The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Mine is probably not all that bad, by traditional standards, but it happened at a time when I was young and incredibly invested in the Dolphins.  It was when Marino tore his achilles, when we led the NFL at 9-2.  I just saw the season end on one play, and my favorite player hurt, jeopardizing future seasons, as well.  Heartbreaking.

As for on-the-field stuff, we lost a playoff game to San Diego the next year, when we had a big halftime lead.  Stoyo missed a FG as time ran out and we lost by one point.  I wanted to put my head in my hands and sob.  It sucked.

The Jacksonville game causing my worst memory...Dan's retirement.

The Monday Night Miracle against the Jets. 

Tenshot and Tommy have already mentioned the two things that stand out in my mind the most. 

I am surprised anyone said anything other than Tenshot or Tommy's answers.

I remember Buffalo wiping Miami off the floor in the 1994 AFC Championship Game. They could have played the Cowboys in the Super Bowl, and hey you never know!

'82 wild card weekend. 

That's your worst Dolphins memory?  I thought it would've been the 2004 Monday Night Comeback

Losing a single game when you have already clinched a wildcard spot and then go on to win the superbowl tends not to leave you not feeling too bad about that loss.

On the other hand losing a playoff game to a division rival sucks.   

I remember this game like it was yesterday. We could not slow Natron Means (I think he was the RB at the time) in the second half. I hated this game and it ranks a close second.

My worst though was the drubbing we took against Jacksonville for Marino's last game!!!

1994 playoff game vs. San Diego or blowing the lead against the Jets on Monday night.

62-7

F the Jaguars.

The "Sea of Hands".....Kenny Stabler completing a miracle pass to Clarence Davis in the 1974 playoff game vs. Oakland....3 dolphins near the ball, Stabler in the grasp of Vern Den Herder, the damn pass somehow crazily goes for a touchdown, and the dolphins chance for a fourth straight superbowl and 3rd straight NFL title dies. With the subsequent defections of Csonka, Kiick, and Warfield, the Dolphins dynasty ends and the Steelers become the dominant NFL team.

I've got the link to a heartbreaking you tube summary of the game...total heartbreak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUruXjoqRRc


# The Sea of Hands (December 21, 1974, Miami Dolphins vs. Oakland Raiders, AFC Divisional Playoff Game)

    With 24 seconds left in the game, Raiders RB Clarence Davis somehow caught the game-winning touchdown pass among "the sea of hands" of three Dolphins defenders. This game eliminated Miami from the playoffs after they had made it to the Super Bowl in each of the last 3 seasons. Also known as the "Lost Game" due to both NBC and NFL Films losing their (English) copies of the broadcast. It was thought until recently that the only remaining copy was NBC's Spanish version, when NFL Films found their copy buried deep in storage, which they thought was lost in a move in the early 80's. [8]

Hey, Dave, I'm not gonna lie, I DID sob,  :D.  Granted, I was only 9 years old and it was only the 4th playoff game I'd ever seen the 'Phins play in to that point (the others being the 24-0 whitewashing we put on the Chargers two years earlier in the Divisional Round, the 1993 AFC Championship against the Bills [not '94, JTex] when I really had no idea the true significance of being in that game at the time because...well, we sure as hell haven't been back there since!, and the Wildcard game against the Chiefs the week before [Joe Montana's last game] this infamous Chargers game), but somehow I realized the significance of this one, and looking at it now, whether we've had better teams than that '94 team or not since (which I think is debatable--I'd put the 2002 team up there), I think it's reasonable to feel that way.


I mean, don't get me wrong, the 2000 "Miracle at the Meadowlands" game really sucked, BAD, just like losing any game to those J-E-T-S, suck-suck-suckers does, and the playoff loss the year before at Jacksonville was quite the ass-beating, no doubt, but regardless of the talent in place on those two teams ('99 and '00 'Phins), I just feel like that SD playoff loss hurt just as badly if not worse because we were winning most of the game (well, at least in comparison to the Jax playoff game...obviously that was the case for the '00 Jets game, too,  :D ) AND we were a damn good team that season.

2002 end-of-season game @ NE, where we were up 24-13 in the 4th quarter (with the most potent MIA team since Marino retired) and we completely imploded, falling into a 3-way-tie in the AFC East and sending the useless Jets to the playoffs, particularly since if we had won, we would have hosted the Colts (whom we had already beaten) and then went to play @ Oakland (whom we had also already beaten).

That game is why I built this website.  I remember thinking afterward that our ability to completely fall apart in December was uncanny.  TDMMC was born from that game.

Jaguars 62-7 stands out, 92 afc champ loss against bills sucked - I was really young but I think we had home field & really thought that was the year. Olivadotti < screen play

No doubt . I had just moved to South Florida from NYC. That was my very first South Florida Football game on my brand new TV . This was a big deal to me because until then I only got the Dolphins twice a season when they played the Jets or maybe had a prime time game in NYC. So I had to watch the games in crowed dives full of Jets fans. So here I am with my Brand new 60' Hitachi ready to rock in South Florida.......My Man Dan behind center.   I literally threw up when they lost.  Good damn we need a fucking championship already!! >:(

