What’s the Patriots’ most memorable win over the Dolphins?
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Here’s a quick one for you. What is the Patriots’ biggest win over the Dolphins in their history? Couple of things got me thinking about this question. 1) The Patriots playing the Dolphins Monday night, obviously. 2) The recent death of Ron Meyer. 3) Watching Adam Vinatieri and the Colts kick the snow out of the way before a field goal attempt against the Bills yesterday. It has to be the snowplow game in 1982, right? – Pat B.
That’s on the short list, and if you don’t know what we’re talking about, I have to presume you think Patriots history began with Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells. Quick synopsis: The Patriots beat the Dolphins on December 12, 1982 by a 3-0 score when Meyer, then the Patriots coach, waved snowplow driver Mark Henderson onto the field during a snowstorm to clear a patch for kicker John Smith’s winning kick with less than 5 minutes left. Dolphins coach Don Shula was so hilariously incensed that he probably loses his mind to this day when he sees a John Deere commercial.
That is an all-time moment in Patriots lore, but it’s not the Patriots’ greatest win over the Dolphins. I can think of two that are even better: The regular-season finale in 1986 when Steve Grogan came off the bench and threw a touchdown pass to Stanley Morgan with less than a minute left to beat the Dolphins 34-27 and clinch the AFC East title in the final game at the Orange Bowl. That was special.
But the greatest Patriots win over the Dolphins came the season before, a 31-14 win in the AFC Championship Game that ended the franchise’s 18-game losing streak in the Orange Bowl. It’s still hard to believe all these years later that a team quarterbacked by Tony Eason beat a team quarterbacked by Dan Marino with a Super Bowl trip at stake. Squish the fish, indeed.
But what do you guys think? What’s the Patriots’ most memorable win over the Dolphins? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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