The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 52

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. 52

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. 52:

No. 52: Doug Swift's Game-Clinching Interception vs. Cleveland in the 1972 Playoffs

Setting the stage: After completing a perfect regular season, the 1972 Dolphins began their playoff quest to return to the Super Bowl with a home game against the Cleveland Browns, who proved a lot tougher opponent than expected. The Browns, who had earned a wild-card berth with a 10-4 record, actually led 14-13 before Jim Kiick's touchdown run gave the Dolphins a 20-14 lead with 4:54 left in the fourth quarter. But the Browns later found themselves with the ball at the Dolphins 34-yard line with 1 minute left with a chance to end the Dolphins' season and their run at perfection.

The play: On a second-and-9, quarterback Mike Phipps looked downfield for Fair Hooker, who had scored Cleveland's second touchdown, but linebacker Doug Swift had dropped way back in coverage and he stepped in front to come down with his second interception of the game. It was the fifth pick of the game for the opportunistic Dolphins defense, but obviously the biggest one.

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

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The No. 89 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 88 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 87 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 85 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 84 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 80 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 78 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 76 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 75 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 72 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 58 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 56 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 55 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 54 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 53 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.

Published Jul 22, 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