1997 Miami Dolphins season – Wikipedia

32nd season in franchise history

The 1997 Miami Dolphins season was the team’s 32nd overall and 28th as a member of the National Football League (NFL). The Dolphins improved upon their previous season’s output of 8–8, winning nine games.^[1] Seven of the team’s sixteen games were decided by a field goal or less. This was also the season where the Dolphins released a new logo and new uniforms with a darker aqua and dark navy drop shadow in numbers. The uniforms and logo lasted until the 2012 season. During Week 3, the Dolphins were defeated by the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers for the first time in franchise history. This could be argued as the most cursed of all Dolphins seasons because it offered a turnaround where the New England Patriots defeated the Dolphins 3 times in the 1997 season, sweeping them. This was the first of five consecutive playoff appearances for the Dolphins. This season saw the Patriots return three Marino interceptions for touchdowns in New England (two of them in the 2nd quarter of the week 13 matchup, and one in the Wild Card matchup where the Patriots defeated Miami 17–3). The Wild Card loss came less than a week after the Dolphins lost to the Patriots 14–12 on Monday Night Football in Miami for the AFC East division title. Until 2021, this was the last time the Dolphins swept the New York Jets in back-to-back seasons.

Offseason[edit]

NFL Draft[edit]

Schedule[edit]

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	TV Time(ET)	TV Announcers	Attendance	Record
1	August 31, 1997	Indianapolis Colts	W 16–10	NBC 1:00pm	Charlie Jones & Bob Trumpy	70,813	1–0
2	September 7, 1997	Tennessee Oilers	W 16–13 (OT)	NBC 1:00pm	Don Criqui & Jim Mora	64,439	2–0
3	September 14, 1997	at Green Bay Packers	L 23–18	NBC 1:00pm	Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	60,075	2–1
4	September 21, 1997	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 31–21	TNT 8:00pm	Verne Lundquist & Pat Haden	73,314	2–2
5	Bye
6	October 5, 1997	Kansas City Chiefs	W 17–14	NBC 1:00pm	Charlie Jones, Randy Cross & Bob Trumpy	71,794	3–2
7	October 12, 1997	at New York Jets	W 31–20	NBC 1:00pm	Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	75,601	4–2
8	October 19, 1997	at Baltimore Ravens	W 24–13	NBC 4:00pm	Don Criqui & Jim Mora	64,354	5–2
9	October 27, 1997	Chicago Bears	L 36–33 (OT)	ABC 9:00pm	Mike Patrick & Joe Theismann	73,156	5–3
10	November 2, 1997	at Buffalo Bills	L 9–6	NBC 1:00pm	Dan Hicks, Paul Maguire & Jim Kelly	78,011	5–4
11	November 9, 1997	New York Jets	W 24–17	NBC 1:00pm	Charlie Jones, Randy Cross & Bob Trumpy	73,809	6–4
12	November 17, 1997	Buffalo Bills	W 30–13	ABC 9:00pm	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford & Dan Dierdorf	74,155	7–4
13	November 23, 1997	at New England Patriots	L 27–24	NBC 1:00pm	Tom Hammond & Randy Cross	59,002	7–5
14	November 30, 1997	at Oakland Raiders	W 34–16	NBC 4:00pm	Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms	50,569	8–5
15	December 7, 1997	Detroit Lions	W 33–30	ESPN 8:00pm	Mike Patrick & Joe Theismann	72,266	9–5
16	December 14, 1997	at Indianapolis Colts	L 41–0	NBC 1:00pm	Charlie Jones & Bob Trumpy	61,282	9–6
17	December 22, 1997	New England Patriots	L 14–12	ABC 9:00pm	Al Michaels, Frank Gifford & Dan Dierdorf	74,379	9–7

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Playoffs[edit]

Standings[edit]

References[edit]