The new NFL season begins tonight, and that signals the return of our weekly Throwback Thursday feature, in which we visit a game from the past played between 2 teams who meet on the league schedule that week. Our first feature of 2025 is a November 1, 1970 contest played between 2 AFC opponents who play in week 1 this year – the Miami Dolphins and the then Baltimore Colts. The significance of this game? It was the first time Miami head coach Don Shula faced his old team – the Colts. He had been the head man in Baltimore since 1963 and was very successful. However, a devastating and shocking loss to the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, followed by a mediocre 8-5-1 campaign in 1969 in which the team missed the playoffs, caused Shula to part ways with the Colts, and he took over the young Dolphin squad in 1970.
It not only was the first test of Shula against the Colts, it was also a return to Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The contest played out rather strangely. Shula’s Miami squad thoroughly outgained the Colts, racking up 201 rushing yards and amassing 383 total yards to Baltimore’s 239. But on the scoreboard, it was a totally different result, as Colt coach Don McCafferty’s team ran up a 35-0 score in winning for the sixth time in 7 games. The difference was the Baltimore defense and special teams. Despite giving up a lot of yardage, the defense forced the young Dolphins into 4 turnovers, led by a pair of interceptions by linebacker Mike Curtis. McCafferty’s special teams recorded a pair of kick return touchdowns. Ron Gardin opened the scoring with an 80 yard punt return for a score, and Jim Duncan returned the second half kickoff 99 yards to paydirt to up Baltimore’s lead to 21-0 at that point. A 1 yard TD plunge by Norm Bulaich in the second quarter was the second score of the game.
The lead went to 28-0 in the third stanza when an old Shula favorite, quarterback John Unitas, found Eddie Hinton open for a 32 yard touchdown pass. Earl Morrall, who in later years would join Shula in Miami, came off the bench to finish the rout with a 15 yard TD connection to tight end Tom Mitchell. The 35-0 debacle surely stung Shula’s pride but it obviously did not hinder his continued development of the young Dolphin team, only in it’s fifth year of existence. Just 3 weeks later in a rematch in Miami’s Orange Bowl, the Dolphins returned the favor by defeating the Colts 34-17. The Colts apparently weren’t bothered at all by that defeat either. they went on win Super Bowl V that season.
A smiling Shula introduced as the new Miami coach