Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami, Florida Metropolitan Area. They play home games at Dolphin Stadium, in the suburb of Miami Gardens, about 15 miles from Downtown Miami. They are headquartered at the Miami Dolphins Training Facility in Davie, Florida. The Dolphins belong to the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Dolphins were founded by Joseph Robbie, began play in the American Football League as an expansion team in 1966, and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger. The Dolphins are the oldest major-league professional sports franchise in the state of Florida.
The team made its first Super Bowl appearance following the 1971 season in Super Bowl VI, but lost to the Dallas Cowboys. In 1972, the Dolphins completed the NFL's first perfect season culminating in a Super Bowl win, winning all 14 regular season games, two playoff games and Super Bowl VII. To date, they are the only team to have done so. The 1972 Dolphins held the fourth perfect regular season in NFL history. The team also won Super Bowl VIII, becoming the first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, and the second team (first AFL/AFC team) to win back-to-back championships. Miami also appeared in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, losing both games.
For most of their history, the Dolphins were coached by Don Shula, the most successful head coach in professional football history. His Dolphins teams posted losing records in only two of his 26 seasons with the club. Six future Hall of Fame members played for Miami during the 1970s, including running back Larry Csonka and quarterback Bob Griese. During the 1980s and 1990s quarterback Dan Marino became the most prolific passer in NFL history, breaking numerous league passing records. He led the Dolphins to numerous playoff appearances and Super Bowl XIX. Some of his passing records have since been surpassed by Brett Favre (all time touchdown passes & all time yardage) & Tom Brady (most TD passes in a single season)

History

Miami joined the American Football League (AFL) when an expansion team franchise was awarded to lawyer Joseph Robbie and actor Danny Thomas in 1965 for $7.5 million, although Thomas would eventually sell his stake in the team to Robbie. A contest was held in 1965 to find the name of the new Miami franchise for the American Football League. 19,843 entries were submitted with over a thousand different names. A dozen finalists were screened through by a seven-member committee made up of the local media, names considered included the Mariners, Marauders, Mustangs, Missiles, Moons, Sharks, and Suns. The winning name, "Dolphins," was submitted by 622 entrants. Mrs. Robert Swanson of West Miami won lifetime passes to Dolphin games when her nickname entry successfully predicted the winner and score of the 1965 football game between Notre Dame and the University of Miami, a scoreless tie.

1970s
The Dolphins had a combined 15-39-2 record in their first four seasons (under head coach George Wilson) when Shula was hired as head coach. Shula was a former Paul Brown disciple who had been lured from the Baltimore Colts after first losing Super Bowl III two seasons earlier to the AFL's New York Jets and finishing 8-5-1 the following season,. The Colts charged the Dolphins with tampering in their hiring of Shula, costing them their first round draft pick in 1970. Shula introduced himself to the Miami press by saying that he didn't have any magic formulas and that the only way he knew to make his teams successful was through hard work. Shula's early training camps with the Dolphins, with four workouts a day, would soon be the stuff of sweltering, painful legend. But Shula's hard work paid immediate dividends, as Miami improved to a 10-4 record and their first-ever playoff appearance, losing 21-14 at Oakland.
The Dolphins were successful in the early 1970s, becoming the first team to advance to the Super Bowl for three consecutive seasons. They captured the AFC championship in 1971 behind quarterback Bob Griese, running backs Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, and wide receiver Paul Warfield. The AFC Divisional Playoff Game, in which the Dolphins defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, was the longest contest in NFL history (82 minutes 40 seconds). In Super Bowl VI, however, Miami lost to the Dallas Cowboys 24-3.
In 1972 the Dolphins completed the NFL's only perfect season, winning every regular season game, two playoff games and Super Bowl VII, defeating the Washington Redskins 14-7. However the NFL season was only 14 games. QB Griese fell victim to a broken leg and dislocated ankle in Week 5 versus the San Diego Chargers and was replaced by veteran Earl Morrall for the rest of the regular season, but returned to the field as a substitute during the AFC Championship game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers and then started in Super Bowl VII. The Dolphins set the NFL single-season rushing record, and running backs Csonka and Mercury Morris became the first teammates to each rush for 1,000 yards in a season. The offensive line included future Hall of Fame members Jim Langer and Larry Little and Pro Bowler Bob Kuechenberg. The 1972 Dolphins defensive unit, called the No-Name Defense because Miami’s impressive offense received much more publicity, was the league’s best that year. It was led by linebacker Nick Buoniconti, end Bill Stanfill, tackle Manny Fernandez and safeties Dick Anderson and Jake Scott.
