Miami Dolphins | A look at the Dolphins’ top 10 playoff moments, with some more perfect than others

As the Dolphins look to add what would be a great win to their rich playoff history at their upcoming battle against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, here is a review of the top results and memorable postseason moments the Dolphins have logged over the past half-century:

10. Defending AFC champs get huge comeback to top Browns

At the end of the 1985 season, quarterback Dan Marino and his high-flying Dolphins had gotten onto a seven-game win streak, and it looked like Miami would breeze to a second consecutive Super Bowl. However, on Jan. 4, 1986, former Miami Hurricanes star quarterback Bernie Kosar and the Cleveland Browns had a 21-3 lead with 10 minutes left in the third quarter of their divisional playoff game. Miami began climbing out of its hole with  Marino’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Nat Moore. Then, with 1:41 left in the third, rookie fullback Ron Davenport took a handoff and went off left tackle, trucking over Browns safety Don Rogers in the hole and waltzing into the end zone. The Dolphins completed their comeback on the first play after the two-minute warning, as Davenport tallied his 15th touchdown of the season on a 1-yard plunge on third-and-goal for a 24-21 win. It stands as the largest comeback in a Dolphins playoff victory. Sadly, the Dolphins were sloppy again the next week and were beaten by the visiting New England Patriots in the AFC Championship.

9. Finally, the Dolphins send the Bills home

The Dolphins’ all-time playoff record against the Buffalo Bills is 1-4. But about that one Miami win. On Jan. 2, 1999, the Bills had moved down the field and gotten a first-and-goal from the 5 with 17 seconds left and trailing 24-17. Buffalo quarterback Doug Flutie dropped back to pass. Seemingly, Dolphins defensive end Trace Armstrong was on top of him immediately, and the contact as Flutie lifted his arm to pass dislodged the ball. Miami recovered the fumble to seal the win in the wild-card round. Coach Jimmy Johnson, who as UM’s coach 14 years earlier had been victimized by the Bills QB’s “Hail Flutie” pass to give Boston College a 47-45 victory in the Orange Bowl, jubilantly stomped on a box of Flutie Flakes cereal in the locker room.

8. Dolphins survive Chiefs after long playoff hiatus

As of the Jan. 5,1991 wild-card game in Miami Gardens against the Kansas City Chiefs, it had been a long five years since the Dolphins had been in the playoffs. And after three quarters, Miami looked postseason rusty as the Dolphins trailed 16-3. But then, Dan Marino caught fire (going 10 for 11 for 130 yards, two TD passes and no interceptions). The key pass was a laser to the right flat that Chiefs All-Pro cornerback Albert Lewis thought was he going to intercept for a pick-six, but the howitzer made it all the way to Mark Clayton, who danced into the end zone for the 12-yard go-ahead touchdown with 3:28 left. Down 17-16, though, the Chiefs looked like they would get their own rally to win. Christian Okoye, The Nigerian Nightmare, rumbled to Miami’s 14 on the first play after the two-minute warning, but a flag for holding shoved the Chiefs back to the Miami 37. Four plays later, Nick Lowery was just short on a winning 52-yard field-goal attempt.

7. Lamar Smith’s tour de force brings home Miami’s most recent playoff win

Coach Dave Wannstedt’s Dolphins were looking for a third straight year with a playoff win on Dec. 30, 2000. It was ugly early, as Miami, beset by a horrific first half by quarterback Jay Fiedler (4.8 passer rating), trailed 14-0 in the third quarter. However, Fiedler got going in the second half, and, combined with running back Lamar Smith piling up 89 second-half yards, the Dolphins tied the Colts 17-17 and sent the wild-card game to overtime. The Dolphins then lucked out when the Colts’ Mike Vanderjagt shanked a 49-yard field-goal attempt. With Smith’s total up to 210 yards, Miami was at the Indy 17-yard line when Smith took a handoff, waited for a block and chugged 17 yards to end the game, which stands, more than 23 years later, as the Dolphins’ most recent postseason win.

6. Now, that’s a Christmas gift, or two

The first of the Dolphins’ four postseason matchups against the Chiefs was in Missouri on a balmy, 47-degree Christmas Day in 1971. With 1:36 left in regulation, quarterback Bob Griese found Marv Fleming with a 5-yard touchdown pass. Garo Yepremian’s extra point made it 24-24. With 35 seconds left, Miami dodged a bullet as Chiefs Hall of Fame kicker Jan Stenerud was wide right from 42 yards out on a field goal attempt. Miami again was fortunate on the first possession of overtime (when a field goal could send a team home without possessing the ball in OT) when Nick Buoniconti blocked a 52-yard attempt by Stenerud. In a second overtime, Yepremian ended it, and Miami had its first-ever playoff win, 27-24, and started the path to its first Super Bowl.

