All Dolphins

The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 79

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

Alain Poupart

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. 79

No. 79: Jeff Dellenbach's fumble recovery at Dallas in 1993

Setting the stage: The 1993 season was a roller-coaster ride for the Dolphins, who lost Dan Marino to an Achilles injury in October but still roll to an 8-2 record heading into a Thanksgiving Day battle against the defending Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. This game in the snow featured Keith Byars' 77-yard touchdown run followed by his snow angel but forever will be remembered for its crazy finish.

The play: The Dolphins trailed 14-13, but got a break when Dallas kicker Eddie Murray missed a 32-yard field goal attempt, setting the stage for Steve DeBerg to put the Dolphins in position to steal a victory with a field goal. The 41-yard attempt was going to be no gimme, though, given the frozen surface at the old Cowboys Stadium and Pete Stoyanovich's kick was blocked by Jimmie Jones before he continued toward th Cowboys end zone. That's when Leon Lett, the year after his famous Super Bowl gaffe, outdid himself but going after the ball before slipping and eventually making contact with his foot. That made it a live ball and Dellenbach opportunistically fell on it at the Dallas 1-yard line with 3 seconds left. Given a second shot at it, Stoyanovich made the 19-yard kick to give the Dolphins the remarkable 16-14 victory.

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

The No. 95 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 94 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 93 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 92 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 91 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 90 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 89 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 88 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 87 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 86 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 85 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 84 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 83 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 82 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 81 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

The No. 80 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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Alain Poupart
ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of All Dolphins and co-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, the Dolphins team website, and the Fan Nation Network (part of Sports Illustrated). 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.

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