It started with Buffalo Bills legend Bruce Smith firing up a sellout crowd that didn’t need any firing up. The fever reached new heights when the Bills raced out of the gate to a 21-0 lead. And it ended with the Bills 41-31 winners over the Detroit Lions.
It was electric, everything Boca Raton’s Terry Pegula, the Bills’ owner, could have wanted in the historic grand opening of the $2.1 billion Highmark Stadium, which will be every bit the fortress of the old Highmark.
But the performance was an asterisk shy of how the Miami Dolphins opened their new home in 1987.
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The Elias Sports Bureau determined that the Bills’ 41-point outburst represented the most points by a team making its stadium debut since Oct. 11, 1987, when
the Dolphins opened Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) by blowing out the Kansas City Chiefs 42-0.
The stars weren’t Dan Marino and Mark Clayton, the first tipoff that this ranks among the strangest games in Dolphins history. They, like nearly all of the NFL’s regulars, were on strike and warned they could be arrested if they attempted to enter the stadium.
Joe Robbie couldn't believe he had to cross a picket line to enter his stadium
Instead, team owners had hired replacement players for games that would count. What’s unclear is if the regulars, picketing outside the stadium, heard the chants of the 25,867 fans impressed by a dominating performance: “Stay on strike! Stay on strike!”
“It’s ironic that after spending more than $100 million to build this stadium that I have to cross a picket line manned by my own players to see this game,” Robbie said.
There’s more. Plenty more. Replacement players received police escorts. Team planes underwent bomb searches. One of the Dolphins’ receivers was an actor who quit so he could literally play a player in a Warner Bros. movie about college football that went about as far as the player’s football career.
And did we mention how, just before the replacements’ first road trip, coach Don Shula was forced to call an audible after learning that his backup tight end, Rich Siler, faced a second-degree murder charge (and was later convicted)?
For most of the replacement players, the strike represented their only crack at the NFL, a stint lasting three weeks, plus a lifetime of memories.
“We knew the strike wouldn’t last forever and that some of us would never have the opportunity to play again,” running back Mark Konecny told The Post in 2007, marking the 20th anniversary of that inaugural game.
The heroes of the day included Rickey Isom, whose 6-yard run went down as the first touchdown ever scored in the stadium. After the game, Isom quickly stuffed the football in his duffel bag, lest the team change its mind on allowing him to keep the historic ball (which went on display in his home).
Ronald Scott ran for three touchdowns and defensive back Liffort Hobley returned a fumble 55 yards for a touchdown, thus becoming the first player to earn Player of the Week honors in the building.
Hobley turned out to be one of the exceptions, a former third-round pick of the Steelers out of LSU who stuck with the Dolphins for five subsequent seasons, appearing in 79 games and starting 29.
QB Kyle Mackey just wanted 'the chance' and made the most of it
The other notable exception was Kyle Mackey, the quarterback out of East Texas who’d been drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 11th round in 1984. Mackey played all three strike games for the Dolphins, including a 37-31 overtime loss to the Jets with the ultimate mixed bag for a QB: 298 yards, two passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns … and five interceptions. Mackey was so thrilled when he threw a touchdown pass with 61 seconds left in regulation, he hugged referee Dick Jorgensen.
Mackey’s performance left an impression on the Jets, who picked him up two years later as a backup. It was decent work for a guy who arrived in Miami with a limited supply of clean clothes and an equal amount of hope.
“If they come tell me tomorrow, ‘You’re going home,’ then it’s been fun,” Mackey said after the Chiefs game. “I had the chance to play football and that’s the one thing I wanted. I wanted to see if I could do it. I wasn’t even sure myself.”
The Dolphins’ regulars had opened the season 1-1 before striking. The replacements were 1-2, part of a season in which Miami finished 8-7 and out of the playoffs.
With the strike over, Shula had to release replacements whose sweat had made him proud.
“They did a hell of a job,” Shula said along the way.
One such player was tight end Lawrence Sampleton, who was called into Shula’s office for his release.
“Thanks for the opportunity,” Sampleton told Shula. “This has really made a difference for me. And, by the way, can I get a signed picture from you?”
“He just smiled,” Sampleton told The Post in 2007. “And he pulled out one picture and signed it. ‘To Lawrence: Thanks for helping us out. Don Shula.’ I have it at my house, in my office.”
Hal Habib covers the Miami Dolphins for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at HHabib@usatodayco.com.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Buffalo Bills stadium debut is just shy of Miami Dolphins' | Habib
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