5. The Perfect fake punt

In the early 1970s, playoff sites were not determined by record-based seeding in matchups between division winners. So, despite owning a 15-0 record, the 1972 Dolphins were forced to travel to Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium for the AFC Championship Game on Dec. 31. With the Steelers leading 7-0, Dolphins coach Don Shula signed off on a fake punt on a fourth-and-5 at the Steelers’ 49-yard line. Punter Larry Seiple took the snap and was seemingly beginning his punt motion. However, as he held the ball at its normal drop position, he sprinted off right tackle. Untouched, he galloped 37 yards to set up first down at the 12. Miami went in for the tying touchdown. In the fourth quarter, a 3-yard run by Jim Kiick gave Miami the requisite breathing room at 21-10, and the Dolphins won 21-17 to advance to the Super Bowl, still undefeated.

4. Duhe’s 3 interceptions in the mud stop Jets for AFC title

Never have the Dolphins’ stakes against Gang Green been higher. The Jets and Dolphins battled on a soaked Orange Bowl field on Jan. 23, 1983 for the right to play in the Super Bowl after the strike-ravaged season of 1982. A persistent downpour preceded and continued through the game, and the sloppy field made for sloppy play. Scoreless at halftime, Dolphins linebacker A.J. Duhe grabbed his first of three second-half interceptions and took it to Jets’ 48 early in the third quarter. From there, the Dolphins sloshed to a Woody Bennett touchdown, all the scoring they would need. Duhe, though, capped it off with his hat trick pick that he grabbed off a screen in the right flat. He juggled it before hauling it in at the Jets’ 35 and took it all the way, the 14-0 final score punching the Dolphins’ ticket to get a Super Bowl rematch with Washington.

3. Marino torches his hometown team to reach Super Bowl

In 1984, Dan Marino, in his first full season as the Dolphins quarterback, had shattered NFL records with 48 touchdown passes and 5,084 passing yards and gotten the Dolphins to a 14-2 record and the top seed in the AFC playoffs. After avenging a rookie-year playoff loss to Seattle, Marino, who had attended Pittsburgh’s Central Catholic High School, saw the Steelers march into town for the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 6, 1985. Miami was sluggish early, trailing 14-10 with less than three minutes left in the first half after a Mark Malone 65-yard connection to John Stallworth. That touchdown, however, seemed to turn on the Dolphins’ light switch. Incinerating the Steelers blitz, Marino’s offense put up three touchdowns in a 3:18 span from the second quarter into the third, and Miami breezed to a 45-28 win and into the Super Bowl against the 49ers.

2. Back-to-back Super Bowl wins? Yes, please.

This Dolphins’ season wasn’t perfect at 15-2, but it was sure impressive. After the 1973 season, Miami won each postseason game by at least 17 points. Their Super Bowl bludgeoning of the Minnesota Vikings on Jan. 13, 1974 is one of the most decisive performances in the championship game’s history. Larry Csonka, behind one of the finest offensive lines to play in a Super Bowl, was a battering ram against the “Purple People Eaters,” earning the game’s MVP award with 145 yards on 33 carries. For the first 28 Super Bowls, the 1973 Dolphins were the only team to score a touchdown on each of their first two possessions, pure dominance in an era when scoring was much more difficult. The 24-7 win gave the Dolphins a second consecutive Super Bowl title.

1. Just perfect: Finishing off 17-0

After the Dolphins finished a 14-0 regular season in 1972,  Miami trailed in the second half of each of their two AFC playoff games, needing to rally to beat the Browns and then the Steelers to stay perfect. In the Super Bowl against Washington in Los Angeles on Jan. 16, 1972, it looked early on like it would be more of the same as Miami, beset by a 15-yard penalty and a 13-yard sack, moved the ball forward by only 1 yard in its first two possessions. Then, it clicked. The Dolphins finished off a 63-yard drive with a 28-yard Bob Griese touchdown strike to Howard Twilley on a deep out pattern. Twilley hauled in the pass at the 5-yard line and ran through a tackle attempt to reach paydirt. In the second quarter, the defense took over with two interceptions, and with a handful of seconds left in the first half, Miami basically clinched perfection with a TD two plays after a Griese bullet to tight end Jim Mandich gave the Dolphins a first-and-goal at the 2-yard line. Jake Scott, who grabbed an interception in each half, was named the game’s MVP, though Manny Fernandez had a monster game up front with 17 tackles and a sack. The 14-7 Super Bowl win capped the only perfect season in NFL history.

Honorable mentions

Miami ends Joe Montana’s career with another win over the Chiefs at Hard Rock Stadium (January 1995)
In the Seattle Kingdome’s final game, Dan Marino gets Dolphins’ first road playoff win in 27 years for his final postseason victory (January 2000)
In the franchise’s largest playoff rout, Miami splashes by San Diego Chargers 31-0 (January 1993)

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