What are the greatest one game performances by a Miami player who essentially never did anything again? I vote for Knowshon Moreno in week 1 of 2014 versus the Pats.
Thats a good one. Here's one I came up with, and I'll try to think of more. Lamar Thomas: 6 receptions, 136 yards and 3 TDs vs DEN on MNF in 1998. He did play three years with the Fins, but not only was that easily his best game with the team, but it was the next to last game of his career, accounted for almost half of his TDs with Miami, and came in beating a team that would go on to finish 14-2 and clinch a playoff spot for the team that year.
I had another Lamar in mind: http://www.nfl.com/videos/miami-dolphins/09000d5d82082794/Smith-s-17-yard-TD-run-in-overtime I know he ran 40 times and that was a record. He had 209 yards. Obviously he wa exhausted because I remember him not being very effective the next week. But for that game he was a hero, moving the Dolphins past Indy to the next round of the playoffs. I didn't realize this part though. I see his drunk driving paralyzed a victim. He had to give 35-50% of his NFL earnings for 7 years to the victim. He had like a 6 pack and 5 or 6 shots so it was not an unfortunate mistake. Didn't stop him though, he got caught drinking and driving again a few years later.
Really? I don't even remember him playing all that well that day. Lots of very short passes. I guess after the seasons prior to that one, people were pretty starved.
Scott Mitchell....yes, he played well in more than one game, and I think he had one more decent season in Detroit, but when he came in for an injured Marino (Achilles) he played great and everyone thought he might be the next great Miami QB.
His first start, vs the Colts in prime time, always stands out in my memory because of the circumstances and the fact that it was a huge, easy win for Miami, but I guess he wasn't all that important that night. 190 yards and a TD. The next week, vs KC, he had 344 yards and 3 TDs, 131.4 rating. Thats probably the day that earned him the big contract, but I wasn't able to watch it. After that, he had a mediocre game vs the Jets, got injured, and the team was derailed and went from 9-2 to missing the playoffs.
Lorenzo Hampton. I think it was 1986. Monday night against the Jets. He ran for, I'm pretty sure, 147 yards. He had like a 50 yard run to the to the west end zone. We beat the Jets 45-3. I was sitting in the end zone for that game. I don't think he really did anything else worth talking about after that.
I remember when I started collecting football cards, he always seemed to be the main Fins RB. As a kid, I assumed that meant he must be good.
Not exactly one and done, however James Pruitt had a game where he had 6 catches 90 yards. Other than one game with 62 yards, he never got over 50.
Yes, I didn't take the thread too literally. He actually had a decent season that year overall. But his career in general was very pedestrian and that was certainly a great game for the player he was.
Anybody remember Brian Greise's game against the Chargers? They had the home game but it was played in Arizona due to wildfires. We killed them and I think it was Greise who looked very good that day. Of course a big part of it was that the Chargers were just a mess with all they were dealing with, hoping their homes weren't burning.
didn't sammie smith have a 21 yard first carry from like the 1 yard line on his first attempt after a hold out?
Yeah, thats a good one. I wanted so badly for Griese to be our QB instead of Fiedler, and after that game I thought that we were going to be set for a while. But then he had 2 TDs vs 6 INTs the rest of the way, the team couldn't score, and he was out. He did go on to have a MUCH better year in 2004 as Tampa Bay's quarterback though, so had we kept him around maybe our own 2004 would have turned out differently. He wasn't anyone's long term solution though.