The Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans clash on the week 4 NFL schedule, and for this week’s Throwback Thursday post we will feature a game played between these 2 franchises in the Dolphins’ inaugural expansion season of 1966. The Titans were the Houston Oilers at that time, and although they won the first 2 American Football League championships, they were on a steep decline when this game was played on December 18, 1966. Miami had managed 2 wins so far in their first year, and 1 of them was earlier in Houston over the Oilers at Rice Stadium. Houston came into this matchup, the final regular season game for both clubs, with only 3 wins. Needless to say, in spite of being at the end of a lost year, they did not want to suffer the embarrassment of being defeated twice in a season by an expansion team.
Houston quarterback Don Trull found running back Hoyle Granger for a 27 yard touchdown pass to get the scoring started in the first quarter, and then hooked up with Larry Elkins in the second from 11 yards out to give his Oilers a 14-0 lead. Miami signal caller John Stofa then began what would become a career day by hitting Joe Auer with a 27 yard scoring toss. The Dolphins added a 2 point conversion (which was only a rule in the AFL, not the NFL, back then). Trull was unfazed, and upped the Oiler lead to 21-8 with a 2 yard TD pass to Bob McLeod. Stofa was the man in the second half. He provided the only score of the third quarter with a 48 yard bomb to flanker Frank Jackson. Trull’s 1 yard QB sneak gave Houston a 28-15 advantage, but Stofa capped his performance with a pair of touchdown drives that ended with his third and fourth TD throws – 4 yards to Bill Cronin and 14 to Auer. Gene Mingo’s successful extra point kicks on those 2 scores put Miami up 29-28 and they hung on to hand the Oilers another loss. Auer had 87 rushing yards in addition to his 2 receiving TDs, while Jackson amassed 110 receiving yards on 4 catches from Stofa.
Two years later Stofa would be traded to Cincinnati prior to their expansion draft to enter the AFL in ’68, officially becoming the first Bengal player in team history, only to return to the Dolphins for the ’69 and ’70 seasons.
John Stofa, Pride of University of Buffalo