Admission: I’m a long time Miami Dolphins fan. Ouch! The Dolphins golden age occurred before I was even cast into this world. Luckily, though, as a kid and teenager, Miami was a solid, if not dominant team; a team that nearly every season made it to the playoffs; a team that could score at will with Dan Marino and the Marks Brothers. If not for those ridiculous Buffalo Bills teams of the early nineties I am certain Miami would have made it to two Super Bowls during that time. Wait, isn’t this a post about Wesley Walker? Why am I blabbering on about the Miami Dolphins? I’ll tell you why.

I used to tape Dolphins games, and on one such occasion Miami played the favored Jets on Monday Night Football, winning 45-3. Earlier that season, the Dolphins and Jets engaged in one of the most prolific offensive performances in league history, with the Jets finally winning 51-45 in OT. Frank Gifford, as he was so proficient at doing, set the stage for the upcoming MNF match up. Part of Gifford`s presentation involved recapping that offensive explosion. I’ll never forget Gifford`s words: `Wesley Walker has caught 12 TD passes this season. Four in the Jets 51-45 victory over Miami in September, including the tying TD and the winner in overtime` (video below). This was my introduction to Wesley Walker.

This memory came to life immediately following the Week 8 Tecmo Legacy League game that I was apart of, where the Chaos led Jets defeated the Giants 27-21 in overtime. The Giants had scored a late touchdown to take the lead 21-14 over the Jets (just as Miami did against the Jets in September of 1986, after interestingly Wesley Walker`s late fumble set up Marino`s sixth TD pass of the game). With under a minute left in the game the Jets were backed up nearly to their end zone. As Brad van Pelt raced from the edge toward QB Richard Todd a surge shocked through me-it appeared BVP was going to sack Todd in the end zone for a safety. Todd, though, managed to release the ball at the last possible second. What ensued was one of the craziest plays in Tecmo I have ever witnessed. Wesley Walker caught a short slant pass in stride, and raced out in front of the closest Giant defenders. I was mostly helpless to watch, as BVP was recovering from the hit he had put on Todd. BVP finally regained his footing, and managed to inch closer and closer to Walker. However, simultaneously Walker was quickly narrowing the gap between himself and the goal line. Near the two yard line BVP had one last shot to take Walker down, but with style and grace Walker put a move on BVP that twisted him silly- Walker would cruise into the end zone for the tying score with no time left on the clock. After blocking a Giant FG in overtime, the Jets marched down the field, eventually winning on a Todd lob to Wesley Walker in the corner of the end zone. It reminded me so much of Gifford`s words over twenty years prior.

Wesley Walker had again, not only scored the game tying TD with no time left in regulation and the game winner in overtime, but he also torched the opposing team wholly though. In the 51-45 OT victory over the Dolphins, Walker made 6 catches for 194 yards and 4 TDs. Against the Giants in the 1977 TLL season, Walker managed 5 catches 244 yards and 3 TDs. Just as with the clip that introduced me to Walker all those years ago, his latest torching of one of my teams brings forth bittersweet feelings and waves of nostalgia.