The Best Miami Dolphins Game of the Century and Remembering Their Last Playoff Win

Sports Illustrated recently concluded its list of the Miami Dolphins‘ “Top 100 Games of the First Quarter of the Century” with the best ten during that time. Through the top 99, there was a glaring omission, which kind of gives away the No. 1 game on the list…and it was so long ago.

Spoiler alert: It’s their one playoff win since 2000.

Alain Poupart of SI published the final installment on Friday and numero uno simply had to be the Dolphins overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts in the 2000 Wild Card round 23-17.

“Yes, we have to go with the obvious choice for our top game of the 2000s, the Dolphins’ one playoff win of the millennium (disappointing as that fact might be),” Poupart writes. “And it wasn’t just that the Dolphins won the game in overtime, it’s because it featured an all-time great individual performance by Lamar Smith, a great comeback by the Dolphins in the final minute and some close calls where the Colts had chances to win the game.”

In case you forgot or weren’t born until after 9/11:

Just how long ago was this Miami Dolphins playoff win?

Yes, 2000 doesn’t seem like that long ago for most of us. But, remembering what the television game experience was like and looking back on some of these player names shows just far in the past it was. Think about it, when the Dolphins last won a playoff game we didn’t have to take our shoes off at the airport. Yeah, huh?

This game wasn’t even broadcast in High Definition! That’s almost unthinkable today. CBS didn’t broadcast it’s first Super Bowl in HD until later that year. And, to get the full HD experience in your home, the game needs to be shot in HD, broadcast in HD and watched on an HDTV. If any one of those elements is missing, then it’s not an HD experience (see: Television Production degree from Boston University). Even if it was captured and broadcast in HD, I guarantee you didn’t have an HDTV because an average set was about $4,500 and could get up to $10,000 rather easily. Nobody had them and if they did, they looked awful with a standard definition broadcast. Fast motion was an unmitigated nightmare at that point.

And how about some of the names on the Dolphins? Everyone remembers Buffalo Bills superstar Thurman Thomas, right? Yep, he was on Miami that year. Wide receivers Leslie Sheppard, Orande Gadsden, Tony Martin and Bert Emanuel were all on the roster and barely remembered even by older Dolphins fans. Emanuel has a very popular NFL rule named after him regarding what constitutes a catch and it comes up every single week in today’s NFL. That guy was on this Dolphins team and no one remembers.

It actually was a great game

Sure, this was an easy game to put in the No. 1 slot because it was a playoff win, but it actually was a phenomenal game.

“This was a close game throughout, but the Dolphins found themselves needing a touchdown to tie the score when they got the ball at their 20 with 4:47 left in regulation,” Poupart continues. “In perhaps his finest hour as Dolphins QB, Jay Fiedler engineered a 14-play touchdown drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jed Weaver on third-and-goal. Despite having all three timeouts left, the Colts surprisingly decided to take overtime after getting the ball on their 20 with 28 seconds left — with Peyton Manning at quarterback.”

This was back when Manning and Vanderjagt were a virtually lock to come through in an OT contest. Manning was just entering his prime and Vanderjagt was one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history. When he retired following the 2005 season (remember his last kick? That disaster against the Pittsburgh Steelers?) his 86.4% conversion rate was the highest ever.

The Steelers’ miss will be remembered by Colts’ fans forever, but this one should too. He had a chance to send his team through to the divisional round.

“The Dolphins had a close call in overtime when Mike Vanderjagt missed a 49-yard field goal attempt, this after the Colts declined an offside penalty that would have put them in a third-and-7 from the Miami 37-yard line,” Poupart writes. “The Dolphins then got three first downs, two on third-down conversions to set the stage for Smith, who capped his 209-yard performance with a 17-yard touchdown run to the delight of the fans at what was then known as Pro Player Stadium.”

What do you remember about this game? Tell us in the comments!

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