The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 91

Combining the countdown to the start of the Dolphins regular season with the best plays in franchise history

Author:
Alain Poupart
Publish date:
Jun 13, 2021 10:00 AM EDT

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. 91.

No. 91: Pete Stoyanovich's game-winning field goal vs. the New York Jets in 1992

Setting the stage: The 1992 season was successful one for the Dolphins and they went into their next-to-last game with a 9-5 record and needing two victories to capture the AFC East title. That 15th game of the season was a Sunday night battle against the New York Jets that didn't figure to be much of a problem considering the Jets were coming in with a 4-10 record. But the Dolphins actually found themselves trailing 17-10 with under three minutes left in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for a wild finish centered around kicker Pete Stoyanovich.

The play: Stoyanovich gave the Dolphins a 19-17 victory with a 37-yard field goal in the final seconds, but it was what happened before that made it so memorable. After Dan Marino connected on a 55-yard touchdown pass to Tony Martin, the Dolphins appeared poised to tie the score at 17-17 with a routine extra point, but Stoyanovich pushed the kick wide right. That's when the national television cameras caught Jets defensive coordinator Pete Carroll — yes, that Pete Carroll — on the sideline putting his right hand to his neck to show Stoyanovich had choked. Well, it was the Jets who choked, as they ran three straight running plays after returning the kickoff to the 14-yard line. After a 29-yard punt, the Dolphins began their final drive at the Jets 45 with 1:05 remaining. They then gained 26 yards to set up Stoyanovich's game-winning kick.