring feats in football. Forty years ago, Unitas took the field in command of a streak that may never be equaled: 47 consecutive regular-season NFL games in which he threw at least one scoring pass.

Amid all the humdrum games in the middle of the NFL schedule is a gem like this Sunday's Ravens-Redskins tilt, and CBS analyst Dan Dierdorf, who will call the game with Dick Enberg, is feeling lucky to get a piece of something so good. "This is one of the better games of the year," Dierdorf said by phone this week. "You've got the old-time NFL in [Ravens owner] Art Modell and the new breed in [Redskins owner] Dan Snyder. The excitement level is there. This is the kind of game where, right after the national anthem, as a former player, I have to resist the urge to smack Dick."

The NFL's new order dictated that the Indianapolis Colts alter their timetable. The new order says that one-year turnarounds are commonplace now, that even the best teams in the league's best division can be hurdled with the right combination of game-breakers and schedule-makers. So, somewhere back in October, the Colts raised their sights and asked, why not? "This season, our legitimate goals were to be a wild card and sneak into the playoffs," quarterback Peyton Manning said. "And that's out of respect to the teams in our division.

Green Bay (6-5) at Chicago (5-7)Time: 1 p.m.Line: Packers by 3 1/2.Vs. spread: Packers 4-7; Bears 10-2.Last week: Packers beat 49ers, 20-3. Bears lost to Lions, 21-17.Series: Bears lead 82-69-6.Last meeting: Bears won, 14-13, on Nov. 7 at Green Bay.Outlook: Bears QB Jim Miller's dream season ended Wednesday when the NFL suspended him for four games for violating its drug policy. That's the last thing the Bears needed heading into a rematch against Green Bay with their playoff hopes on the line.

Consider this scene at the Trans World Dome after the St. Louis Rams' 42-20 demolition of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday: 49ers president Bill Walsh interrupted Dick Vermeil's post-game media session by telling the Rams coach, "You're going all the way." And Vermeil, in protest, saying, "Oh, don't say that." The Rams in the Super Bowl? The team that went 9-23 and finished last in the NFC West the last two seasons? Just as strange, a concession in Week 5 from the man who built the 49ers' dynasty?

DENVER -- There isn't much that happens around the Denver Broncos that doesn't pass the scrutiny of coach Mike Shanahan.When he watched defensive end Neil Smith make a halfhearted charge at Miami quarterback Dan Marino in last week's AFC divisional playoff game, he brought it to the attention of the 11-year veteran on the sideline."