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The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 96

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. 96.

No. 96: Jerome Baker's 30-yard vs. Kansas City in 2020

Setting the stage: The Dolphins had won seven of eight games to get to 8-4 on the season when they welcomed the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs  and their 11-1 record to Hard Rock Stadium. While the Dolphins suffered a 33-27 loss after once trailing 30-10, the defense got off to a great start, recording two interceptions and one three-and-out on the Chiefs' first three offensive possessions. But it was Jerome Baker's play that clearly stood out in that first quarter.

The play: Kansas City's second drive began with the game still scoreless after Jason Sanders had missed a 45-yard field goal attempt and moved to a third-and-12 at the 33 after Patrick Mahomes lost 9 yards after having to fall on an errant snap before completing a 7-yard pass to tight end Travis Kelce. After taking a shotgun snap, Mahomes couldn't immediately find a receiver before Emmanuel Ogbah applied pressure from the left side of the defense and Baker from the right. After realizing he couldn't outrun Ogbah to the outside, Mahomes then decided to sprint backward to see if he could get around Baker on the other side. But just as Mahomes was starting to turn upfield again after a long retreat, Baker dove at his feet and tripped him for a 30-yard sack. It amazingly broke a franchise record for longest sack that had been set just earlier in the season — Ogbah's 28-yard sack of Joe Flacco in the 24-0 victory against the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium.

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

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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 Miami Dolphins On SI 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 and the Dolphins team website. 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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