1972 Dolphins rout Cardinals 31-10 in front of a national TV audience at the Orange Bowl

DOLPHINS 31, CARDINALS 10 (Nov. 27, 1972)

With the division title wrapped up, the Dolphins entered an unchartered part of their season. With home-field advantage in the playoffs based entirely on divisional rotation and not best won/loss record, Miami basically had nothing to play for during the final four games.

Eventual AFC Central champion Pittsburgh would enjoy the No. 1 spot while the AFC East champ Dolphins would be the No. 2 seed, regardless of records.

But it mattered little to the Dolphins. They were a machine on a roll. In a day with no ESPN or NFL Network, the Dolphins would make their only national television appearance of the season when they hosted the 2-7-1 St. Louis Cardinals on Monday Night in an Orange Bowl packed with 80,000 fans.

Frank Gifford, Don Meredith, Howard Cosell and the nation had yet to see just how special this team was but got a bird’s-eye view on this night as Miami pulled away from a 10-3 halftime advantage to cruise to a 31-10 win and improve to 11-0.

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After a sluggish first half that saw the Dolphins take a 7-0 first-quarter lead on a 1-yard Jim Kiick touchdown and the teams traded field goals in the second quarter, Miami took control in the third.

The Dolphins took their opening possession of the second half and quickly drove 69 yards in just six plays when quarterback Earl Morrall found wide receiver Otto Stowe for a 37-yard touchdown.

After the teams traded punts, cornerback Lloyd Mumphord picked off a Jim Hart pass and returned it 28 yards for a score to make it 24-3 with 4:06 left in the third quarter and that was pretty much that.

Filling in for an injured Paul Warfield who was nursing a bad ankle, it turned out to be a career night for Stowe as he reeled in another scoring toss from Morrall, this one from 27 yards with eight minutes left, to wrap up the scoring as he finished with six catches for 140 yards.

“We’re happy about No. 11,” said coach Don Shula after the game. “It wasn’t very artistic to start with, but the running game was better in the second half and the defense came up with some big plays. We got most of the things accomplished that we wanted to. We got to play quite a few people and I was able to rest Warfield. In a situation like we’re in now, we want to keep winning and maintain our momentum but we’re not going to risk injury to ball players.”