Who is the Fins 2nd best player of all time? | Page 7 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Who is the Fins 2nd best player of all time?

DolphinCurry said:
Everybody take a breath and slow down. There is one Dolphins player whom many many sportswriters -including Paul Zimmerman as one example - consider to be the greatest player at his position OF ALL TIME. He is frequently overlooked because of his position. People should google the incredible way Shula spoke about him as well as many sportswriters. As much as I love Marino, this man may have been better at his position than Marino was at quarterback. That man is DWIGHT STEPHENSON. Probably the greatest center to ever play the game. Young guys who don’t know who I’m talking about google him. If the question is who was best at his position after Marino, for me it’s Stephenson.
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Not just Shula. Bear Bryant said he was the best player he’d ever coached. End of story.
 
superphin said:
No, I get it I kind of feel the same way. But I would also put that more on the coach than the player. Shula should have reigned him in Dan's first couple of years.
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You mean when he threw 122 TDs in 3 seasons? Hand the ball to “insert horrific RB here”. Ok.
 
FinfanInBuffalo said:
Do you remember having an effective running game during his career? The entire defense setup to stop the pass and they still couldn't run the ball effectively.
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Nowhere was this more accentuated in the SB when Walsh, realizing his base D couldn’t stop Dan after 3 straight scoring drives went to 8 DBs w 3 down lineman. Shula countered by running the ball. Only their 3 were beating our 5 on the line and penetrating the backfield. Pathetic.
 
royalshank said:
Nowhere was this more accentuated in the SB when Walsh, realizing his base D couldn’t stop Dan after 3 straight scoring drives went to 8 DBs w 3 down lineman. Shula countered by running the ball. Only their 3 were beating our 5 on the line and penetrating the backfield. Pathetic.
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Dolphins had two consecutive scoring drives 1 FG and 1 TD, that was the 1st qtr. They went 14 minutes without scoring they than got 2 fg in the last 15 seconds of the 2nd QTR. We had 2 rush attempts in the 1st QTR in which we scored 10 consecutive points. If Shula countered by running the ball he failed since he only ran the ball 3 times in the 2nd QTR. I would never say 3 rushing attempts in a QTR is a genuine attempt at establishing the run.
 
royalshank said:
You mean when he threw 122 TDs in 3 seasons? Hand the ball to “insert horrific RB here”. Ok.
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Between 84-86 combined we were 26 of 28 in rushing attempts with 1277 and 22 of 28 in rushing yards with 5192.We were also 9th in rushing yards per attempt with 4.0 and 10th in rushing TD's with 46. Maybe we didn't have a marquee rusher but as a team we didn't do too bad. So yes, I would say maybe if we ran the ball a little more and Shula didn't cater to Marino maybe it would have made a difference. Being 9th in rushing y/a and 10th in TD's over that 3 year span clearly shows we weren't this lackluster rushing team. Just didn't have the attempts.
 
superphin said:
Between 84-86 combined we were 26 of 28 in rushing attempts with 1277 and 22 of 28 in rushing yards with 5192.We were also 9th in rushing yards per attempt with 4.0 and 10th in rushing TD's with 46. Maybe we didn't have a marquee rusher but as a team we didn't do too bad. So yes, I would say maybe if we ran the ball a little more and Shula didn't cater to Marino maybe it would have made a difference. Being 9th in rushing y/a and 10th in TD's over that 3 year span clearly shows we weren't this lackluster rushing team. Just didn't have the attempts.
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I was too young to remember the early Marino years but the stats have never suggested the backs weren’t good enough, only they were way underutilized.

Bad defense = playing from behind or score for score = hard to establish or maintain the running game. Always made the most sense to me.
 
superphin said:
Dolphins had two consecutive scoring drives 1 FG and 1 TD, that was the 1st qtr. They went 14 minutes without scoring they than got 2 fg in the last 15 seconds of the 2nd QTR. We had 2 rush attempts in the 1st QTR in which we scored 10 consecutive points. If Shula countered by running the ball he failed since he only ran the ball 3 times in the 2nd QTR. I would never say 3 rushing attempts in a QTR is a genuine attempt at establishing the run.
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It’s exacy what happened. He tried those runs in the 3rd and the backs got dropped in their tracks. NFL Films did a good documentary on the game - that move - countermove is highlighted.
 
superphin said:
Between 84-86 combined we were 26 of 28 in rushing attempts with 1277 and 22 of 28 in rushing yards with 5192.We were also 9th in rushing yards per attempt with 4.0 and 10th in rushing TD's with 46. Maybe we didn't have a marquee rusher but as a team we didn't do too bad. So yes, I would say maybe if we ran the ball a little more and Shula didn't cater to Marino maybe it would have made a difference. Being 9th in rushing y/a and 10th in TD's over that 3 year span clearly shows we weren't this lackluster rushing team. Just didn't have the attempts.
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Couple things:

1. We were ok at running the ball
2. We ran it more late when we had the game in hand.
3. Or, we were in a shootout / playing from behind.
4. Our backs were not bellcow types. Nathan was a good all around back. Bennett was more of a fullback. Vigorito was a scat back. Pete Johnson was washed up and contributed nothing but 1 yard TD plunges when we got him. The one good back we had? Andra Franklin (guy we rode to the SB in ‘82) but he blew his knee out and career very early in Marino’s tenure.
 
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