All Dolphins

The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 14

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. 14:

No. 14: Lamar Miller's 97-touchdown run vs. the New York Jets in 2014

Setting the stage: The 2014 season had its moments for the Miami Dolphins, but it ultimately ended in disappointment. And maybe nothing encapsulated that year more than what happened in the season finale. It featured one of the most sensational plays in team history — Lamar Miller's 97-yard touchdown run — but also saw the New York Jets score the final 23 points to hand the Dolphins a 37-24 loss.

The play: The Dolphins led 17-14 before Chris Owusu returned the second-half kickoff 87 yards to the Miami 12-yard line. But the Miami defense turned back the Jets by stuffing two running plays for no gain on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1. It was on the very next play that Miller found a crease in the right side of the offensive line, ran past a diving Jets defensive back and then used his speed to split two more defenders in a race to the end zone. The 97-yard run demolished the previous franchise record — set by Leroy Harris in 1977 and tied by Keith Byars in 1993 — by 20 yards and gave the Dolphins a 24-14 lead.

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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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