Phins At 50: Top 10 Backs

Mandatory Credit: MiamiDolphins.com

No. 3 – Mercury Morris

If Kiick was the amalgam of speed and power for the Dolphins backfield in the 70s than Mercury Morris was the embodiment of that speed.

With Kiick and Larry Csonka in the backfield, someone had to be the odd man out on the rushing attempts and that man was Morris, who only carried the ball 754 times for Miami in his career.

But Morris would make the most of those carries.

Morris only broke the 1,000 yard mark once, rushing for exactly 1,000 yards, but did so with only 190 attempts. From 1970 to 1973, Morris would average no less than 5.3 yards per carry. Career-wise, Morris’ 5.1 yards per carry beats any Dolphins back with over 150 rushes.

Morris is fourth in Dolphins history with 3,877 yards and is also one of the franchise’s all-time leaders in all-purpose yards with 7,486 yards.

In Miami’s two Super Bowl runs, Morris pieced together 186 yards on 41 carries in 1972 and 226 yards on 45 carries in 1973.

When Csonka went through the defense and Kiick gave them something to think about, Morris was the guy who left them in the dust.