Onside Punt Nothing New for Dolphins

The Week 11 Monday night game frankly was a bit of a dud — OK, a big dud — but it did feature a unique play in the form on an onside punt or onside kick punt, however you want to describe it.

It was a once-in-a-generation type of play, but it definitely wasn't the first time it's been done because the Miami Dolphins way back in 1980.

In the game Monday night, the Las Vegas Raiders had just given up a safety and trailed 33-16 when they had to free-kick to the Dallas Cowboys with 11:39 left in the fourth quarter.

The Raiders then declared they would be going for an onside kick and had punter A.J. Cole pooched a punt within the landing zone between the 30 and 45. Dallas wde receiver George Pickens grabbed the ball for the recovery after it bounced and Dallas went on to win by the same 33-16 score.

After the punt, ESPN analyst Troy Aikman said, "I don't ever recall seeing an onside kick punt."

Aikman, the Hall of Fame quarterback, was born in November 1966, so he was 13 when the Dolphins had their own "onside kick punt" on September 14, 1980 and lived in Henryetta, Oklahoma at the time. So we'll forgive him for not remembering that memorable Dolphins play.

THE DOLPHINS' DAZZLING PLAY

The rules were different back in 1980 — actually, until only very recently — because teams didn't have to declare they were attempting an onside kick.

The Dolphins opened the 1980 season with a 10-point win at Buffalo, which was kind of historic considering they had beaten the Bills all 20 times the teams had met in the 1970s. Miami's home opener at the Orange Bowl came in Week 2 against a Bengals team that also had lost in Week 1.

When Dolphins running back Steve Howell was tackled in the end zone for a safety that gave the Cincinnati Bengals a 16-7 lead with 6;12 left in the fourth quarter, it sure looked as though it would be an 0-2 start for Miami. That's when the genius of Don Shula came into play again.

Most teams use a punt instead of  a kickoff after a safety because of the ability of a punter to create greater hang time, but left-footed punter George Roberts didn't kick the ball downfield, nor did he kick it high.

Instead, it was more of a pooch punt that went about 12 yards and never got higher than 10 feet, and Miami Dolphins defensive back Jeff Allen recovered the live ball at the Dolphins 35-yard line.

Four plays later, the Dolphins scored a touchdown when Nick Giaquinto recovered a fumble in the end zone after teammate Duriel Harris' fumble at the 12-yard line at the end of a 33-yard reception.

The Dolphins would go on to win 17-16 on a late field goal, and the onside punt proved to be the key play in that win.

It came in at number 36 in our 2021 countdown of the top 100 plays in Dolphins history.

The onside punt also wasn't the first time Shula had come up with a play that stunned his opponent or broadcasters.

Maybe the most famous example came in a 1973 Monday night game when he had quarterback Bob Griese run out the back of the end zone for an intentional safety on a fourth-and-6 from the Miami 6-yard line with a 30-24 lead.

The idea was to give punter Larry Seiple more time and room for his punt, and he boomed his free kick with 1:04 left in regulation into the Steelers end zone and the Dolphins hung on for a 30-26 victory.

The move caught ABC analyst Howard Cosell by surprise and he went on for what seemed like a good five minutes shouting about Shula's genius.