The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I have a question for all the dolfans on the board, who is your all time favorite dolphin ? I am not asking who you think was the best or greatest, but who your favorite is ?
My favorite.
Before there was Slash there was Crash and his name is Jim Jensen. He technically was a back up QB, but played every skill position on offense. He also played on special teams and was a long snapper, Jim did everything except sell pop corn during half time. but I wouldn't be surprised to hear he did that too.
For those younger fans who never heard of Jim Jensen here is a website I found on the net.  http://www.jimjensen11.com/

There are several, of course.  I started out loving Marino as a kid, so that's my answer.

In terms of niche players, I really liked Pete Stoyonovich, as well as Reggie Roby.

Without a doubt Jake Scott. Two rings, 5 times all pro, Super Bowl 7 MVP with 2 INTs in that game. Whats not to like; the man gets no respect. He should be in the HOF. Of the safeties in the Hall there are only two that have better numbers than Jake and those two are also head and shoulders above the other safeties already in the Hall. Jake should also be on the ring of Honor but until Shula has a change of heart it will never happen, sad to say.

Larry Csonka.

Guys like Rich Diana and Wes Welker are also on the list.

Gotta give props to the men up front such as Larry Little and Dwight Stephenson. 


I liked Crash Jensen before he became famous for catching passes out of the backfield.  Crash Jensen, the backup QB who played on special teams, was awesome.  Jim Jensen, the TE/H-back who caught passes out of the backfield, was overrated.  I think his success came from his lack of speed.  He was so dang slow that defenses didn't bother covering him.  Of course, everyone overlooks his career 141.4 passer rating, which includes perfect 158.3 ratings in 1984 and '89.

While Jake Scott made two big plays in Super Bowl VII, Manny Fernandez had 18 tackles.  He should have at least been co-MVP.

Howard Twilley on offense....undersized WR, but tough as nails, hands of glue, and an original dolphin drafted in 1966. Welker like in his play, and beloved by the fans who recognized his tenaciousness and fearlessness.

Manny Fernandez on defense...a tough SOB who controlled the middle of the defensive line during the superbowl years, and never got the recognition he deserved for his great play.

Twilley was a 12th round pick, and Manny a free agent pick up; I've always rooted for guys who make it despite the odds against them.

My all-time favorite player was Dan Marino.

My next favorite player on offense was.....Well I can't really name anybody.  We've never had a player who dazzled other than Dan Marino during my lifetime.  Even during our five year playoff run, we never had much talent on offense.  Ricky was a delight to watch in 2002, but we choked that season away.  Maybe Wes Welker, but he was underused here, so we never got a good glimpse.

Hopefully Ted Ginn Jr. will be the one to sparkle.

On defense, my favorite player was Zach Thomas.  He combined passion for the game, talent, and burning desire to become one of most enjoyable players to watch.

Special teams, well in my early life as Dolphins fan, it was Olindo Mare.  He was amazing during our five year playoff run.  He never seemed to miss.  He set a record for FGs in a season in 1999.  Then, during 2000 and 2001, you could count on one hand the total number of FGs his missed.  Of course, he faded late in his Dolphins career.  His last hurrah was the 53 yarder against Denver.  Then, he began missing like crazy.

My favorite Jack-of-all trades dolphin was Sammy Morris.  He was a solid running back and a great special teams contributor.  Letting him go to the Patriots was a mistake by the cameron-mueller adminstration

In more recent years, I really liked Patrick Surtain.

And always, I love you, Ricky.   :-*

The only jerseys I own have either Marino or Madison on the back.

Ray Lucas

Well Dan marino is a given..

More recent guy's...

Oronde Gadsden....The guy wasn't a first round pick,wasn't flashy,wasn't fast...had great hands

John Offerdahl,Bernie Parmalee,Marco Coleman,Louis Oliver,Irving Fryar

Bryan Cox.  Tough on the field and off it.  Gave off this "don't fuck with me or I'll nail you" aura.

Too easy,  Dan Marino.

