Would the Perfect Season fall victim to a New England jinx? Despite the Patriots’ 2-9 record heading into their rematch with the Miami Dolphins in Week 12 of the 1972 NFL season, that was weighing on coach Don Shula’s mind.
The Dolphins had never won in Boston/Foxboro. In fact, in 1971, they had been spanked by New England 34-13. Oddly, that was the week after they came off an overwhelming Monday night win, that one a 34-3 romp over the Chicago Bears, not unlike their Monday Night win the prior week this season over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Never one to leave anything to chance, Shula, changed things up a bit. Rather than fly into Boston, they landed in nearby Providence, Rhode Island, and bussed up to Foxboro, Massachusetts. The Dolphins did stay in the same motel (?!) in Foxboro they normally stayed at, Shula saying, “We’re giving it one more chance.”
Another change was New England’s coach. When John Mazur resigned after his team’s 52-0 loss in Miami, the Patriots hired Phil Bengston, who was serving as the Director of Scouting for the San Diego Chargers. Bengston is best known, by the few who recognize his name, as the unfortunate soul who followed Vince Lombardi as the Green Bay Packers head coach in 1968.
Bengston had a long, successful career as a defensive assistant, including all nine years of Lombardi’s reign in Green Bay and knew a little something about winning. Not only was he part of Lombardi’s five NFL championships he also played at the University of Minnesota when they won the 1934 National Championship with a perfect 8-0 record.
Bengston took over an aging team in Green Bay that was running on fumes when they won Super Bowl II, leading them to a 20-21-1 record before being fired following the 1970 season. The Packers had begun a long spell of mediocrity, or worse, making the playoffs only twice over the 25 years between 1968-1992 and only managing one playoff win during that time.
The Patriots knew all about mediocrity, or worse, having already clinched their seventh consecutive losing season. The hope born from drafting Jim Plunkett with the first overall pick in the 1971 draft and a promising 6-8 season that followed had faded. The team was playing out the string, although they had perked up a bit since Bengston arrived, especially on defense. The prior week, New England had held Baltimore to 262 total yards…but still managed to lose 31-0 thanks to six turnovers.
It would be Patriots turnovers again undermining a strong defensive effort against the visiting Dolphins.
Miami fans hoping for a repeat of the 52-0 laugher would have that hope fade quickly. The Dolphins moved the ball well on the game’s first possession and had a first down at the New England ten-yard line. A holding penalty set Miami back, and they had to settle for a 36-yard Garo Yepremian field goal.
After a New England punt, Earl Morrall overthrew tight end, Marv Flemming, on a deep pass, and the Patriots Honor Jackson intercepted and returned it to the Dolphins 36-yard line. Miami’s defense held and Patriot kicker Mike Walker came on to try a 40-yard field goal. He carried the nickname “Superfoot” after winning a competition to become New England’s kicker, but his kick was un-super, going wide left. After making only two out of eight field goal attempts for the Patriots, Walker would move on to his life’s work after the season and never play in the NFL again.
After an exchange of punts, the Dolphins put together a ten-play, 64-yard drive, leaning heavily on Larry Csonka’s running and a pass reception. The drive was stopped at the Patriot three-yard line when Paul Warfield, seeing his first action in three weeks, whiffed on a block and Mercury Morris was stopped cold on a sweep. Yepremian’s 10-yard field goal (remember, this was the last year the goalposts were at the goal line) put Miami ahead 6-0.
New England crossed into Dolphins territory on their next possession, but quarterback Brian Dowling, subbing for a shaken-up Plunkett, did not get the play off in time on 4th-and-3, forcing another punt.
Miami embarked on a typical drive for them in 1972, hard running by all three backs with passes sprinkled in. Warfield caught two of those on this drive, each for 21 yards. After Kiick, then Csonka, got stuffed from the one-yard line, Kiick broke through on the third try for the touchdown, capping a 13-play, 89-yard drive that ran nearly six minutes off the clock.
The Dolphins had seemed to take control of the game late in the second quarter, but the Patriots did not yet roll over. A bad handoff exchange between Morrall and Morris led to a fumble recovered by New England at the Miami 36. Plunkett wasted no time finding wide receiver Tom Reynolds in the end zone, where he took the ball away from Dolphin defender Lloyd Mumphord for a touchdown. This would be the first of his two career scores.
This late touchdown cut the Miami lead to 13-7 at the half despite the Dolphins’ dominance. Miami had outgained the Patriots 300-92, but two Dolphin turnovers and a key stop in the red zone kept New England within reach.
The game swung quickly after halftime. On the third play from scrimmage, Miami defensive end Vern Den Herder, firmly established as a force in his first year as a starter, reached up and intercepted a screen pass from Plunkett. Den Herder rumbled 24 yards down to the New England 11. Three plays later, Morrall hit a wide-open Jim Mandich in the end zone to stretch the lead to 20-7. After the game, Shula said Den Herder’s play “turned the game back to us.”
You could feel the air sucked out of the stadium at that point. A raucous sellout crowd of over 60,000 settled in to watch the inevitable beat down, now fully in progress.
The teams traded field goal attempts; Walker missed, Yepremian connected to make the score 23-7 in the third quarter. On the Dolphins’ drive, Csonka busted loose for a 45-yard run which put him over 1,000 for the season. While 1,000-yard seasons are common for runners now, Csonka became only the third NFL player to reach that milestone in back-to-back seasons. He joined Jim Brown and Jim Taylor, two of the best to every play the game.
Another Plunkett miscue put the game totally out of reach. Miami linebacker Doug Swift snuck in front of Patriot tight end Bob Windsor to intercept Plunkett’s pass and return it to the New England 35-yard line. Five plays later, Morrall found wide receiver Marlin Briscoe in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
The Dolphins now led 30-7 just before the end of the third quarter, and it was time for Shula to clear the bench. After falling behind 37-7, New England scored two late touchdowns to make the score 37-21, still not good, but a lot better than 52-0.
The No-Name Defense played up to its usual level of excellence, harassing both Patriot quarterbacks all day and allowing only 217 total yards.
Miami’s offense shook off the two early turnovers and piled up a then-team record 501 yards, including a staggering 301 on the ground in 51 attempts, an average of 6.0 yards per carry. Csonka totaled 91 yards while Morris led the way with 113, putting him within range of 1,000 for the season. Teammates had never each rushed for 1,000 yards in a season before.
Typically, Csonka was unimpressed with his accomplishment. “When you’ve got a winning season and a line like we’ve got,” he said after the game, “you should get 1,000.”
Not only was the Dolphins running game in uncharted waters, their entire season was moving in that direction. Now sporting a 12-0 record, they were the first team to accomplish that feat since the 1934 Chicago Bears. That season, the Bears would finish 13-0 but lose the championship game to the Giants in the famous sneaker game, when New York changed from cleats to sneakers at halftime to better navigate a frozen field and pulled away from the Bears to win.
Shula’s Dolphins had clinched their playoff spot two weeks earlier, but they remained focused on becoming champions and not another footnote in NFL history.
Coming Next: Part 20 – Slogging Through the Big Apple
The Dolphins made their only trip to Yankee Stadium to face the New York Giants in the mud. Big plays from Paul Warfield and six Giants turnovers put Miami on the cusp of a perfect regular season.
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