The Dolphins–Jets rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.
The teams play in the AFC East division and play two scheduled games each season. They have often competed for divisional supremacy, and have played several classic games. The Dolphins are one of four NFL teams with a winning record against every division rival after 100 games played against each of them (along with the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, and Kansas City Chiefs). Conversely, the Jets are one of only three NFL teams with a losing record against every division rival after 100 games played against each of them (along with the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers).
The Dolphins lead the overall series, 63–57–1. The two teams have met once in the playoffs, with the Dolphins winning in the 1982 AFC Championship.
History The Jets and Dolphins were established in 1960 and 1966 respectively; both as members of the American Football League. After the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, the Dolphins and the Jets were placed in the AFC East, guaranteeing that they would meet twice a year annually. The rivalry has stayed intense through the years as both teams are always competitive against one another regardless of the standings. The rivalry also maintains a high intensity because of the large number of transplanted New York Jets' fans who retire to South Florida.
Before the New England Patriots rise to dominance in the early 2000s, the Jets and Dolphins regularly contested for the AFC East title (along with the Buffalo Bills in the late 1980s and early 1990s). Upon the Dolphins' joining the AFL in 1966, the Jets laid the seeds for their 1968 Super Bowl III victory. After the Jets' Super Bowl victory in 1968, the Dolphins began ascending to the top of the NFL, culminating in back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1972 and 1973. The 1972 season also saw Miami finish with a 17–0 record; the only NFL team to finish the regular season and post-season without a loss or tie.
1966–1969: AFL Days
When the Dolphins joined the AFL in 1966, the Jets were ascending the ranks of the AFL powerhouses on the arm of quarterback Joe Namath. The Jets won the first eight contests against the Dolphins beginning with the first meeting, a 19-14 Jets' win in Miami's second-ever game.
1970–1977: Dolphins' dominance When the Dolphins finally posted their first winning record in 1970, injuries plagued Namath and the Jets stumbled to a 4–10 record. Due to Namath's inability to consistently stay healthy, the Jets never posted a record above .500 in the 1970s (they finished 7–7 in 1972 and 1974, then 8–8 in 1978 and 1979). Meanwhile, the Dolphins quickly surged to become one of the NFL's elite after the AFL–NFL merger, peaking with the only undefeated season in NFL history (New England later had an undefeated regular season, but failed to win the Super Bowl) in 1972 and back-to-back Super Bowl wins in Super Bowls VII and VIII.
The Dolphins went 14–2 against the Jets during these seasons.
Late 1970s and 1980s The 1978 season began a string of Jets' successes against the Dolphins in the early 1980s. Entering the 1980 season, the Dolphins were aiming toward another playoff run, while the Jets were struggling. The Jets won a total of only four games. Two of those games were wins over Miami: 17–14 in New York on October 27, and 24–17 in Miami on December 20 (a game whose telecast drew higher ratings than it might otherwise have when NBC decided to broadcast it without announcers as an experiment). Miami went on to finish with an 8–8 record, but it was the season sweep by the Jets that largely cost them their chances of a playoff berth.
The mid-1980s saw both teams become simultaneously competitive for the first time, beginning with a battle for the AFC East in 1981. That season also saw the only tie in the series, a 28–28 stalemate in Miami. The game lead tied or changed on every score; in the first half, Jet leads of 7–0 and 14–7 were answered by Miami touchdowns. Miami took a 21–14 lead in the third quarter but in the fourth, touchdowns by Wesley Walker and a Richard Todd pass to Bobby Jones offset a Don Strock touchdown to Nat Moore. In overtime neither team could advance the ball, ending the game deadlocked. Todd finished with 310 passing yards and four touchdowns to Strock's 279 yards and two scores.
The tie became crucial in the final standings; had the Jets won the game, combined with their 16–15 home victory during the season, they would have clinched the division on a tiebreaker. Instead, Miami won the division by one game. Still, the Jets' 10–5–1 record allowed them to clinch their first postseason berth in twelve seasons. But, they lost to the Bills in the Wild Card round, 31–27, while Miami lost a 41-38 overtime epic to the Chargers.
With the conclusion of the 1981 season, the Jets had won seven of the previous eight meetings with the Dolphins with the one tie. Miami, however, returned to the rivalry's fore in 1982, a season that saw the apex of the rivalry, coming in the 1982 AFC Championship on January 23, 1983, more appropriately known as "The Mud Bowl." After the Dolphins swept the Jets during the strike-shortened regular season (winning 45–28 in New York and 20–19 in Miami, the two teams met again, this time with a trip to Super Bowl XVII on the line. The tarp was left off the field of the Orange Bowl during a 72-hour rainstorm leading up to the game, which resulted in a sloppy field covered in mud which kept both teams scoreless in the first half. The game was a classic defensive battle that featured ten turnovers, eight of them on quarterback interceptions. The star of the game was Dolphins' linebacker A. J. Duhe who picked off Jets' quarterback Richard Todd three times, returning one 35 yards for a touchdown to help seal the 14–0 win and send the Dolphins to Super Bowl XVII. For the rest of his life, former Jet's coach Walt Michaels believed that Miami coach Don Shula ordered the tarp kept off the field, to neutralize New York's superior team speed.