2. Mark Duper
3. Mark Clayton

I agree. Paul Zimmermann from Sports Illustrated has wondered for so many years why Jake Scott isn't in the Hall of Fame. I think what hurt Scott was that he was really a free-wheeling spirit. Scott actually said, *&**&^ the NFL and everyone else, I'm going to Hawaii. Jake Scott belongs in the Hall Of Fame and the Dolphins Ring of Honor.

Dave Hyde caught up with Jake Scott last year. Let me know if you read the article. If not, I'll send it to you, very interesting.

Back on track, my favorite Dolphin on defense has to be Manny Fernandez. He should be in the Hall Of Fame. 18 tackles in a Super Bowl? That's crazy.

On offense, It's Bob Griese. Griese was an extension of the coaching staff (Howard Schnellenberger, Monte Clark and Don Shula) on the field. Griese was the best quarterback I've ever seen at hard counts, faking handoffs, scrambling and thinking at least two plays ahead of the opposition. He was always calculating and cool.

Special teams, none other than Mercury Morris himself.

Best Coach? Hands down, Shula

[heresy alert - easily offended Dolphin fans need to avert their eyes]

Dan Marino is not a given - especially if the rumors about him repeatedly audibling away from running plays are true.  I don't hate him and I am very impressed with his accomplishments.  I appreciate everything he did for the team.  He was a great player, but is just another Dolphin player to me.

[/heresy]

Runningbacks from the Marino era that I like better than Marino .... Bernie Parmalee, Tony Nathan, Troy Stradford, and the diminutive Mark Higgs.  I already mentioned Rich Diana in my previous post. 

Andra Franklin, Woody Bennett, Ron Davenport and Joe Carter would be on the list had they stuck around longer.

The trivia question remains: in 1984, when Marino set all his records and the TEAM went to the Super Bowl, how many yards did the team rush for during the regular season?

I think the team rushed for 1918 yards which proves that in certain years, Marino DID have a running game. I'm doing research on all of that which will be finished by the end of this week and will post it. I think people will have a different view of Marino as a quarterback once the research is done. Truth is, and I've said it before...Dan Marino did not like running the ball. He wanted to throw it and he had running backs more than capable of being 1,000 yard backs every season. It got to the point where free agent running backs who liked carrying the ball didn't want to play for the Miami Dolphins knowing that they probably wouldn't get more than 12 touches a game.

Which Marino era RB was this....

season: Att-Yds-TD Lng avg ...  Rec Yds avg TD Lng
1st full season: 294-1151-7 40 3.9  ... 22 156 7.1 1 13 (w/o Marino)
2nd full season: 288-1202-7 37 4.2 ... 24 152 6.3 0 26 (w/o Marino)
3rd full season: 102-471-1 21 4.6 ... 54 507 9.4 1 26 (with Marino)

average game:
w/o Marino: rushing 19 rushes -76 yards ... receiving 1 catch - 10 yards
with Marino: rushing 6 rushes - 29 yards ... receiving 3 catches - 32 yards

Easily Dan Marino. No other player has ever always given us a chance to win at any given time. He gave me more excitement over 17 yrs then all other professional athlete's combined.

#13..........I miss you.

^^^

WORD.

Even w/o a rushing attack, offensively Miami scored a buttload of points, but when (most of the time) your defense can't hold the opposition from scoring at will, Marino could do nothing more than "have to" try to come back by utilizing his insane abilities.  Thanks Olivadotti.  ;)

How about those of us XFinfans on board? From the chop liver shelf I would like to put in for Maulty Moore. Why you ask? And I say, he played my position and started on the perfect team. I think he was traded after BSW* left for the wiffle and eventually wound up in TB I think their first season.

His teams from one extreme to the other, but he was just an average player.

_______
*BSW acronym for Butch Sundance Warfield

Great question and there were some great replies from the gang.  Cool to hear some names that I hadn't thought about in a long time and some of you made some great arguments for your choices.  I don't think I can limit myself to one because there have been just so many great names in this team's storied history.  So I think I'm going to go with Csonka, Warfield and Marino.  Some great names on defense too, but too many to narrow down for the list.

