Back in July, I sat for a comprehensive phone interview with former Miami Dolphins running back Patrick Laird. Laird, speaking fresh off beginning his next chapter as the owner and operator of GLM Landscape Management in his native California, pulled back the curtain on what it was like for the 2019 Miami Dolphins inside the locker room.
That 2019 season is memorable for being the so-called 'Tank for Tua' year, in which the lovable band of underdogs sporting the aqua and orange won too many games to select first overall. While it cost Miami a chance at Joe Burrow at the top of the 2020 NFL Draft, they still got Tua Tagovailoa, and... well, we all saw how that turned out. The Dolphins are hoping their rebuild in 2026 bears sustainable fruit that vaults them into contender status.
In any case, it was a different quarterback — Ryan Fitzpatrick — whose epic tale Laird shared, and which we simply had to pass along.
Epic Ryan Fitzpatrick story adds a new layer to a glorious moment in Dolphins history
Ryan Fitzpatrick already achieved folk hero status in South Florida. He engineered memorable games such as his 400-yard eruption in the 2019 'Tank Bowl' against the Cincinnati Bengals that netted the Bengals Burrow when all was said and done. He also led the 'Braille Mary' game against the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, when Fitzpatrick completed a pass (while being nearly decapitated by a Raiders defender) that helped Miami pull off the win.
For some ardent fans who simply can't stand the AFC East, though, the most memorable one might be from 2019, when Miami waltzed into New England with a 4–11 record against the 12–3 Patriots. The Dolphins were playing for paychecks, pride, and the names on the backs of their jerseys. The Pats, on the other hand, needed a victory to lay claim to the No. 1 seed in the AFC, granting them home-field advantage through the playoffs.
For those who might have forgotten, Miami pulled off the upset. That game was the subject of the iconic "I'm calling both games!" broadcast by announcer Kevin Harlan that subsequently went viral on social media. It didn't end up mattering for draft positioning, and it forced Patriots fans to remember Tom Brady's final game as a Patriot as an 'L.' Talk about a tasty 'W', eh, Jameis Winston?
Somehow, it gets better. As Patrick Laird tells it:
"We had Ryan Fitzpatrick as the quarterback for most of the [2019] season. He's one of the smartest guys I've ever played with. He just knew football — like nobody [else] — I mean, the coaches would ask him questions about football stuff. The last game of the season, we played up in Foxboro against the Patriots. [That game] ended up being Tom Brady's final regular season game as a Patriot."
"The offense was stalling in the first half. I didn't know this at the time, but [Ryan Fitzpatrick] was calling plays from the huddle on the fly the whole second half. That's how we beat the Patriots, knocked them out of the 1st seed [in the playoffs], and then the Chiefs ended up getting the 1st seed. It was Ryan Fitzpatrick in the huddle, asking guys questions. ‘Hey, what are you seeing?’ I remember him specifically [asking] Mike Gesicki, ‘What route do you want to run?’ He was making up new formations. He’d be like, ‘Hey Pat, just stand over here. Chip and run to the flat.’"
"He was just giving me random routes. I remember a play from that game where, as we're breaking the huddle, he goes ‘If it's cover zero, I'm going to look over at you and you change your route to this.’ Sure enough, the safety walked down and blitzed off the edge, so I changed my route on the fly, [and caught it for a] first down. Fitz was an incredible human and teammate, but also super sharp where he called the whole second half."
"I remember seeing all those [Patriots] players walking off the field. They were so pissed because they were expecting to have a bye week. So they were thinking, ‘Okay, we're going to beat the Dolphins, going to be the number one seed in the AFC, we're going to have a bye.’ They were walking off the field, just incredibly pissed."
Those Patriots didn't get a bye week. Instead, they hosted the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card round, who were quarterbacked by none other than former longtime Dolphin Ryan Tannehill. Tennessee — led by Mike Vrabel, as fate would have it — bounced Brady and the Patriots from the postseason in a listless 20–13 ballgame. Brady's final appearances in front of the belligerent Foxboro crowd in both the regular season and postseason would be the same: defeated.
Miami may not have qualified for the postseason, but they made life infinitely harder for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. That's the stuff beneath the surface that makes football so magical. Even when all was lost on the season, that game mattered. It mattered so much that Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid sent then-Dolphins head coach Brian Flores a gift for the assist. It appears he owed Fitzmagic a little something, too.
This story is a refreshing tale that helps put things into perspective. The Dolphins probably won't win the Super Bowl this year. That doesn't mean the journey won't be full of exhilarating highs and heartbreaking lows. If Miami's 2026 rebuild plays out anything like the one in 2019 did, that just means we're in for some timeless moments this season.
I think I speak for all of Dolphins faithful when I say: we can't wait.
Add us as a preferred source on Google