The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 86

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

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. 86.

No. 86: Dan Marino's game-winning TD pass to O.J. McDuffie in 1995

Setting the stage: Don and David Shula made history in 1995 when they faced each other in the first father-against-son head-coaching matchup in the history of the four North American professional sports, but the game itself was a rather mundane that ended with a 23-7 victory. When the Shulas met against the following season, it was a much more hotly contested battle, one that came down to a late touchdown pass.

The play: After Jeff Blake's touchdown pass to Carl Pickens, the Dolphins found themselves trailing 23-19 with 3:39 left and they then had to start their next drive at their 9-yard line after a holding penalty on the kickoff. No problem for Dan Marino, who completed eight passes to cover the 91 yards, the last one a 16-yard touchdown to O.J. McDuffie with 1:03 remaining in regulation. On the touchdown pass. McDuffie showed off great body control after an out-and-up move when he jumped inside of defensive back Roderick Jones to make the catch in the near left corner of the end zone.

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

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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.