Before the 1972 Dolphins, only the Chicago Bears, in 1934 and 1942, had finished an NFL regular season with no losses or ties. The 1934 team lost the NFL Championship Game that year to the New York Football Giants, and the 1942 team lost the Championship to the Redskins. The Cleveland Browns were undefeated in the 1948 All-America Football Conference season.
The Dolphins finished 12-2 after the 1973 regular season and repeated as NFL Champions, beating the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 in Super Bowl VIII at Rice Stadium in Houston. Miami reached the playoffs again in 1974 but lost in the first round to the Oakland Raiders, in what has entered NFL lore as the "Sea of Hands" game, considered one of the greatest games ever played. Following the 1974 season, the Dolphins lost Csonka, Kiick, and Warfield to the World Football League.
Miami rebounded from a 6-8 record in 1976 by winning ten or more games in four of the next five seasons. Shula built a solid defense around a new set of stars, including linebacker A.J. Duhe and linemen Bob Baumhower and Doug Betters. The Dolphins went 10-4 again in 1977, but again lost the division title (and playoff spot) to the Colts. They made the playoffs as a wild card in 1978, but lost in the first round to the Houston Oilers 17-9.
Csonka returned to the Dolphins in time for the 1979 season. After winning the division with a 10-6 record, the Dolphins lost the divisional playoff 34-14 to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium.

1980s
In 1980, David Woodley, an athletic quarterback out of LSU, took over for Bob Griese, who severely injured his shoulder in a game against the Baltimore Colts. Griese would never play again, retiring after the season. The Dolphins finished 8-8 and did not make the playoffs.
The Dolphins were back on top of the AFC East in the 1981 NFL season with an 11-4-1 record. That season, the Dolphins quarterback position was actually manned by both Woodley and back-up quarterback Don Strock, causing the local media to identify the Miami quarterback as "Woodstrock." They reached the divisional playoff against the San Diego Chargers, known as The Epic in Miami and remembered as one of the most memorable games in NFL history, After being down 24-0 after the end of the first quarter, back-up quarterback Don Strock entered the game and engineered a frenetic comeback, culminating in the historic "Hook and Lateral" play, in which wide receiver Duriel Harris caught a pass from Strock and immediately lateralled the ball to the streaking running back Tony Nathan for the score on the last play of the half, which cut the Chargers lead to 24-17. After the Dolphins took the lead in the 4th quarter, San Diego tied it up 38-38 with under a minute to play. Chargers tight end Kellen Winslow, playing through exhaustion, blocked Uwe von Schamann's field goal try on the last play of regulation. Von Schamann had another field goal attempt blocked in overtime, and Rolf Benirschke kicked the game-winner for San Diego in overtime after missing a chip shot field goal earlier in overtime. Strock finished the game with 403 passing yards and 4 touchdowns.
In the strike-shortened 1982 NFL season, the Dolphins, led by the "Killer B's" defense (Baumhower, Bill Barnett, Lyle Blackwood, Kim Bokamper, Glenn Blackwood, Doug Betters, and Bob Brudzinski), held five of their nine opponents to 14 or fewer points en route to their fourth Super Bowl appearance. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, they got revenge for previous losses, crushing the Patriots, 28-13 (revenge for the infamous Snow Plow game at Schaeffer Stadium played earlier in the season) and the San Diego Chargers, 34-13 at the Orange Bowl. After shutting out the New York Jets in the AFC Championship 14-0 (aided by Shula's instructions to the Stadium's grounds crew to leave the field uncovered throughout a week long rain in Miami).This was done to negate the Jets superior edge in team speed. They lost Super Bowl XVII to Washington, 27-17. After enjoying success rooted in a defense-first philosophy, and employing a ball control offense to take pressure off of lackluster quarterbacks, the next 17 seasons would be marked by an average rushing game and defense that limited a great quarterback.
