The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 84

To help count down the days to the start of the Miami Dolphins regular season last year, we marked each day with the corresponding jersey number and came up with the three best players to wear that number.

This year, we're counting down to the start of the regular season with a countdown of the top 100 plays in Dolphins history.

Given that the Dolphins have played 849 regular season games and 41 more in the playoffs, it's an awfully difficult task to narrow things down to 100 plays and then rank them. The plays selected were ranked on the basis of difficult, immediate and long-lasting impact and historical significance.

The countdown initially appeared in Dolphin Digest in 2019 but has been updated.

We continue with No. 84.

No. 84: Mark Duper's 74-yard touchdown catch in the 1984 opener at Washington

Setting the stage: There was a lot of excitement surrounding the Dolphins heading into the 1984 season because of what Dan Marino had done as a rookie the previous year, but it's not likely that many expected the aerial assault Miami would produce all season. It started right away in a stunning blowout victory on the road against Washington, which came in as two-time defending NFC champions, when Marino threw five touchdown passes in a 35-17 victory.

The play: The Dolphins actually trailed 10-7 in the second quarter when they took the lead for good on a 74-yard hook-up from Marino to Mark Duper. Marino took advantage of a big hole in the Washington secondary to make an easy completion around midfield and Duper got by Darrell Green coming across the field to race untouched into the end zone for the score. It would be the highlight of a big day for Duper, who finished with six catches for 178 yards and two touchdowns.