'72 Dolphins...almost irrefutable

Jut-Jaw and Griese talk about the Colts' recent win streak ending vs. the Bolts


Mark, of course, is right, as any argument about the '72 Dolphins' greatness is practically irrefutable. If nothing else, they have a place at the table of all-time great teams, and their trump card will always be 17-0, which also gives them legitimate claim to the throne, I suppose.

A couple of other interesting notes about the '72 Dolphins. They achieved a rare daily double of leading both total offense and total defense NFL stats in the same season. They were one of the all-time great rushing teams with over 2900 yards on the ground, two 1000-yard backs in the Zonk and Mercury Morris (with Jim Kiick adding another 500+ for good measure). And of course they did much of this without Griese, who was hurt in mid-October vs. the Bolts and didn't return until the AFC title game. Earl Morrall went most of the season at QB, and, in a run only slightly less-unbelievable than the Snake's TD scramble in the Immaculate Reception game, old Earl (a good runner early in his career, but not late in it) scored on a game-deciding, long TD scramble in that 28-24 escape vs. the Jets in November, which was the closest call those Dolphins had during the regular season.

In retrospect, some of the complaints about the Miami schedule that year are a bit unjustified, too. Shula's troops could only play the teams scheduled, and indeed beat them all. The strength of schedule was also diluted by the fact the Dolphins opponents lost their games to the Dolphins. Miami was an underdog in two games during the regular season, the opener at Kansas City, and at Minnesota a few weeks later. In fairness to the Dolphins, the opener at KC was regarded as a huge hurdle. It was the reg.-season opener at new Arrowhead, and Chiefs were undoubtedly going to be loaded for bear to avenge that OT playoff loss the previous Christmas. We didn't know at the time that those '72 Chiefs were just past their sell-by date and starting on the downside, as that workmanlike 20-10 Dolphins win confirmed. But maybe Miami's win had a bit to do with the Chiefs starting their slide.

Similarly, that 16-14 win at Minnesota cannot be downplayed. Though the Vikes finished a disappointing 7-7 that year, they still seemed like a power team when the Dolphins went up to Bloomington in early October, as the return of Tarkenton fueled great optimism. They had lost a bitter Monday night opener to George Allen's Skins, 24-21, but were still highly regarded. As it turns out, those Vikes were snakebit in '72, losing several close games, en route to 7-7, but who knows how things might have turned out had Minnesota won that game. (The Vikes re-emerged as a serious contender the next season after drafting Chuck Foreman and adding a few more pieces to the puzzle).

Also, the Dolphins' 23-13 Week 13 win at the Giants was a solid win. New York was a respectable 7-5 entering that game, and had just posted 62 points on the Eagles two weeks earlier. Take away losses to the Dolphins, and the Chiefs, Vikings, and Giants didn't have bad years, though none were great.

The '72 Jets were also sort of a last hurrah for Namath, as they hovered in playoff contention before flattening out down the stretch. That team still bore a slight resemblance to the great Jets teams of a few years earlier, simply because Namath was healthy (or at least in the lineup) for most of the season, which wasn't the case in 1970 or '71, when he missed long stretches due to injury, and Duke's Al Woodall played in relief. It was the best Jets post-merger team until the "Sack Exchange" Jets with Gastineau, Freeman McNeil, Richard Todd, etc. emerged in the early '80s.

Not sure what the racial note connotates with the '72 Dolphins, except the fact the "No-Name Defense" was predominantly white, with one hispanic (Manny Fernandez) and one black (Curtis Johnson) in the starting lineup. I think the whole deal with those Dolphins being downgraded a bit, both at the time, and historically, was because they were not very flashy, and were very workmanlike. Though some of Paul Warfield's best catches and runs could appear on a highlight reel from any era.

The '72 Dolphins were also a great pointspread team, losing only a pair of regular-season decisions vs. the number (24-23 vs. Bills and 28-24 vs. Jets), as well as failing to cover the 1st-round playoff game vs. the Browns.

As far as the Super Bowl vs. the Skins, I was solidly in the Dolphins' corner for that one, and remember debates I had both within my house and at school. I have been wrong on many Super Bowls in my life, but I always liked my reasoning for preferring Miami in that one. I suspected Washington could no way duplicate the dynamics of that win over Dallas, as it wasn't going to be playing at home, so no RFK advantage (which was significant), and the Miami defense was probably going to be the best platoon on the field, and the ultimate deciding factor. That Skins team, and almost all Allen teams, played on emotion, which RFK helped fuel. The sterile Super Bowl environment couldn't come close to providing that sort of atmosphere, and Miami's workmanlike, even-keel personality sutied the neutral-site Super Bowl dynamic quite well. Kilmer needed just the right situations to be effective, and I still maintain that the Skins would have been better with Jurgensen, who was apparently in George Allen's doghouse those few years at the end of his career. Sonny got few chances in '71 & '72, but did fuel a home win over the Cowboys in mid-October '72. Even at this stage of his career, I always thought Jurgensen was a better option than Kilmer, but George Allen loved 'ol Billy.

