The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 93

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. 93.

No. 93: Mark Clayton's touchdown pass to Mark Duper in 1983

Setting the stage: The date Oct. 9, 1983 is a major one in Dolphins history because it's the day Dan Marino made the first NFL start of his Hall of Fame career. The Dolphins dropped a 38-35 overtime decision against the Buffalo Bills at the Orange Bowl that day, but the result didn't matter nearly as much as watching Marino pass for 322 yards and three touchdowns. The Marks Brothers — rookie Mark Clayton and second-year player Mark Duper — both caught a touchdown pass from Marino, but they also teamed up to produce a highlight play of their own.

The play: After erasing a 14-0 deficit and tying the game on Marino's 63-yard touchdown pass to Duper, the Dolphins found themselves trailing again, 21-14, before they began their next drive at their 20. After three first downs, they were at the Buffalo 48-yard line, where on first down Clayton was handed the ball on an apparent reverse. Only it wasn't. Instead, Clayton hit Duper at the Buffalo 23 and Duper made it to the end zone. It was the longest touchdown pass by a Dolphins non-quarterback to that point and it remained that way until 2018 when Albert Wilson had a 52-yard hook-up with Jakeem Grant against the Oakland Raiders.

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

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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.