The 100 Greatest Plays in Dolphins History: No. 89

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. 89.

No. 89: Paul Warfield's 49-yard TD reception against Oakland in 1970

Setting the stage: The 1970 season brought not only Coach Don Shula to Miami but future Hall of Fame wide receiver Paul Warfield as well, and the two helped the Dolphins accomplish something they weren't able to do in their first four seasons: defeat the Oakland Raiders. The Dolphins were 1-1 in that 1970 season when the Raiders came calling for a Saturday night at the Orange Bowl.

The play: The game was scoreless when the second quarter began with the Dolphins facing a third-and-8 at the Oakland 49-yard line. That's when Bob Griese dropped back and hit Warfield in the middle of the field at the 40. Warfield moved to the middle and took care of the final Raiders defender in his way with a quick 360 move in the open field. The touchdown was the first of two for Warfield in a 17-10 Dolphins victory.