Former Jets D-Lineman Marty Lyons Still Living With Guilt Over Stephenson Hit

It was one of the saddest victories in Miami Dolphins history, a Monday night game against the New York Jets in 1987 that saw the end of one of the franchise's greatest careers.

It was the night future Hall of Famer Dwight Stephenson was carted off the field midway through the fourth quarter with a knee injury on a fumble return for a touchdown by the Jets.

The man responsible for the injury, ironically, was Stephenson's former college teammate Marty Lyons, who delivered a completely unnecessary — because DB Bobby Humphery had a clear path to the end zone from the moment he recovered the Troy Stradford fumble — blindside block.

It made Lyons a villain for Dolphins fans to this day.

But know that Lyons still feels guilt about cutting short Stephenson's career.

He shared his thoughts on a recent of the Out To Pasture podcast hosted by former Dolphins players Kim Bokamper and Joe Rose, with Jimmy Cefalo serving as a guest host for this episode.

"There's one play that still haunts me, and that's when I hit Dwight Stevenson and his knee," Lyons said. "I remember walking in the locker room, and everybody was looking at me, but I wanted to go in and apologize to Dwight. I loved Dwight, and played college ball with him, and had a great deal of respect for him. And when I was walking out, I ran into Coach (Don) Shula, and he kind of looked at me and says, 'What are you doing in my locker room?' And I tried to explain to him that I wanted to talk to Dwight, and he took me in the equipment room, and he never touched me, but I went up against the wall, and he was face to face with me, and called me everything in the book. And then the last thing that he said was, 'You know what, you're going to have to live with this the rest of your life.'

"It's been almost, what, 40 years since '87 and he was right. I live with it every day. I i look back at my career and I wish I had that one play over."

The injury ended Stephenson's career after eight seasons. By the end of his career, he generally was recognized as the best center in the NFL and it's not out of line to put him in a conversation among the greatest centers ever. It's also not out of line to include him in any discussion of the greatest Dolphins player if position isn't factored in.

Stephenson was impressive enough that he was inducted into the Hall of Fame despite his relatively short career, earning the call to Canton in 1998.

While Stephenson would have every reason to be bitter about the hit that ended his career, he's never expressed any resentment publicly. And the same applies in his conversations with Lyons.

"I've had numerous conversations with Dwight, utmost respect for him and his family, and he keeps telling me, 'Hey, you know what? It was a clean hit. Don't worry about it," " Lyons said. "But still, you know when you hit somebody that you know, yeah, even if you hit somebody you don't know, and it ends up ending their career, that's not something be proud about."