The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 75
To help count down the days to the start of the Miami Dolphins regular season last year, we marked each day with the corresponding jersey number and came up with the three best players to wear that number.
This year, we're counting down to the start of the regular season with a countdown of the top 100 plays in Dolphins history.
Given that the Dolphins have played 849 regular season games and 41 more in the playoffs, it's an awfully difficult task to narrow things down to 100 plays and then rank them. The plays selected were ranked on the basis of difficult, immediate and long-lasting impact and historical significance.
The countdown initially appeared in Dolphin Digest in 2019 but has been updated.
We continue with No. 75
No. 75: Tom Vigorito's punt return against Pittsburgh in 1981
Setting the stage: The Dolphins began the 1981 season with four consecutive victories, including a Week 2 Thursday night win against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a battle of the two most dominant franchises of the 1970s. After leading 13-10 at halftime, the Dolphins extended their lead on a touchdown pass from David Woodley to Tony Nathan, setting the stage of Vigorito's big play.
The play: Vigorito, a rookie fifth-round pick from Virginia, took advantage of a textbook example of punt return block as he ran around the right side and up the sideline behind a wall of blockers to go 87 yards to increase the Dolphins lead to 20-10. The play set a franchise record for longest punt return that lasted for 26 yards until it was matched by Ted Ginn Jr. in 2007 and eventually topped by Jakeem Grant last season.
The No. 100 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 99 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 98 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 97 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 96 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 95 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 94 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 93 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 92 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 91 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 90 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 89 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 88 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 87 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 86 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 85 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 84 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 83 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 82 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 81 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 80 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 79 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 78 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 77 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
The No. 76 Greatest Play in Dolphins History
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alain Poupart has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989. You can follow him on Twitter at @PoupartNFL. Feel free to submit questions every Friday for the All Dolphins mailbag.
