A ’72 Dolphins 50th anniversary celebration: Six questions with Hall of Famer Bob Griese

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Dolphins’ Perfect Season, the Miami Herald is running weekly conversations with members of the 1972 team that went 17-0.

Six questions with Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese, who was injured in the fifth game of ’72 after guiding the Dolphins to a 4-0 start, then replaced Earl Morrall at halftime of the AFC Championship Game and started the Dolphins’ 14-7 Super Bowl win against Washington to complete the perfect season, then quarterbacked the franchise to another championship the following season:

▪ In the fifth game of the ’72 season, you were tackled hard by the Chargers’ Deacon Jones and Ron East and sustained a dislocated ankle. Did you think you might not come back in ’72 from that injury?

“There was no surgery needed, but I didn’t know whether I was going to come back or not. I was there for every meeting and on the field and watching everything that goes on, helping where I could on the sidelines.

“I got the cast off about four weeks after I had it put on and I was getting treatment morning, noon and night. I was ready to play by the 11th or 12th game. I was moving around pretty good, [but] coach Shula didn’t want to disrupt anything. He said it was going well with Earl.”

Shula summoned Griese off the bench at halftime of the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh.

▪ Were you antsy to play after you were ready?

“No. There would be no undefeated season without Earl Morrall. Earl was playing well. I was just his backup at that time helping where I can. Coach Shula said one of the toughest decisions he had to make was to sit Earl down and put me in the AFC Championship Game against Pittsburgh.”

Griese completed three of five passes for 70 yards in that 21-17 win that catapulted the Dolphins into the Super Bowl.

▪ Shula allowed you to call your own plays in every game you played for the Dolphins. How did that work? Would Shula and offensive coordinator Howard Schnellenberger strongly suggest plays?

“That’s the way it was back then, calling your own plays. I didn’t call my own plays in college. When I got to the pros and saw I was going to be the play caller, I thought I better get my [butt] ready to call plays on third-and-4 and third-and-10 and inside the 10.

“I had to watch film to see what defense the opponent would want in all these different situations. You tell me what defense you’re going to be in, and I tell you what play I’m going to call.

“During games, Howard Schnellenberger and Monte Clark would be on the sideline. I was talking to Shula, and Monte would always come over too. Shula would cross his arms and say ‘third-and-5, Bob, what do you like?’ ” Some of the time, I would say, ‘Monte, what would you like?’

“Monte would have the best run play in that situation. I knew the best passing play. If I had Monte telling me the best running play and I knew the best passing play, I would make up my mind which one to use.”

▪ What was your relationship with Shula like and what made him so good at his job?

“He never yelled at me because he saw how hard I would prepare. I would take film home and ask good questions in the meetings during the week. I knew more about it than he did and he knew that. He didn’t jump my [butt] for throwing an interception. He and I were better friends after I retired than when I was playing.

“He was smart and he knew everything wasn’t always set in stone. Just because we did it this way doesn’t mean we’re going to do it this way [all the time]. When I came to the sideline, he would always ask me what do you like. He wasn’t above everybody else. He would lower himself to a player’s standpoint. Shula swallowed his ego and came down and was willing to call whatever defense our defense felt good about playing and on offense, if I felt good about a play.”

▪ Ever wish you got to pass more on some of those teams? You threw seven passes in the Super Bowl to cap the undefeated season.

“We were better being a running team than we were a passing team. The offensive line was good at run blocking, not so much pass blocking. Not to say they couldn’t pass block. But that offensive line would not work with Dan Marino.

“Larry Csonka was a better running back than a receiver; Csonka couldn’t catch a cold if he had to. Jim Kiick was a good receiver and returner. Our running game helped our defense; it sat the other team’s offense no matter how good they were. It sat them if we made first downs. We ran the ball and ran the ball, took time off the clock. That helped our defense be the No. 1 defense in the league.”

▪ What was the key to that season?

“Coaching and Shula. We lost the year before [to Dallas in the Super Bowl], and we had a bunch of good-character guys on that team. Shula was the first, and we had other good character guys: Nick Buoniconti on defense, Larry Little and the rest of the offensive line.

“The mood and the tempo for the ’72 season was set by Shula after we lost the year before. Shula got on our [butt] after [the Super Bowl loss] and all offseason we set our minds to coming back and winning it.

“We didn’t plan on going undefeated. We didn’t say, ‘All right, we’re going to win every game.’ It just happened that way. I think at one point Larry or Bob Kuechenberg said, ‘We’re 8-0, 9-0. Do you think we can go undefeated?’ It just kind of happened.

“There’s the pure pride of achieving [17-0]. Whenever anybody talks about the NFL and championships and who’s the best, we’ve always got that ticket that we are right there at the top of being the best team.”

Griese retired from his Dolphins broadcasting job two years ago after spending 56 years on television or radio every football season: as a quarterback at Purdue, as a Dolphins quarterback for 14 years, and then as an announcer for NBC (NFL) and ABC (college football) and ESPN for two years before retiring from national broadcasting after the 2010 season.

He worked Dolphins preseason games on TV and regular-season games on radio before stepping aside in 2020. What’s it like to be out of the public eye, finally, at 77?

“We moved up to Jupiter and I’m enjoying life,” he said. “I’m a shy, introverted guy. I grew up in Evansville, Indiana. I play a little golf, walk the dogs.”