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Which was the last "great" dolphins team?

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phinfan2003

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IMO, for a team to be considered great, they have to be dominant. Although I'm not suggesting they have to win a SB, they have to be pretty darn good. The last time the Dolphins were great I would say was 21 years ago in 1984 when we lost in the SB to the 49ers. That team was a machine!!! Now we've been very good at times since then but not great.

The reason I say this is that I've seen a lot of people around here talking about the Dolphins being great again the way they were w/ JJ and in the 90's w/ Shula and I don't agree. Many of those teams were good but not great.
 
We've had some decent teams in the 90's, especially '92, we just came up short. I always seemed to like the '94 team with Irving Fryar, Mark Ingram as the wideouts. I believe that was the last time Dan threw for 30 td's and 4,000 yards.
 
NorthFloridaFin said:
We've had some decent teams in the 90's, especially '92, we just came up short. I always seemed to like the '94 team with Irving Fryar, Mark Ingram as the wideouts. I believe that was the last time Dan threw for 30 td's and 4,000 yards.
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You're right but I just wouldn't consider those teams great. They had huge flaws on the Defensive side and we couldn't run for squat. Granted, we had Marino's cannon but still I never felt that team was great! Maybe if we would have been able to sign Deion in 1994 we would have been.
 
I agree. The 1992 team was pretty good, but I think the 1984 Dolphins would have won a super bowl in most years. They certainly were better than most of the recent super bowl teams. Unfortunately, that 49er team was one of the best ever and they essentially had home field advantage playing in Palo Alto. A neutral site and it's probably more like a 7-10 point game.
 
phinfan2003 said:
IMO, for a team to be considered great, they have to be dominant. Although I'm not suggesting they have to win a SB, they have to be pretty darn good. The last time the Dolphins were great I would say was 21 years ago in 1984 when we lost in the SB to the 49ers. That team was a machine!!! Now we've been very good at times since then but not great.

The reason I say this is that I've seen a lot of people around here talking about the Dolphins being great again the way they were w/ JJ and in the 90's w/ Shula and I don't agree. Many of those teams were good but not great.
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The last team that I really thought had all the pieces and showed how to dominate games was 1985. That year we were the only team to beat Da Bears. If we dont lose to NE in Miami for the AFC Championship game (we laid an egg) we go to the SB and I believe Shula would have had a few more schemes to win that one, just like he had that glorious Monday Night to throttle Ditka/Ryan and their boys.

Following that season, for me, memory serves that the 1994 squad was solid on both sides of the ball....they made mistakes but had loads of talent to win it all. That team lost 22-21 to SD in the 2nd round. We were up for most of the game but I recall a late fumble following a catch by Keith Jackson (Byers was also on the squad). Anyway, SD goes on to Pitt and wins to face SF in the SB. SF was magical and efficient so not sure how we would have faired, but that was the last time I saw a good solid team that had a more than realistic chance to win it all.
 
Dolphins_SR66 said:
The last team that I really thought had all the pieces and showed how to dominate games with 1985. That year we were the only team to beat Da Bears. If we dont lose to NE in Miami for the AFC Championship game (we laid an egg) we go to the SB and I believe Shula would have had a few more schemes to win that one, just like he had that glorious Monday Night to throttle Ditka/Ryan and their boys.

Following that season, for me, memory serves that the 1994 squad was solid on both sides of the ball....they made mistakes but had loads of talent to win it all. That team lost 22-21 to SD in the 2nd round. We were up for most of the game but I recall a late fumble following a catch by Keith Jackson (Byers was also on the squad). Anyway, SD goes on to Pitt and wins to face SF in the SB. SF was magical and efficient so not sure how we would have faired, but that was the last time I saw a good solid team that had a more than realistic chance to win it all.
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That 1994 team would have gotten smoked by the Niners. Don't get me wrong, I would have love for that team to go to the SB but the niners bought themselves a championship that year! We tried to copy them the following year when we signed all kinds of FA's and had something like 19 1st rounders playing for us but the attempt failed miserably leading to Shula's retirement.
 
Its sad that we really havent had a truly elite team in over 30 years.
 
phinfan2003 said:
That 1994 team would have gotten smoked by the Niners. Don't get me wrong, I would have love for that team to go to the SB but the niners bought themselves a championship that year! We tried to copy them the following year when we signed all kinds of FA's and had something like 19 1st rounders playing for us but the attempt failed miserably leading to Shula's retirement.
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Yeah, SF was magical as stated.....but not sure about the 19 1st rounders the following year?? I think that was 1993 which brought us the 94 squad. By 95 many started to fade away.

I could be wrong but something tells we we stacked up in 93 with the Byers, Jacksons, Fryar, DeBerg's, etc..
 
1992 Dolphins plus the team that lost the Chargers on a missed field goal by Stoyanovich.

Before that the 1985 Dolphins were our last "great" team. I would pick the 1985 Dolphins over any Dolphins team in the 90s primarily for three reasons: (1) Young and healthy Marino; (2) Very good combination of old and new players (i.e., Nat Moore, Kuechengberg and Duper/Clayton in prime); (3) Home games at the Orange Bowl.
 
CaptainK said:
1992 Dolphins plus the team that lost the Chargers on a missed field goal by Stoyanovich.

Before that the 1985 Dolphins were our last "great" team. I would pick the 1985 Dolphins over any Dolphins team in the 90s primarily for three reasons: (1) Young and healthy Marino; (2) Very good combination of old and new players (i.e., Nat Moore, Kuechengberg and Duper/Clayton in prime); (3) Home games at the Orange Bowl.
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92 wasnt the missed SD FG, we lost to Buffalo in the championship that year...good team but not the year your thinking about.

Your thinking about 1981 with Kellen Winslow etc...

http://www.chargers-stats.com/Miami.html

and this play...

"With nothing to lose, Miami called for a “hook-and-ladder†play. Strock fired a pass to wideout DURIEL HARRIS, who caught the 15-yarder while falling back towards the line of scrimmage. In one motion, he lateraled to running back TONY NATHAN, who streaked 25 yards down the sideline for a spectacular touchdown to cut the deficit to seven."
 
Dolphins_SR66 said:
Yeah, SF was magical as stated.....but not sure about the 19 1st rounders the following year?? I think that was 1993 which brought us the 94 squad. By 95 many started to fade away.

I could be wrong but something tells we we stacked up in 93 with the Byers, Jacksons, Fryar, DeBerg's, etc..
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We're talking different years. After we lost vs. the Chargers in the playoffs (on the Pete Stoyanovich missed FG among other blunders), we went on a rampage. We traded Keith Jackson to the Pack for T-Buck. We signed Steve Emtman, Dan McGwire, Eric Green, Gary Clark, Ricky Sanders, etc. That was the season we blew out the Jets on opening day like 52-14. We ended up squeaking into the playoffs but then we got wrecked by the Bills. Thurman Thomas and Kenneth Davis ran for like 300 yds. combined!! That was Shula's last game as HC.
 
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