In 1985 the Jets beat the Dolphins at Giants Stadium, 23–7, on Monday Night Football on October 14; three Jets' backs led by Freeman McNeil rushed for 245 yards; the win was the Jets' fifth straight after an opening-week shutout by the Raiders. On November 10, 1985, Mark "Super" Duper set a Dolphins' single-game record with 217 receiving yards and helped catapult Miami to victory. Down 17–14 with less than a minute to play, Dan Marino fired a 50-yard touchdown pass to Duper for the 21–17 win. It was Marino's third touchdown of the game and Duper's second.
Two of the most memorable contests between the teams occurred in 1986. On September 21, Jets' quarterback Ken O'Brien and Dolphins' quarterback Dan Marino put on a legendary offensive performance. The two quarterbacks, combined, set NFL single-game records of 884 net passing yards and ten touchdown passes, records which have since been broken. Dan Marino completed 30 of 50 passes for 448 yards and six touchdown passes. Mark Duper and Mark Clayton had big games, each having over 100 yards receiving (Duper with 154, Clayton with 174). O'Brien threw for 479 yards and four touchdown passes all to wide receiver Wesley Walker, including one with no time left on the clock to force overtime, and then the game clincher in overtime for the win, 51–45. To this day, it is the highest-scoring game between the teams (96 total points). The win propelled the Jets to a team-record nine-game winning streak, and an NFL-leading 10–1 record, when the teams met again on November 24 on Monday Night Football. However, Marino and the Dolphins got revenge with a blowout win at home. Dan Marino completed 29 of 36 passes for 288 yards and four touchdown passes, while Dolphins' running back Lorenzo Hampton rushed for 148 yards on 19 carries and two scores, one being a 50-yard touchdown run. As for the Jets, they could only manage three points, as the Dolphins defeated the Jets 45–3. The game also reflected a swift change in momentum for the Jets, who lost their final five games of 1986 to finish with a 10–6 record but managed to still back into a playoff berth. They eventually fell to the Cleveland Browns in a double-overtime divisional round loss.
Dan Marino made history in 1988; on October 23 he joined a very elite club, becoming one of the few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for 500 yards, completing 35 of 60 passes for a career-high 521 yards. However, he also threw five interceptions; three of them were to rookie Jets' cornerback Erik McMillan, who returned one of them 55 yards for a touchdown. The Jets were ahead the entire game, including 30–10 at halftime, and despite a Dolphins' rally (scoring three touchdowns but missing the PAT on one of them), the Jets won 44–30. The game, however, was overshadowed in the Jets' locker room, for days earlier defensive end Mark Gastineau announced he was retiring from football to be with his girlfriend Brigitte Nielsen, who claimed to be suffering from cancer of the uterus.
In the rematch on November 27, the Dolphins fell behind 24–14 at the half but Marino (353 passing yards) exploded in the third quarter with two touchdowns to Mark Clayton (marred by a missed PAT) and an 80-yard score to Ferrell Edmunds for a 34–24 Miami lead. Pat Ryan had started the game for the Jets, throwing for 341 yards and two touchdowns, but in the fourth quarter Ken O'Brien came in and wiped out Miami's lead with scores to Mickey Shuler and Wesley Walker for a 38–34 Jets' win.
The two teams met in yet another high-scoring affair on September 24, 1989, in Miami. The Jets were looking for their first win at 0–2, while Miami was 1–1. Throwing for 427 yards and three touchdowns, Dan Marino raced the Dolphins to a 30–19 lead after three quarters. But again, Ken O'Brien whipped the Jets to rebound with two touchdown passes and a Johnny Hector rushing score in the fourth quarter for a Jets' 40–33 win. The Jets, however, lost five of their next six games when they hosted the 5–4 Dolphins on November 12. This time it was Marino leading a comeback; down 20–3 in the second quarter, Marino erupted with three touchdown passes while Sammie Smith added a two-yard rushing score and the Dolphins' defense limited the Jets to one fourth-quarter field goal and a 31–23 Miami win.
1990s The teams met in the season finale on December 22, 1991, a winner-take-all game for the final wild-card spot in the playoffs. It was a seesaw battle, and the Dolphins took the lead 20–17 with 44 seconds remaining. When the Jets got the ball back, they drove down the field and tied the game to force overtime on Raul Allegre's 44-yard field goal. Allegre came through for the Jets once again in OT with a 30-yard field goal, sending the Jets to the playoffs, and sending the Dolphins home.