All Dolphins

The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 80

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. 80.

No. 80: Chad Pennington's touchdown pass to Patrick Cobbs at Houston in 2008

Setting the stage: After losing their first two games of the 2008 season, the Dolphins unleashed the Wildcat and then defeated the Patriots and Chargers to move to 2-2 heading into a Week 6 game against the Houston Texans. The Dolphins would drop a 29-28 decision against the previously winless Texans that day, but not before they got another big play out of the Wildcat, albeit in a different form.

The play: After running a conventional offense on their first drive, the Dolphins opened their second possession in the Wildcat formation and Ronnie Brown handed off to Ricky Williams for a 2-yard gain. On second-and-8, the Dolphins ran the same play, except this time Williams pitched the ball back to Pennington after the quarterback had lined up wide to the right side. In the meantime, third running back Patrick Cobbs ran downfield and he got wide open behind the Houston secondary. From there, it was a simple matter of pitch-and-catch and the Dolphins had themselves a 53-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. For good measure, Cobbs later scored an 80-yard touchdown on a screen pass.

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

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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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