All Dolphins

The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 11

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 difficulty, uniqueness, 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. 11:

No. 11: A.J. Duhe's pick-six vs. the New York Jets in the 1982 AFC Championship Game

Setting the stage: The Dolphins made it to the Super Bowl in the strike-shortened 1982 season thanks mostly to their suffocating defense, which got the nickname of the "Killer B's" because so many of the starters had names that started with that letter. But it was an outside linebacker with a name starting in "D" who turned in arguably the greatest individual defensive performance in team playoff history to lead the way to a 14-0 victory against the New York Jets in the 1982 AFC Championship at a muddy Orange Bowl.

The play: A.J. Duhe was a very good edge defender for the Dolphins' 3-4 of the early 1980s, but there was nothing to suggest the kind of afternoon he would have on this day because he was more of a pass rusher than pass defender, having recorded two career interceptions to that point since arriving as a first-round pick in 1977. He would top that with three on this day, though he didn't have one in a scoreless first half. He had recorded two picks by the time the Jets took possession early in the fourth quarter with Miami holding a 7-0 lead. Duhe then would put the exclamation point on his unforgettable day when he rushed from the left side, got in the passing lane on an intended screen pass on third-and-7 and then made the easy interception when quarterback Richard Todd decided to throw the ball anyway. Duhe then raced 35 yards for a touchdown and the Dolphins were headed to the Super Bowl. The Dolphins would lose Super Bowl XVII against Washington but not before Duhe would pick up yet another interception.

The No. 100 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 12 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.

Published
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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