With the quarterback issue in hand, Don Shula needed someone who was going to help the Dolphins incredibly. This is because without a quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, the offensive game for their team would go down the drain. That is why in the end of 1982, they looked at a possible quarterback named Jonathan Teel. Previously cut by the Milwaukee Bucks for injuring his patella, the Miami Dolphins realized that once Jonathan Teel healed, his ability to run would be incredible along with his ability to throw. "A quarterback with great agility and great strength is a keeper," Shula once quoted. Although the possibility of Jonathan Teel as quarterback seemed valuable, the contract for his money was not. Jonathan Teel wanted 9.93 million dollars a year and for a rookie in 1982-1983, this amount of money was way out of whack. The Miami Dolphins did not end up picking Jonathan Teel.
During the third game of the 1983 season at the Los Angeles Raiders on Monday Night Football, Shula replaced quarterback David Woodley with rookie Dan Marino, who went on to win the AFC passing title helped by a ratio of 20 touchdowns versus 6 interceptions and the NFL Rookie of the Year award. Seldom sacked by defenders, Marino was protected by an outstanding offensive line as he passed to receivers such as Mark Clayton and Mark Duper. Despite the regular season success (the Dolphins went 12-4 winning their last five regular season games, the only team in the AFC East with a winning record), they were upset in the divisional playoff by the Seattle Seahawks at the Orange Bowl. Defensive end Doug Betters was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
In 1984, the Dolphins won their first 11 games en route to a 14-2 season (the franchise's best 16-game season to date). Marino, in his first full season, produced the most impressive set of passing statistics in NFL history, setting single-season records for most yards (5,084), touchdown passes (48), and completions (362). He was voted NFL MVP. Miami avenged the Seahawks loss from the previous year 31-10 and crushed the Steelers 45-28 in the AFC Championship to get to Super Bowl XIX. In the title game, however, Miami lost to the San Francisco 49ers 38-16. It would be Marino's only Super Bowl appearance.
Miami finished 12-4 in 1985 and, in an epic Monday Night Football showdown, handed the previously-undefeated Chicago Bears their only defeat of the season. After rallying from a 21-3 third quarter deficit in the divisional playoffs to beat the Cleveland Browns 24-21, many people were looking forward to a rematch with Chicago in Super Bowl XX. The Cinderella New England Patriots, the Dolphins' opponents in the AFC Championship, had different plans. New England forced six turnovers on the way to a 31-14 win - the Patriots' first in Miami since 1966. The Patriots has lost 18 games in a row at the Orange Bowl. In 1969, the Boston Patriots had beaten the Dolphins at Tampa Stadium.
In 1986, the Dolphins, hampered by defensive struggles, stumbled to a 2-5 start and finished 8-8, missing the playoffs for the first time since 1977. The Dolphins lost their last ever game at the Orange Bowl to the New England Patriots 34-27 on Monday Night Football. The problems continued in 1987, with an 8-7 (7-5 in non-strike games) record in a strike-shortened year, their first at new Joe Robbie Stadium. Miami had their first losing season (6-10) since 1976 in 1988, and finished 8-8 following the 1989 regular season.

1990s
By 1990, the Dolphins had finally shaped up on defense and finished with a 12-4 record, second in the AFC East. They came from behind to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 17-16 in the Wild Card round, but lost to the Buffalo Bills 44-34 in the divisional playoffs. The team struggled with defensive injuries in 1991, and narrowly missed the playoffs in an overtime loss to the New York Jets during the final week of the season, losing the AFC's final playoff berth to their arch rivals from New York.
The Dolphins rebounded in 1992 by finishing 11-5 and capturing the AFC East title behind a career year from running back Mark Higgs and tight end Keith Jackson, newly acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles as an unrestricted free agent. They crushed the Chargers in the divisional playoffs 31-0, but were defeated by the Buffalo Bills 29-10 in the AFC Championship.
