Last-second win is best ever
Hyde: Dolphins’ ‘miracle’ is greatest regular-season win.
Go ahead. Treat yourself. Watch it again.
Ten times. Twenty times. Watch the network video of the play. Watch the team video following Kenyan Drake into the locker room.
Watch the fan in the upper deck on his cell phone who loses it, the close-up of Ryan Tannehill dropping to the ground in disbelief and certainly the one of the elderly fan in New England screaming expletives at the television screen. It never gets old, does it? Never, ever, no matter how many dozen times you watch the Miami Dolphins’ final play on Sunday does the fun go away.
The sun came up Monday, proving the dream wasn’t a dream, and around noon Dolphins coach Adam Gase discussed a playoff stretch run win which, in an add-on miracle, their season remains relevant.
But you don’t need to go there. Not yet. You’ve smiled so little this barren millennium, you deserve to embrace the tidal wave of fun on that final, fluky play a little more and watch that video again and again for what it delivered:
The greatest regular-season win in South Florida sports history. Exaggeration? Recency bias?
Go ahead. Name another win that plants the flag considering the involved elements. I’ll sit here on this sum-
mit, waiting for my order of Funky Buddha beer that’s being brewed in honor of Sunday’s play.
“Miami Miracle Double Lateral Double IPA will be brewed this week,’’ the Broward-based brewery announced on Twitter on Sunday evening.
Name another play anointed with its own beer?
Minutes after the brewery’s announcement, Dolphins fans from Japan to the United Kingdom — the sun never sets on the once-proud empire — were inquiring how to the beer shipped to them.
“Not only do I want to taste the beer,’’ Jimmy Osalla tweeted back to Funky Buddha from Brussels, “I want to flaunt it in front of all my Patriots-loving buddies.
Oh, yes, the Patriots. The fact the smug, big-brother, Super Bowl-winning, WWBD (What Would Bill Do?), nearly-15-AFC-East-titles-in-16years Patriots were on the other end of Sunday raises everything.
The Patriots blocked two punts, had zero turnovers, got a three-touchdown game from Tom Brady, held the Dolphins to 1 of 7 on third-down conversions and had the ball for nearly 10 more minutes. And lost.
The goat, Brady, did something he never does. He forgot the Patriots were without time-outs at the end of the first half and squandered first-and-goal at the 2-yard line by letting time run out. Oops.
The genius, Bill Belichick, saw WWBD shift to WWBT (What Was Belichick Thinking?) on that final play. Tight end Rob Gronkowski was in to defend a possible-yet-impossible, 69-yard “Hail Mary” pass from Ryan Tannehill.
“I don’t know if he could’ve thrown it that far,’’ Gase said. Oops.
Then there was Gronk himself. Like a knight in heavy armor, he awkwardly ran and desperately dove for Kenyan Drake as the Dolphins running back skipped into the end zone. For the win. For the miracle. For a, yep, Gronkloving touchdown of 69 yards.
“It was just kind of sucky,’’ Gronk said.
There’s so much here. Everything followed a script that could never be written. Sunday’s final scene just needed a Stanford tuba player being flattened to slip into fantasyland.
As it was, there was enough fun in the details. Gase admitted cursing DeVante Parker for lateraling so quickly. Drake was nearly tripped after getting the lateral. And watch 305-pound guard Ted Larsen run 39 yards downfield. Watch him be there for a critical block on Patriots safety Patrick Chung to spring Drake to the end zone.
“Ted! Ted! Ted!” teammates chanted in locker room afterward.
The fallout will keep on falling. This play could cost New England the home-field advantage in the playoffs and, with it, another Super Bowl appearance. How cold would winter be in Foxborough if that happens?
Meanwhile, the Dolphins have won back-to-back games on final plays that smell of high fortune: Buffalo’s Charles Clay dropped a touchdown and now The Miracle.
If logic prevails and the Dolphins lose those two games, they’re 5-8, and it’s ugly in South Florida. Names are being named. Jobs are being called for. Everything we’ve seen for nearly two decades around this franchise.
Instead, Monday bloomed beautifully. The Dolphins, at 7-6, have as good a chance as anyone at the final wild-card playoff spot.
“If you’re not excited right now, you might find something else to do,’’ Gase said.
Add Sunday’s elements together and, yes, it really is the greatest regular-season win in South Florida sports history. The Marlins had a wonderful moment the first game back after Jose Fernandez died.
The Heat’s first franchise win after 17 straight losses was so special season-ticket holders received a videotape in the mail. The Panthers, back in 1996, had a series of wins to push them fourth in the East and launch their great run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
But baseball, basketball and hockey have so many regularseason games it dilutes the significance of any one. They all feel important in football. None felt more fun, more surprising or more reason why we watch sports than this one.
The only thing missing from Sunday’s end — besides half of the crowd that left early — was the winning football. Drake heaved it high in the stands after crossing the end zone. If you have it, he wants it.
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to re-watch the video of the New England fan cursing at the television. And then watch it again.