All Dolphins

The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 91

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. 91.

No. 91: Pete Stoyanovich's game-winning field goal vs. the New York Jets in 1992

Setting the stage: The 1992 season was successful one for the Dolphins and they went into their next-to-last game with a 9-5 record and needing two victories to capture the AFC East title. That 15th game of the season was a Sunday night battle against the New York Jets that didn't figure to be much of a problem considering the Jets were coming in with a 4-10 record. But the Dolphins actually found themselves trailing 17-10 with under three minutes left in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for a wild finish centered around kicker Pete Stoyanovich.

The play: Stoyanovich gave the Dolphins a 19-17 victory with a 37-yard field goal in the final seconds, but it was what happened before that made it so memorable. After Dan Marino connected on a 55-yard touchdown pass to Tony Martin, the Dolphins appeared poised to tie the score at 17-17 with a routine extra point, but Stoyanovich pushed the kick wide right. That's when the national television cameras caught Jets defensive coordinator Pete Carroll — yes, that Pete Carroll — on the sideline putting his right hand to his neck to show Stoyanovich had choked. Well, it was the Jets who choked, as they ran three straight running plays after returning the kickoff to the 14-yard line. After a 29-yard punt, the Dolphins began their final drive at the Jets 45 with 1:05 remaining. They then gained 26 yards to set up Stoyanovich's game-winning kick.

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

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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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