I'll still stick with the Jan. 1995 Divisional Round SD loss, but among *recent* games, I also would put this one right there with the "Miracle at the Meadowlands" (for the Jets) game for suckiness.  As Dave was referring to, throughout the 90's and the early 2000's (with the exception of 2001, actually), we always would collapse in December, so I should have been used to it by this point, especially after the way we choked away the previous game against the crappy Vikes at the Metrodome, but no.....I was lulled into thinking that we were still a dominant team if it hadn't been for Ray Lucas' spelling of Fiedler earlier in the season.  So, sure enough, I about had a hissy fit at Bob Baumhower's Wings in Huntsville with my girlfriend at the time as I watched our team completely implode (mostly thanks to WannStauche's *excellent* clock management) in the final minutes of the game.  God, I don't know what was worse, us losing to the Patsies in December when we were owning them the entire game (particularly Ricky) or the fact that as a result of said loss, the stinkin' Jets got into the playoffs and actually won a game before getting knocked out.   ::)


Yeah, that game was at Miami, but again, at the time, being so young, I literally had no idea of the significance of a homefield conference championship game.  I remember playing out in the yard for most of the first half of that game, actually.  I wish my dad had told me that that setup doesn't happen every season, even if we did end up getting our ass beat.   :D
 

I hate to revise your memory, Defense, but Fiedler was already our QB by this season.

Has to be Super Bowl 6 and the Sea of Hands Game.

I think if Miami would have played the Cowboys on another day, they would have won. I saw nothing spectacular about the Cowboys defense with the exception of HOF Bob Lilly. The Dolphins must have had a hangover from hanging out all night because they looked slow and lethargic. Believe me, when Larry Csonka fumbles, its a rarity.

The Sea of Hands game is why I hate prevent defenses. With Jake Scott and Curtis Johnson out, Stabler cut up the Dolphins on some freakish TD's. I remember reading that the Miami defensive coordinator was fired on the plane after that game. The only time the Miami pass rush got to Stabler is when Vern Den Herder had Stabler by the ankles and he shot putted the ball towards the end zone.

How in the world did Clarence Davis catch a ball that literally three Dolphin defenders, especially Mike Kolen, had a chance to intercept?

It took me a month to get over that game. I just saw the commentary from the Dolphins and Raiders on YouTube and it brings back bad memories. You'd think the Raiders had just won the Super Bowl.

I don't see why Kenny Stabler is not in the HOF.

For me it's the 1994 playoff game vs. San Diego.  I will never forget Bryan Cox inability to tackle Natrone Means on 4th and 1, which turned into a TD.   Parmalee also got tackled in the end zone for a safety in that game.  Terrible.

definitely Ray thinkle missing the winning field goal in the superbowl.

seriously, the 62-7 loss in the playoffs to the jags.

After the last game of the year,and we're not hoisting the Lombardi trophy.....

1) the 62-7 loss.  That one hurt

2) The 27-24 debacle in Foxboro

3) The OT loss in Miami to NE in 2003

Is it just me in the minority here, or am I just crazy for *rather* wanting to be blown out, particularly if it's the playoffs even, than to narrowly lose and have my heart broken to an opponent in the playoffs?  The only time I can really think of that I would say I would *rather* narrowly lose than to be blown out by an opponent in the playoffs is if it was to an AFC East opponent (i.e., rival)...the Pats, Bills, or Jets.  And that's mostly because I can only imagine all the sh*t talking that would go on for an entire offseason if it was a huge margin of victory/loss and plus we have to play those guys twice a season the next season so if we narrowly lose, "we'll get 'em next time!".  .....But the Jags???  Granted, I don't live in FL like a lot of you guys, so perhaps I'm speaking out of line here, but from what I can recall, we were never really even in this game.  I'm not saying that I didn't think we had a chance before the game started because of course I did, but once it did start...it's kinda like ethurst said, we weren't ever really in it after that point.   It still hurt, don't get me wrong, especially as it turned out to be Dan's last game, but it was really just more embarassment than true pain for me personally as compared to several of these other games already mentioned (SD divisional playoff loss '94, @NE '02, NE @ Mia '03, "Miracle at the Meadowlands" '00).

I think you just might be nuts... Nothing hurts worse than being blown out in the playoffs. If the game is close, you can at least take refuge in the "we were 'this' close" corner of your sports psyche afterward. 

A 62-7 playoff beatdown gives you nothing but a square kick in the nutsack and six months to appreciate the pain...

When was the last time you saw a team in the regular season get beat down 62-7?  The playoffs are supposed to be the best of the best, and the phins got beat down that bad, and the Jags didn't even make it to the Superbowl!  That is embarrassing, and yes, you are nuts for thinking that a blowout is better than a close game in the playoffs.  It is your opinion though, so you are entitled to it.

Losing the 62-7 game was of course disappointing, but it wasn't a horrible, horrible thing, for me.  It just made me realize that we were way out of our league.  In the San Diego loss that was close, I feel like we missed out on an opportunity to do something really special that year. 

Against the Jags, we were just outclassed.

The Sea of Hands. 

http://www.hulu.com/watch/124260/game-of-the-week-2002-dolphins--patriots (http://www.hulu.com/watch/124260/game-of-the-week-2002-dolphins--patriots)

I just forced myself to watch the last five minutes of this.  It was like rewatching a nightmare.  Every time I watch that kickoff, I still can't figure out how that ball didn't bounce into the endzone. 

Wow...just got done watching this one myself, and I honestly didn't remember just how much special teams play killed us this game.  Besides the botched punt by Royals, I'd kinda forgotten about all of the other crap that happened in the last few minutes of the game (missed FG, botched KR that dolphins4life mentioned, terrible KO at the beginning of OT) just by special teams alone.  Granted, our offensive gameplan the last possession of regulation didn't exactly help us, either, but I know that's been expounded upon ad nauseum in the past and is what I tend to remember about this game as well as the fact that we pretty much dominated them on both sides of the line of scrimmage but still managed to lose.  Seriously, even over seven years later, what a nightmare of a regular season finale this was.