‘72 Dolphins complete perfect season, give Don Shula his first Super Bowl title

DOLPHINS 14, REDSKINS 7 (Jan. 14, 1973)

Super Bowl

The pressure was enormous.

All of the hard work that it took for the Miami Dolphins to run the table and win their first 16 games would ultimately mean absolutely nothing if they didn’t finish off the final step in the process and win the 17th.

In the way of that step was the NFC champion Washington Redskins as a warm sunny Southern California afternoon in the L.A. Coliseum would be the backdrop for Super Bowl VII.

It eventually turned out well for the Dolphins as Don Shula, after two Super Bowl disappointments, got the ride off the field on his players’ shoulders that he would always cherish following Miami’s 14-7 victory to complete that perfect 17-0 season.

If anything, the final score did not do the game justice as the Dolphins, thanks to a tremendous defensive performance led by defensive tackle Manny Fernandez (17 tackles) and safety Jake Scott (two interceptions), dominated all game.

But one Dolphins touchdown got called back by penalty and another third-quarter drive ended with an end-zone interception. Otherwise Miami’s 14-0 fourth-quarter lead would’ve been much larger.

A 29-yard Bob Griese-to-Howard Twilley touchdown pass on the final play of the first quarter staked Miami to a 7-0 lead. Then, midway through the second quarter, Griese found a wide open Paul Warfield for a 47-yard touchdown. But the score was nullified when Marlin Briscoe got flagged for illegal motion.

Two minutes before halftime, linebacker Nick Buoniconti picked off a Billy Kilmer pass and returned it 32 yards to the Washington 27. Five plays later, Jim Kiick knifed over the goal line just 18 seconds before halftime staking Miami to a 14-0 lead at halfrimte.

Early in the fourth, following Griese’s end-zone interception, Kilmer put together Washington’s longest drive of the day when he drove his team 79 yards to the Miami 10. But on third-and-6, Scott stepped in front of a pass intended for Charley Taylor, picked it off and returned it 55 yards to the Washington 48.

Six plays later, with just more than two minutes left, the Dolphins lined up for a 41-yard field goal attempt by Garo Yepremian. The symmetry could not have been lost by anyone. If good, the Dolphins would’ve led 17-0 on the crest of a 17-0 season.

Not only did it not happen but it backfired big time. Yepremian’s kick was low and blocked. Worse, the ball came right back to him and when he tried to throw it, the ball came out of his hand, He then deflected it back into the air where Mike Bass picked it off and took off down the sideline 49 yards for a touchdown.

With 2:07 left and the Redskins still armed with all three timeouts, suddenly it was 14-7 and Yepremian was looking for a hole to crawl into when he came off the field.

I pray every game but I prayed more in those last two minutes than I ever prayed in my life,” said a relieved Yepremian in the victorious locker room afterwards. “If we had lost this game, I would’ve dug a hole, climbed in and never come out.”

The Redskins would use up their timeouts and eventually the Dolphins had to punt the ball back. Washington took over at is own 30 with 1:14 left and no timeouts. Two Kilmer passes fell incomplete before a swing pass to Larry Brown went for 4 yards.

But Brown didn’t get out of bounds. With the clock running, the Redskins quickly snapped the ball on fourth-and-6, and it was here that defensive ends Bill Stanfill and Vern Den Herder “met at the quarterback” as they converged on Kilmer to sack him to seal Miami’s perfect season and first championship.

Stanfill and Den Herder were so happy they started celebrating right on top of Kilmer, not letting him get up off the ground.

That was the whole season right there,” Den Herder said. “Me and Bill started celebrating and didn’t even realize Kilmer was even there.”

All season, Dolphin players continued to treat each win in businesslike fashion, rarely treating themselves to celebrating a win. Not on this day as the locker room was amass with shouts of joy.

“Just think about what 17-0 means for a second,” said Buoniconti. “I just don’t know how much better you can be. I’m not really sure I comprehend it myself. We beat back everything anyone threw at us week after week after week. I personally could not have fathomed the idea of losing a second Super Bowl. I couldn’t have lived with myself.”

But the one who enjoyed the limelight the most was Shula. An excruciating upset loss to the Jets in Super Bowl III when he was still in Baltimore four years earlier followed by the lopsided loss to Dallas in Super Bowl VI made this moment even that much more special for him.

“This is the greatest moment in my coaching life,” said Shula amid the locker room pandemonium. “I’ve had some great moments, but I guess I’ve always felt that this [winning the Super Bowl] was something I wanted and needed to accomplish. This is the greatest team I’ve ever been associated with and now we can let the record speak for that. This is the ultimate.”