The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 43

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

The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 43

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. 43:

No. 43: Louis Oliver's Pick-Six at Buffalo in 1992

Setting the stage: The Dolphins and Bills battled for AFC East supremacy — actually, AFC supremacy — throughout the 1992 season and an early showdown came in Week 5 when they teams met in Buffalo. The Dolphins came in with a 3-0 record, while the Bills were 4-0. The game marked the Dolphins debut of tight end Keith Jackson after he had been signed following a judge's ruling making him as a free agent, but it was safety Louis Oliver who stole the show in a Dolphins rout.

The play: The Dolphins led 17-10 at the half before they drove for a touchdown to start the third quarter. The Bills appeared ready to answer when they marched to a first-and-goal from the Miami 7, but on third-and-goal from the 5, Oliver stepped in front of Thurman Thomas in the end zone and found himself with nothing but open turf in front of him. He raced down the left sideline holding the ball in his left hand for a while before he cradled and went 103 yards for a touchdown that basically sealed the outcome in a 37-10 rout. The win helped the Dolphins win the AFC East title and ultimately gave them home-field advantage when the teams met in the AFC Championship Game, but Buffalo left Miami that day with a 29-10 victory.

The No. 100 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 99 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 50 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 44 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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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.

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Published Jul 31, 2021

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