Young Shula Only Fodder to Dolphins : Pro football: Miami seems to take it easy against lowly Cincinnati, 23-7, in first father-son coaching matchup.

CINCINNATI — That this night was special could not be determined from Don and Dave Shula’s pregame hug, seeing as it was announced on a printed schedule and accompanied by 57 photographers.

It was not evident as both men stood solemnly on opposite sides of the 50-yard line during the national anthem, seeing as an intruding camera made it impossible for Dave to see Don.

That this night was special did not become clear until three hours later, in a scenario that was not made for television, with an act that could not have been scripted.

Through most of the second half of his Miami Dolphins’ eventual 23-7 victory over Dave’s Cincinnati Bengals, Don did not have the heart to knock his son out.

Or maybe he had too much heart.

After playing coach through 2 1/2 quarters while the Dolphins took a 17-7 lead over the Bengals, Don Shula suddenly played father.

Five times in the game’s final 24 minutes, the Dolphins took possession of the ball after a turnover.

But not once during that stretch did the NFL’s top-ranked offense capitalize with a touchdown.

Not once did the Dolphins even act like they wanted to score a touchdown.

Only once in that stretch did Dan Marino complete a pass of longer than 10 yards.

Eleven times in the Dolphins’ final 28 plays, Shula chose to hand the ball to someone named Bernie Parmalee.

Only twice did they actually score, both times on field goals.

So upset were the Dolphin offensive players that on consecutive plays midway through the fourth quarter, tight end Keith Jackson screamed and shook his hands, followed by receivers Irving Fryar and Mark Ingram throwing their helmets.

All three men had been open and in position to score a touchdown. All three men had been ignored by Marino.

The strange ending was complete by the postgame reaction of Don Shula’s wife, Mary Anne.

Her husband had won, yet she was crying.

And so this first father-son coaching meeting in professional sports history was probably as it should have been. About a father and a son.

“This was hard, very hard,” Mary Anne Shula said. “This was very emotional. Don is a great defender of all his children.”

When asked whether her husband had decided to take it easy on his son, she laughed.

“I think that would be a human thing to do,” she said. “But my husband would not think like that for one minute.”

Yet during the postgame news conference, Don did little to dispel that notion that he was more concerned about Dave’s defeat and 0-5 record than he was about his own victory and 4-1 mark.

You’ve never heard a team that lost five turnovers and could not move the ball past its opponent’s 29-yard line after the game’s first minute praised so much.

“What do you want me to say, seriously?” Don said. “I’m just very sorry for Dave.”

What Don didn’t say was that he reneged on his earlier pledge to avoid Dave before the game. They were laughing together at a family barbecue on Saturday night.

And all he needed to say could be found in the performance of Marino, who averaged only 7.8 yards on his 26 completions, for only 204 yards.

“We did what we had to do,” Marino said.

Shula’s offense actually ran the ball two more times than it passed, even with top running back Terry Kirby out for the season with a knee injury.

“It was like we got about 20 points and just shut it down,” tackle Ron Heller said. “I know everybody is thinking that Don went easy on his kid, but I don’t know. I think he would have done that against anybody.”

That this wasn’t just anybody was evident afterward in the words of Bengal tackle Bruce Kozerski. He said what Dave Shula, with eight career victories compared to his father’s 331, had never dared say.

“I’m pretty close with Dave, and I know he wanted this game bad,” Kozerski said. “I don’t think anyone can even say how bad he wanted this game.”

Dave could say little.

“It was a night where the team had the opportunity to take the crowd and the national television and build on it . . . We weren’t able to get it going,” he said.

Not that he didn’t try.

The game began with the younger Shula acting like any son whose father is visiting him for the first time at his job: by showing off.

Bengal quarterback David Klingler threw a screen pass to Steve Broussard for 12 yards. Then another screen pass to Broussard for six yards.

Then he threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Darnay Scott.

Three plays, three passes, seven points, for a team with the league’s second-worst offense.

On the first play of the Bengals’ second drive, they ran a reverse to Scott for 11 yards. But at the end of that drive, Doug Pelfrey’s 47-yard field goal attempt hit the crossbar.

“A tough break,” Shula said with a frown.

That was Don talking.

The Dolphins then did what they had to do--Pete Stoyanovich’s 28-yard field goal early in the second quarter, then an 11-yard touchdown pass from Marino to Keith Byars with 1:14 left in the half. Then nothing.

“The best thing about this is that now, Don can go back to cheering for Dave, checking his scores, asking about his team,” Mary Anne Shula said, her eyes drying at the end of this special night. “Just like always.”