Miami Dolphins back in the playoffs? It has been a while

The Miami Dolphins are a playoff team.

We haven’t said that since way back in 2008.

So, 2008 wasn’t long ago you say?

Let’s take a look back at that time — and those Dolphins.

First, the 2008 Dolphins clinched the AFC East title (and Miami’s first postseason appearance in seven years) by beating Brett Favre and the Jets 24-17 at the Meadowlands on Dec. 28.

The next week, the host Dolphins lost to Baltimore 27-9 as the Ravens built a 20-3 lead by the third quarter thanks in part to a few Matt Stover field goals and a 64-yard touchdown return off a Chad Pennington interception by Ed Reed.

Ronnie Brown, who helped Miami’s 2008 resurgence under new coach Tony Sparano and something called the ‘Wildcat’ offense, scored the Dolphins’ lone touchdown on a 2-yard pass from Pennington with 13:09 left.

Joe Flacco ended Miami’s hopes that day with a 5-yard scoring run with 3:53 remaining.

Aside from Brown, Pennington and Sparano, some other notable Dolphins on that ‘08 squad included: Ricky Williams, Davone Bess, Ted Ginn Jr. (and his family), Lousaka Polite, Jake Long, Vernon Carey, Will Allen, Dan Carpenter, Yeremiah Bell, Renaldo Hill, Vonnie Holiday, Samson Satele, Paul Soliai, Joey Porter and Channing Crowder.

What else was going on in 2008?

Well, the U.S. elected Barack Obama at the 44th President of the United States — and he had yet to take office by the time the Dolphins lost to the Ravens on Jan. 4, 2009.

When the Dolphins travel to Houston or Pittsburgh for their Wild Card game in two weeks, it will mark just the third playoff game for Miami since the 2001 season.

Miami’s last postseason victory: Dec. 30, 2000 against the visiting Indianapolis Colts at Pro Player Stadium.

The Dolphins then lost 27-0 to the Raiders kicking off what is now a three-game postseason slide.

This story was originally published December 26, 2016 at 10:34 AM with the headline "Miami Dolphins back in the playoffs? It has been a while."