The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 36

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 difficulty, uniqueness, 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. 36:

No. 36: George Roberts' Onside Punt vs. Cincinnati in 1980

Setting the stage: The Dolphins opened the 1980 season with a 10-point win at Buffalo, which was kind of historic considering they had beaten the Bills all 20 times the teams had met in the 1970s. Miami's home opener at the Orange Bowl came in Week 2 against a Bengals team that also had lost in Week 1. When Steve Howell was tackled in the end zone for a safety that gave Cincinnati a 16-7 lead with 6;12 left in the fourth quarter, it sure looked as though it would be an 0-2 start for Miami. That's when the genius of Don Shula came into play again.

The play: NFL rules call for the team against which a safety has just been scored to kick the ball from its own 20-yard line on the ensuing play, and kickoff rules apply. That means the ball is live after it goes 10 yards. Most teams use a punt instead of a kickoff after a safety because of the ability of a punter to create greater hang time. So left-footed punter George Roberts took the field to punt the ball away to the Bengals, only he didn't kick the ball downfield. He instead pooched it forward, and Jeff Allen recovered the live ball at the Dolphins 35-yard line. Four plays later, the Dolphins scored a touchdown when Nick Giaquinto ran 12 yards after recovering teammate Duriel Harris' fumble at the end of a 33-yard reception and they would go on to win 17-16 on a late field goal.

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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.

Published Aug 7, 2021 | Modified Nov 18, 2025

ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of Miami Dolphins On SI and host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press and the Dolphins team website. In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books, such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.

Follow @PoupartNFL

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