A season-ending Achilles injury to Dan Marino led to the team missing the playoffs in 1993 despite a league-leading 9-2 start. Marino returned in 1994 to lead the Dolphins to a 10-6 record and the AFC East crown. After defeating Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card round, the Dolphins gave up a 15-point halftime lead and suffered a heart-breaking 22-21 loss to the San Diego Chargers. Pete Stoyanovich missed a 46 yard field goal on the last play of the game and denied Marino a chance to play the Steelers in his hometown of Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game.
In 1995, Marino broke the career passing records formerly held by Fran Tarkenton for yards (48,841), touchdowns (352), and completions (3,913), though two of the games where he broke those records were losses to the Indianapolis Colts. The Dolphins finished 9-7, second in the AFC East, but still made the playoffs as a wild card, losing to Buffalo in the first round. Following the 1995 season, Don Shula retired and became an executive in the Dolphins’ front office. Jimmy Johnson, who had won a collegiate national championship at the University of Miami and two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, was named as Shula’s replacement. At the press conference announcing his retirement, Shula said that he "agreed to step aside", leading some to speculate that Huizenga had all but fired him.
In 1996, Miami finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs, with rookie Karim Abdul-Jabbar's 1,116-yard rushing season and standout rookie linebacker Zach Thomas serving as two of the few bright spots. In 1997, Miami stumbled late and backed into the playoffs with a 9-7 season, losing to the New England Patriots in the Wild Card round.
Miami had a solid 10-6 season in 1998 with a career season for receiver O.J. McDuffie, but it was not enough to get past the New York Jets into first place in the division. The Dolphins beat the Bills in the Wild Card round, but lost in the next round to the eventual champion Denver Broncos. (The Broncos lost only two regular season games in 1998, one of which was to the Dolphins.)
In 1999, the team advanced to the playoffs at 9-7. After a close win at Seattle in the Wild Card round 20-17, they suffered the worst playoff loss in NFL history against the Jacksonville Jaguars: 62-7. After the season, Jimmy Johnson left the team and Marino retired.

2000s
Before the 2000 season, Dave Wannstedt, formerly of the Chicago Bears, became the new coach, and ex-Jacksonville Jaguars backup Jay Fiedler became the new quarterback, even though former Marino backup Damon Huard had been considered the favorite. Despite lowered expectations, the defense broke through with Jason Taylor and Trace Armstrong each getting 10 sacks, and four players (Sam Madison, Brian Walker, Brock Marion and Patrick Surtain) tallying at least five interceptions. All-pro linebacker Zach Thomas also contributed many tackles. In addition, Lamar Smith rushed for 1,139 yards, and Miami finished atop the AFC East with an 11-5 record. In the first round of the playoffs, Miami took the Indianapolis Colts to overtime and won on a Lamar Smith touchdown run. Smith finished with 209 yards on 40 carries, but in the next round, the Dolphins were shut out by the Oakland Raiders, and a worn-out Smith was barely able to run.
The 2001 offseason brought in rookie Chris Chambers at wide receiver, but Trace Armstrong left, as did two offensive linemen, Richmond Webb, a Pro Bowl anchor since 1990, and Kevin Donnalley. During the 2001 season, the Dolphins relied on a strong defense to finish 11-5, earning a Wild Card spot and finishing second in the AFC East behind the eventual Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. The Dolphins lost in the first round of the playoffs 20-3 to the Baltimore Ravens.
Miami revitalized its running game in time for the 2002 season by trading for New Orleans Saints running back Ricky Williams. In addition, rookie tight end Randy McMichael made his presence felt. The Dolphins, behind a new offensive scheme under freshly hired offensive coordinator Norv Turner, and a power running game led by Williams, quickly rushed out to a 5-1 start, including an incredible last minute comeback by Fiedler against the Broncos. However, Fiedler injured his thumb and would be out for an extended period of time. This intrigued some Dolphins fans, who believed backup Ray Lucas could outdo the much-maligned Fiedler. However, Lucas was abysmal in his first two games and merely average in his third, and the team dropped three straight. Miami rebounded with wins over Baltimore and an impressive thumping of San Diego, but lost to Buffalo. Still, Miami pulled off an impressive win over the Oakland Raiders and sat at 9-5 with two weeks left in the season, in prime position to steal the AFC East. However, despite dominating the New England Patriots for most of the game in Week 17, the Dolphins blew an 11-point lead late in the fourth quarter of a devastating loss. Due to a tiebreaker, both the Dolphins and Patriots lost out on the playoffs as the Jets took the AFC East title. Many fans called for Wannstedt's firing, but he was kept on for the 2003 season. Despite it all, the team believed it had plenty to look forward to, as Ricky Williams broke Dolphins records with 1,853 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground.
