It’s the best time of the year for Ray On Sports, the beginning of another NFL season. That means the start of another season’s worth of Throwback Thursday posts, featuring games of the past played between franchises who are slated to play that week on the NFL schedule. This is the 50th Anniversary of the Super Bowl, so some of the throwback posts will be about past Super Bowl matchups, including this week’s. The Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins meet on opening day this year, recalling a classic Super Bowl matchup from over forty years ago.
Super Bowl VII wasn’t the most exciting game ever played, but it was one of the most historic. When the Miami Dolphins held off the Washington Redskins to win the game 14-7, it capped off the first undefeated season accomplished by a team in NFL history, as Miami finished a perfect 17-0 to claim the NFL title. The accomplishment still stands alone today, although the New England Patriots managed to go 18-0 in 2007 before being upset in the Super Bowl by the New York Giants to thwart their dreams of perfection. The game not only made history, it provided vindication for Dolphin coach Don Shula, who was on the losing end of one of the biggest upsets in sports history a few years earlier as his heavily favored Baltimore Colts were stunned by the upstart New York Jets in Super Bowl III. The game was typical of the Dolphins’ season – the score wasn’t very one-sided, yet the game was pretty much dominated by Miami’s “No-Name” defense and powerful running game. Miami’s starting quarterback, Bob Griese, had returned from an almost season long injury the previous game, in the AFC Championship, to rally his club over Pittsburgh to the win that vaulted them into the Super Bowl. Griese had been sidelined since the fifth game of the season, and old veteran Earl Morrall, who came to Miami after playing for Shula in Baltimore, took over the reins and brilliantly guided the club to this point, keeping the undefeated record intact.
The Dolphins’ opponent was a lightly regarded squad from Washington coached by George Allen. Allen took over the Redskins a couple of years earlier following the untimely death of Vince Lombardi, and loaded up the roster with grisled veterans and castoffs from other clubs, feeling that experienced players made fewer mistakes than rookies. This patchwork roster of old-timers became known as “The Over The Hill Gang” and was a sentimental favorite among fans to win the game. Even the nation’s president at the time, Richard Nixon, got caught up in the hype of the nation’s capital’s team, suggesting plays to Allen to use in the game. Miami’s methodical offense worked their game plan to perfection, grinding out a long, time-consuming drive in the first quarter that ended with a 28 yard touchdown pass from Griese to Howard Twilley. Then in the second quarter, the defense took command, as Nick Buoniconti thwarted a Redskin drive by intercepting a Bill Kilmer pass and returning it deep into Washington territory to set up a one yard Jim Kiick scoring run. That gave Shula’s club a 14-0 lead at halftime, and the way Miami played all year, that lead already looked insurmountable. And it was, until a little over two minutes remained in the game. Miami sent kicker Garo Yepremian out to boot a field goal to put the game completely out of reach. However, the Dolphins made an uncharacteristic mistake, botching the snap with the ball ending up in Yepremian’s hands. He made a feeble, ill-fated attempt to pass it, and Washington’s Mike Bass picked it off and returned it for a touchdown to suddenly give his team unexpected life. That play became one of the NFL’s most famous “bloopers” and basically took on a life of it’s own. Disaster was averted, however, and Shula’s Dolphins completed their unbeaten run.
Garo Yepremian’s errant Super Bowl pass