Game 179. Buffalo at Miami
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Tag Archives: Miami dolphins
1997 Game 240 (Week 17) New England at Miami
Block Punt energizes Dolphins; Marino completes comeback!
The New England Patriots seemed in control of the final game of the 1997 regular season as they had the Miami Dolphins down 13-3 at the start of the 4th quarter of Monday Night’s game at Pro Player Stadium. Then the Dolphins got a huge blocked punt that spurred their comeback to win 17-13.
The Dolphins blocked Tom Tupa’s punt and recovered the ball at the Patriot 5-yd line. A few plays later, newly acquired running back Lawrence Phillips plunged in for a 1-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 13-10.
The Dolphins then took over with six minutes to go and Dan Marino gave us another magical moment in his brilliant career. Marino, on a 3rd and 15, zipped a pass to WR OJ McDuffie, who raced down to the Patriot 9-yard line on a 36-yd connection. The referees tacked on five more yards for a roughing the passer on the play and the Dolphins had the ball at the Patriot 4-yard line.
On a 4th and 1 from the 1-yd line, head coach Jimmie Johnson decided to go-for-it, instead of kicking the field goal to tie the game. The Dolphins tried two plays from the 1, but couldn’t get the ball in, so Johnson called Marino’s number on 4th down. Marino took a short sprint to his right and fired a pass to WR Bret Perriman, who secured the catch and the touchdown! The Dolphins took the lead 17-13.
With 1:15 left to play, Patriot QB Drew Bledsoe had one more opportunity and zipped passes all the way down the field. He hit TE Ben Coates on three consecutive passes and took the Patriots to the Dolphins 24-yard line. On the final play, Bledsoe zipped a short pass to WR Terry Glenn, but the Dolphins made the tackle to secure the 17-13 victory!
Despite the loss, the Patriots (12-4) are still the #2 seed in the AFC. They will have a first round bye and wait for the results of Wildcard weekend to determine who they will play in the divisional round at Foxboro. As for the Dolphins, they finished their season with a disappointing 7-9 record and missed the playoffs.
Game 157. Miami at Cleveland
Game 154. Baltimore at Miami
1997 Game 217 (Week 16) Miami at Indianapolis
Colts take down the Dolphins
Jimmy Johnson’s second year in Miami didn’t go so well. Johnson had great success in Dallas winning two Super Bowls and many in Miami have expected the Dolphins to improve in Johnson’s second season. The Dolphins were 8-8 a year ago. After losing to the Colts 17-13 on Sunday, Johnson and the Dolphins will be saddled with a losing season as they are now 6-9.
The Dolphins signed RB Lawrence Phillips this week to bolster their running game. Phillips was waived by the St. Louis Rams a couple of weeks ago, but he did nothing to help the Dolphins. They were once again inept in the running game as they finished with 70 yards against the Colts run defense.
The Colts didn’t light things up either, but they did just enough to get the victory. RB Marshall Faulk rushed for 102 yards on 27 carries and scored a TD. QB Jim Harbaugh was 17 of 26 passing for 163 yards.
The Colts Dan Footman had 1.5 sacks in the game. He currently has 18.5 sacks. The NFL record for the most sacks in a season is 22 by Mark Gastineau of the NY Jets.
The Dolphins will end their disappointing season against New England on Monday Night, while the Colts (5-10) finish up at Minnesota.
Game 136. Miami at Pittsburgh
1997 Game 209 (Week 15) Detroit at Miami
Lions roar past Marino & the Dolphins
The offensive juggernaut of the Detroit Lions continued to roll Sunday afternoon in Pro Player Stadium as they beat the Miami Dolphins, 37-27, to run their record to 11-3 on the season.
A lot of the focus coming into today’s game was the Dolphins’ QB Dan Marino; however, the Lions’ QB Scott Mitchell stole the show. Sure, Mitchell has the best weapons in football around him, but he has had the best season of his career, and it continued Sunday. Mitchell threw for 312 yards on 17 of 28 passing with three touchdowns and a 134.8 quarterback rating.
Mitchell had a fantastic 1995 season leading the Lions to the playoffs, but this year has been different. With most defenses focusing their attention on RB Barry Sanders, Mitchell and his receiving tandem of Herman Moore and Johnnie Morton are making defenses pay for bringing extra players in the box to try and stop Sanders. On the season, Mitchell has completed 59% of his passes and thrown for 3,598 yards. He has tossed 27 TD passes, but here is where Mitchell has gotten better…he only has four interceptions on the season, which is the reason why he has a career-high 102.2 quarterback rating.
As for Barry Sanders, the Dolphins did everything they could to take him away. Sanders was held to a season-low 69 yards on 19 carries. On the season, Barry’s quest for 2,000 is very much a reality as he is just 104 yards away with two games to play. He also has his sights on Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record of 2,105 that he set in 1984. Sanders is 209 yards away from breaking that record.
As for the Dolphins, they tried to stay in the game behind Marino’s arm. He had a season-high 346 yards passing. He completed 26 of 41 passes with three touchdowns with no interceptions. The Dolphins had a 21-14 lead at halftime, but Marino could not keep up with the red-hot Lions, because the Lions defense began to put the pressure on. They sacked Marino six times and DE Robert Porcher continued to have an unbelievable season. He sacked Marino twice in the 4th quarter and now has 19 sacks on the season.
The Lions are now 11-3 on the season and still have a mathematical chance at winning the NFC Central. They have to win out and the Packers have to lose their final two games. The Lions will travel to Minneapolis to take on the Vikings next Sunday and then complete the regular season at home against the Jets. The Dolphins are now 6-8 and will travel next week to take on the Colts.