The 2003 Miami Dolphins were a hard team to pinpoint. The defense was again solid and forced a lot of turnovers, and opposing offenses found running the ball extremely difficult. However, poor offensive line play (despite most of the starters returning) gave little room for Ricky to run, and the offense was stagnant. The Dolphins began with a repeat of 2002's season end, with a complete meltdown against the Houston Texans, but they rebounded to win four straight games. During a crushing overtime loss at the hands of the Patriots, Jay Fiedler was injured, forcing newly acquired backup Brian Griese to lead the Dolphins to victory the next week over San Diego. That, however, was Griese's high point, and after a good showing against Indianapolis in a losing effort, he was lousy against the Titans and highly ineffective against the Ravens. When Griese and the Dolphins fell behind to the Washington Redskins, Jay Fiedler came off the bench and saved their season, leading them to a comeback victory, 24-23. Miami looked like it might rebound thanks to a victory over the Dallas Cowboys that took them to 8-4, but two key losses to the Patriots and the Eagles ended Miami's postseason hopes. Miami finished 10-6, but was still short of a playoff spot.
The 2004 offseason was disastrous for the Dolphins. Tight end Randy McMichael was arrested for domestic violence and wide receiver David Boston (signed from San Diego) suffered an injury in training camp and missed the entire season (Boston also failed a drug test for steroids later in the season). But the biggest shock came when Ricky Williams retired for then-unspecified reasons, until it was eventually revealed that a) Williams had recently suffered his third strike under the NFL's substance abuse policy, and b) to a lesser degree felt he was unnecessarily overused by Wannstedt. Many experts predicted a disastrous season for the Dolphins. These predictions proved right as Miami dropped their first six games of the 2004 season, marking the worst start in franchise history at the time. After the team fell to 1-8, Wannstedt resigned on November 9, 2004. He was replaced on an interim basis by defensive coordinator Jim Bates. The Dolphins fared slightly better under Bates, winning three of their final seven games, including a 29-28 upset victory over the defending champion Patriots on December 20 in a nationally televised Monday Night Football contest. Despite this, the Dolphins decided not to hire Bates for the permanent coaching position. Instead, they hired LSU coach Nick Saban. However, due to a number of poor personnel decisions, Saban was unable to lead the team to the playoffs during his brief two-year stint.
On January 3, 2007, Saban announced that he had accepted a contract for eight years and a guaranteed $32 million to coach at the University of Alabama. Saban left despite making several false public statements in the preceding weeks assuring fans and owner Wayne Huizenga that he would be staying on as coach of the Dolphins. Cam Cameron, previously the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers, was then introduced as the new head coach of the Dolphins.
For the 2007 season, the NFL scheduled the Dolphins' home game against the New York Giants on October 28 to be played in London's Wembley Stadium this was the NFL's first regular-season game to be played outside of North America. The Giants defeated the Dolphins, 13-10. On December 16, the Dolphins ended a 16 game losing streak and beat the Baltimore Ravens at home 22-16 in overtime on a 64 yard touchdown from Cleo Lemon to Greg Camarillo. Despite the win over the Ravens, the team would lose its next two games to finish 1-15, which tied the NFL record for most losses in a season with 15, a record shared by 7 other teams, according to Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau.
Late in the 2007 season, former two time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Parcells was named head of the Dolphins football operations. Shortly after the season finale, Parcells fired GM Randy Mueller and on January 3, 2008, head coach Cam Cameron was fired along with the vast majority of his staff.
In the 2007 season they finished last in the AFC East division with a record of 1-15. Having the worst record in the NFL awarded the Dolphins the number one overall pick in the upcoming draft.

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