The Clock Play The Clock Play aka The Fake Spike Game refers to a National Football League game that took place on November 27 , ( Week 12 ) between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets that featured one of the most audacious finishes in league history . The play was devised by quarterbacks Dan Marino and Bernie Kosar , the latter being a backup for Marino at Miami at the time . Summary . The game itself pitted the 7 - 4 Dolphins against the 6 - 5 Jets ; entering this game the Dolphins and Jets led the AFC East , but all five teams in the division were within two games of the division lead ; the Bills had fallen to 6 - 6 following a Thanksgiving Day loss in Detroit while the Patriots had begun a late - season surge following victories over the Vikings and San Diego and were 5 - 6 facing the 5 - 6 Colts that same Sunday . The Jets were coming off a victory at Minnesota while the Dolphins had suffered back - to - back losses to Chicago and in Pittsburgh . The Jets raced to 17 - 0 lead before the Dolphins got on the board on Dan Marino ' s touchdown to Mark Ingram . The Jets scored again on Johnny Mitchell ' s touchdown catch before Marino found Ingram again and then completed a two - point try to Irving Fryar . In the fourth Boomer Esiason was intercepted for the first time ; this set up a third Marino - to - Ingram score . The Dolphins blitzed Esiason and Tim Bowens forced three fumbles recovered by the Jets ; this forced a Jets punt , but O . J . McDuffie fumbled the punt to the Jets . The Jets drove to the Miami 38 with six minutes remaining but Esiason was intercepted again . The Jets forced another Dolphins punt , but with 2 : 34 to go J . B . Brown of the Dolphins picked off Esiason again . With 22 seconds remaining in regulation and trailing 24 - 21 , the Dolphins had the ball at the Jets ' 8 - yard line with only one timeout . Running to the line of scrimmage , Marino yelled " Clock ! Clock ! Clock ! " and motioned that he was going to spike the ball to stop the clock and set up an attempt at a game - tying field goal . The Jets defense , anticipating a spike , lined up haphazardly ; the matchup Marino was paying particular attention to was between Ingram and rookie Jets cornerback Aaron Glenn . Marino took the snap but instead of spiking the ball he dropped back to pass , while Ingram ran to the corner of the endzone with Glenn biting on the fake . With the Jets caught off - guard , Marino threw the pass to Ingram in the front corner of the endzone . The 28 – 24 victory moved the Dolphins to 8 – 4 and despite subsequent losses to Buffalo and Indianapolis the 10 - 6 Dolphins edged the 10 - 6 Patriots , who had won their last seven games , for the division title ( winning on a season sweep of New England ) , the twelfth in the team ' s history . The Dolphins lost the divisional championship against the San Diego Chargers 21 - 22 . The comeback was Marino ' s 29th in his career , and his fifth against the Jets . Aftermath . The Jets , meanwhile , went into a tailspin . Coach Pete Carroll called the loss " staggering " but it proved even more than that ; the Jets collapsed , losing for the remainder of the 1994 season . Carroll was fired after the season , but the Jets ' slump continued as they won just four of their next 32 games .