Fish Tank Iconic: The Game We Needed | The Dolphins, the Raiders and Football's First Sunday After 9/11

Just 12 days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders took the field at Pro Player Stadium as the NFL returned to action. What followed was an unforgettable football game played at a moment when sports meant something far beyond the final score.

In Fish Tank Iconic: The Game We Needed, Seth Levit and O.J. McDuffie commemorate the 25th anniversary of September 11 through a Miami Dolphins lens by revisiting that extraordinary afternoon through the firsthand memories of 19 people who lived it. Together, they chronicle the shock of September 11, the NFL's decision to postpone its games, the uncertainty surrounding its return, unprecedented security, an emotional national anthem, and a remarkable game that produced an ending no one could have scripted.

Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler, a New York native personally impacted by the attacks, is joined by Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon, the game's two head coaches in Dave Wannstedt and Jon Gruden, Pro Football Hall of Famers Jason Taylor and Zach Thomas, All-Pro cornerback Patrick Surtain, Oronde Gadsden, James McKnight, Todd Wade, Dedric Ward and Trace Armstrong, along with South Florida journalists Greg Cote, Dave Hyde and Mike Mayo, and other members of the Dolphins organization from that time period.

With five seconds remaining, Fiedler dove across the goal line to complete an improbable 80-yard game-winning drive and provide an enduring image of one extraordinary afternoon.

This isn't a story about a football game healing a nation. It's the story of what sports could offer in that moment: something familiar, a reason to come together, and a chance - even if only for a few hours- to feel joy again.

Twenty-five years later, this is Fish Tank Iconic: The Game We Needed.

The Fish Tank is presented by:

Van Horn Law Group

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CasaBella Design Group

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