I always liked John Offerdahl. I put his number on my personalized jersey.

It's Bobby Humphrey, who joined the phins for one season in 1992. Great talent, but a poor human being who couldn't stay out of trouble. He was out of football in 93 after being arrested for cocaine possession and being shot in the leg. He came to the dolphins in 92 in a trade for ROD member Sammy Smith, as Miami and Denver swapped their sociopaths.

Bobby was NOT one of my all time favorite dolphins, btw.

The idea is to win games, not just score points.  Did they not have the ability to run the ball and control the game, or did they not have the desire?

A bit of an exaggeration and somewhat attributable to the offensive philosophy.  Passing lengthens games.  Instead of your opponent getting 6-8 possessions a game they get 10-12.  In addition, quick scoring drives combined with 3 and outs don't give a defense a lot of time to catch their breath.

Right, because every game Marino played in was a shoot-out.  ::)

Can you imagine the Dynasty if that Fat F**er had given us a decent Defense!!?  Dang......... :|


Seriously..........Dan Marino is just too obvious an answer. I'm gonna go with Favorite Player besides #13..............

Tony Nathan.  Look up Clutch player in the dictionary and you will see his picture. He  was always open and good for a quick first down . Loved the guy. THAT ladies and gentlemen is not a superstar but but a play-maker in every sense of the word.

"Tony Nathan.  Look up Clutch player in the dictionary and you will see his picture. He  was always open and good for a quick first down . Loved the guy. THAT ladies and gentlemen is not a superstar but but a play-maker in every sense of the word."

Absolutely!  Tony Nathan was "money in the bank" on 3rd down. 

  All time favorite Miami Dolphin?  It has to be Dan Marino.  Dan Marino was not only the reason I became a Dolphins fan, but pretty much the reason why I started watching football.  One of the greatest pure passers the game of football has ever seen.

Marino without a doubt, and The Juice. (the good kind, not the kind that killed people!)

I liked Irving Fryer in a Dolphins' uniform. 

Manny Fernandez or Bob Baumhower on defense

Kevin Gogan on offense.

Anybody remember Nat Moore ?

  # 13 Dan Marino is my all time favorite Miami Dolphin.  Zach Thomas, John Offerdahl, OJ McDuffie, Keith Jackson, Dwight Stephenson and Jason Taylor are some of my other favorites.   From old videos, highlights and articles, Jake Scott, Larry Cszonka and Bob Griese are also some of my all-time favorites.

Jay Fiedler

The MarX Bros.

83- Clayton
85- Duper

I grew up watching those 2. Its like watching Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin.

Hey you guys remember when Lamar Smith was a Dolphin.  ??? ??? He was one hell of a workhorse. Too bad he was a fin for only a short time.

It wasn't that long ago.  Someone, who'll rename nameless even suggested that Lamar Smith + 2 first round draft picks spent on offensive linemen = Ricky Williams. 

While Lamar probably never would have cracked 1800+ yards, considering all of Williams troubles, is that really such a stretch? 

^^^


AHEM... pg.1    ;)

Been well covered here...

some of my favorites were Duper, McDuffie, Jensen, Zach, Stoyanivich

but the best named Dolphins Player

Uwe Detlef Walter von Schamann

Dan was my hero as a kid.  His rookie year was my birth year and he was always there as I was growing up playing for my team. 

Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor later on.

Unfortunately, despite his imposing Teutonic name,  Von Foot sucked as a kicker.

And, in my opinion, the best named dolphin ever was 1966 QB Dick Wood.

Jake Scott.  Paul Warfield.  Nat Moore.  Mark Clayton.  The Blackwood Brothers.  OJ McDuffie.  Troy Vincent.  Patrick Surtain.

Hmmph... didn't realize until they were written out that they'd all be receivers and DBs...

don shula
csonka