THE DOLPHINS FILE
Home field: Hard Rock Stadium
Coach: Mike McDaniel
Offensive star: WR Tyreek Hills
Defensive star: CB Xavien Howard
2021 Season: Failed to make playoffs
Super Bowls: 1973, 1974
Greatest Player: QB Dan Marino
Factoid: The Dolphins are the only franchise to post a perfect season,
going 17-0 in 1972.
By Lenn Robbins
Dolphins fans cling to the 1972 season like a straphanger grabbing onto
a subway car’s rails. They just won’t let go because, quite frankly, what
else have they got.
True, the Fish won a second consecutive Super Bowl in 1973, laying
claim to one of the great dynasties in league history. Don Shula is
recognized as one of the greatest coaches of all time and Larry Csonka’s
punishing running style – You got Csonked! – remains a nostalgic nod to
a bygone era.
But since those glory years, the Dolphins have seldom sniffed the
postseason. Dan Marino led them to the Big Game in 1984 and never
made it back. Nor did the Dolphins.
Once considered a standard bearer for NFL success, the Dolphins are
now as close to a laughingstock as you’ll find. Last season they fired
coach Brian Flores, who then fired suit, claiming owner Stephen Ross
asked him to throw games to improve the team’s draft position.
Then the NFL fined Ross and the franchise $1.5 million and stripped the
Dolphins of a first-round pick in 2023 for tampering. Buffalo has the
Bills Mafia but Miami was in the business of making offers they hoped
couldn’t be refused.
This has led to a pivotal season for Miami. The teams spent like a
Christmas shopper with a new credit card, trading for WR Tyreek Hill
and bringing expensive free agents.
Some believe the Dolphins are certain playoff contenders. Others
wonder if Tua Tagovailoa is a franchise quarterback and then there is
the question of new coach Mike McDaniel, a 39-year-old whiz kid (Yale)
who has never been a head coach.
No one is expecting a perfect season from Miami. But making the
playoffs but winning a playoff game for the first time since 2000 would
give Dolphins fans something else to hold on to.