No Dolphins moments included for ESPYS 2021 awards
No matter how you classify a successful NFL season, there’s no denying that the Miami Dolphins had an excellent 2020 campaign. Did the end of the year align with the rest of the storyline? Absolutely not. But the Dolphins had wild plays, thrilling victories and improbable comebacks alongside some Herculean efforts to get the team to 10 wins on the season.
But all of those special moments and individual efforts weren’t enough to get the Miami Dolphins on the list of nominees for the NFL (or sports world, in general) candidates for the 2021 ESPN ESPYs. The ESPYs are ESPN’s annual awards show, meant to highlight the best in sports each year from all different leagues, backgrounds and competitive levels. And, best of all, there’s a good deal of fan voting to help decide the winners.
But there will be no opportunities for Dolphins fans to go to bat for their team at this year’s ESPYs — because there are no Dolphins on the list of nominees.
Cornerback Xavien Howard was left off the list of ‘Best NFL player’; failing to make the 4-man list of finalists. The Dolphins’ miraculous heave against the Las Vegas Raiders to help them win a critical game was left off the list of ‘Best Play’ candidates and that game itself, a frantic finish with multiple lead changes in Week 16 between two playoff contenders, was left off the list of ‘Best Game’ candidates.
The NFL representation of ‘Best Game’ instead went to a Week 14 clash between the Ravens and Browns.
There’s no way anyone is entering the 2021 NFL season with the objective of ‘making the ESPYs in 2022″ on their list of goals for the Dolphins. But hopefully the team will find so much success that ignoring them all together for next year’s edition of the awards will be impossible.
