Ranking the New England Patriots’ 9 Wild Card Game showdowns

3. Patriots get revenge on Dolphins

Year: 1997

Score: Patriots 17, Dolphins 3

Patriots fans never forget anything. Whether it was a bad call that was made by a referee or a dropped pass, it’ll be at the forefront of their mind. That statement is especially true when it comes to the playoffs.

During the 1982 Wild Card round, the Patriots were handed an embarrassing 15-point loss to the Miami Dolphins. Fifteen years later, it was time for revenge.

The Dolphins backed and stumbled their way into the playoffs in 1997. They lost their final two games of the regular season, including a 31-point demolition at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots didn’t take it easy on them in the Wild Card Game, either.

With revenge clearly on their mind, the Patriots pitched a shutout through the first three quarters while scoring 17 points of their own. They mercifully allowed the Dolphins to score three points, but that was it.

Bringing up this game to Hall of Famer Dan Marino isn’t the best idea in the world. He completed only 17 of his 43 passes, finished with a quarterback rating of 29.3, and threw two interceptions with no touchdowns.

We’ll be candid here, Drew Bledsoe was pretty awful also. He completed only 50% of his 32 passes for 139 yards. No one truly picked up the slack on offense, either. It was all about defense in this one. And while it was ugly, Patriots fans were happy with the end result.