In retrospect, the Dolphins were simply better than the Redskins, but the fact Miami was a slight underdog (and it was slight, just a 2-point line, I believe) in the game was no surprise in the day. Remember, the Skins had looked better in the playoffs, holding Green Bay and Dallas each without a TD (only a measly FG for each), and that 26-3 romp past the Cowboys in the NFC title game was an enthralling win. That late afternoon/night at RFK, not sure any '72 team could have beaten that Washington side, and that win over the Cowboys, which might have been the single most impressive performance by a team that '72 season, was the freshest memory as the Super Bowl line was posted. The Dolphins had survived the AFC portion of the playoffs, but not without difficulty, the struggle vs. a less-than-powerful Cleveland in the 1st round suggesting the team could be had, and Griese had only returned in the AFC title game. The public wagered accordingly.

Those Skins did have some attributes. Brown enjoyed an MVP season; Charlie Harraway was a fine complementary FB who gained over 500 YR that year; Roy Jefferson teamed with Charkey Taylor for a formidable pair of wideouts, and Jerry Smith was a highly-regarded TE (though he didn't catch as many passes that year as he had in the past). Kilmer had his limitations at QB, but seemed a perfect fit as a leader for that team. The defense, though old, was good, and there was the George Allen factor. The Skins had also been running almost neck-and-neck with the Dolphins that season, at 11-1 vs. Miami's 12-0 through 12 weeks, with the only blemish a 1-point early loss at New England. The last two regular season games were meaningless, and the Skins did drop those two, at Dallas (34-24), and, subbling liberally, to the Bills in the finale (24-17).

The Skin schedule was not that much harder than Miami's in '72, the only difference being the two, actually three, games against Dallas, which at the time was regarded as the team to beat (even with Morton in at QB for most of that season in place of the injured Staubach). Staubach returned at the end of the regular season from his shoulder injury, but Landry didn't really switch to him until the late going of that 49er playoff game. But beating the Pokes 2 out of 3 was seen as a huge feather in the Redskins' hat, er, head dress.

The Dolphins beat the Skins because they were the better team, and in the end that is how we must measure the teams. The Skins were favored, however, because, well, they were. As for the Raiders in '72, had they been able to host Miami in the AFC title game, they probably would have been a very slight favorite, or perhaps pick'em, in the AFC title game at Oakland vs. Shula. The Raiders might not have won, but the fact is the game would have been rated something of a toss-up. I still have no feeling if Miami would have survived such a matchup in '72, and no one can say the '72 Dolphins would have been a sure thing at Oakland, for that would have been their most-difficult test of the season (though it could be argued the 21-17 AFC title win at Pittsburgh was at least as difficult an assignment). But it doesn't matter, because the Raiders lost to the Steelers the week before, so this is a debate with no resolution.

Historically, there are a couple of other footnotes regarding the '72 Dolphins. They were great, but they were not a dominant champion. Margins of victory and such stats are quite overblown, but as long as we're measuring, we must note that the '72 Dolphins won their three playoff games by a score of 55-38, or a combined margin of only 17 points. This should not in any way disqualify them in an argument for all-time great team, but we have to note that of every other post-merger Super Bowl winner, the only teams with lesser combined margins of wins in the playoffs were 2001 New England (won its three playoff games by 13 points total) and 2003 New England (won its three by 16 points total). The 1981 49ers won their three games by 20 points combined, but almost all of the other 31 Super Bowl winners were more dominant in the playoffs than '72 Miami, some much more dominant. That wasn't the '72 Dolphins style, as they just won. Again, a potentially meaningless stat, but those are the numbers.

This is all subjective debate, anyway, and there is no answer, which makes such discussions fun. As I have written a couple of times in TGS over the past few years, I always thought the '73 Dolphins were slightly better than the '72 Dolphins. Many pro football aficionados will confirm. The '73 Dolphins lost twice, but their schedule was significantly tougher than in '72. In '73, the Dolphins had to face Oakland (at Berkeley in Week 2, a game the Dolphins lost), Pittsburgh, and Dallas, not to mention a more-menacing division foe in a much-improived, 9-5 Buffalo. In the playoffs, the '73 Dolphins rolled through a tough slate, beating the Bengals, Raiders (those first 2 at home), and Vikes (a stronger Super Bowl foe than the previous year's Redskins) by a combined 85-33, or 52-point margin. The 27-10 win over Oakland was especially impressive since Miami threw only 8 passes in the game. It was pure, Shula ball-control offense and tough defense at its best, but to suggest a similar outcome the previous year in a game at Oakland, when Griese would have been taking his first snaps in 2 1/2 months, is a reach. One could also claim that the Raiders' 12-7 reg.-season win over Shula in '73, because that game was on the west coast, might have been a better clue to an AFC title matchup between the two the previous season, but that is just as hard a sell. We'll never really know how that matchup would have played out in '72, and never will.

I watched the '72 and '73 Dolphins, and my contention is that the '73 team was slightly better, because of the way they manhandled those teams in the playoffs.

As far as the all-time best pro football team, who knows? What the '72 Dolphins can continue to say, however, is that they're the only modern-day unbeaten, untied team. No Packer, 49er, Steeler, Cowboy, Bronco, Patriot, or any other modern-day champion (even the '73 Dolphins) can say as much, so we'll leave it at that.

Not that it matters in anything other than putting together discussions such as these. Amzingly, when I write these retro stories in TGS, I seem to get more feedback from readers than a normal handicap-oriented story, and get the attention of radio shows in which I am a guest. That's why I want to do this upcoming Super Bowl story in retrospective mode. We might be the only ones ranking the first 39 of them.

So feel free to send along those Super Bowl memories!...