All Dolphins

The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 15

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. 15:

No. 15: Kiko Alonso's pick-six at San Diego in 2016

Setting the stage: In Adam Gase's first season as head coach in 2016, the Dolphins started off 1-4 before turning things around in dramatic fashion — with a six-game winning streak that paved the way for an AFC wild-card playoff berth. The winning streak was filled with big plays at key moments, none bigger than linebacker Kiko Alonso's heroics in Miami's final visit to Jack Murphy Stadium before the Chargers moved to Los Angeles.

The play: The Dolphins tied the score 24-24 with an Andrew Franks field goal, but things didn't look so great after the Chargers moved to a first-and-10 at the Miami 42-yard line with 1:13 remaining in regulation. The Dolphins already had intercepted Philip Rivers twice in the fourth quarter but had also allowed a 51-yard touchdown pass to Tyrell Williams. Well, Rivers went looking for Williams again, but Alonso sniffed the play and stepped in front of Williams to make the easy interception with momentum heading to a clear path to the end zone. Alonso punctuated his 60-yard touchdown with a Conor McGregor strut in the back of the end zone, and the Dolphins secured the victory when Tony Lippett came up with the team's fourth pick of the fourth quarter three plays later.

The No. 100 Greatest Play in Dolphins History

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The No. 16 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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