FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-153            12/5/02

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DOLPHINS SALUTE “PERFECT SEASON” MONDAY NIGHT; RETIRE CSONKA’S NUMBER

In its 30th anniversary year, the Miami Dolphins’ “PERFECT SEASON” will be celebrated at halftime of the Dolphins’ game Monday night against the Chicago Bears (ABC-TV, 9:00 PM ET).  

The team will honor members of the NFL’s only unbeaten, untied team -- the 1972 Dolphins who went 17-0 -- and also retire the uniform number (39) of one of the club’s stalwarts of the ’70s, fullback LARRY CSONKA. 

Seven members of the ’72 Dolphins have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame:  head coach DON SHULA, linebacker NICK BUONICONTI, Csonka, quarterback BOB GRIESE, center JIM LANGER, guard LARRY LITTLE and wide receiver PAUL WARFIELD.

In paying tribute to their 1972 Super Bowl championship team, the 2002 Dolphins on Monday night will wear the commemorative uniform patch below:

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30 YEARS AGO: “THE PERFECT SEASON”

It is fitting that the only team to achieve perfection in the NFL’s 83-year history has a special keepsake from that season. 

The 1972 MIAMI DOLPHINS’ championship ring features one large diamond to represent their Super Bowl VII victory surrounded by 16 smaller diamonds – symbolizing the 16 victories it took to get there.  In addition, one side of the ring is inscribed “Perfect Season” in honor of the club’s unprecedented 17-0 unbeaten, untied championship year. 

“That season is special because nobody has ever done it,” says the team’s quarterback, BOB GRIESE. 

“It was the ultimate victory,” says DON SHULA, the Dolphins’ head coach from 1970-95, and the winningest coach in NFL history (347 victories).  “It was special because it was my first Super Bowl win, and to have it come with a team that accomplished what that team accomplished made it all the more memorable.”

But as Shula admits, the road to that season’s Super Bowl was not always smooth. 

In the first quarter of the fifth game of the season, the Dolphins lost Griese to a broken ankle.  Backup EARL MORRALL came in and threw two scoring passes in Miami’s 24-10 win over San Diego.  The 38-year-old Morrall started the next 11 games for the Dolphins.

“When I was coaching the Colts in 1968, Earl came on when JOHNNY UNITAS got hurt and did a great job to get us to the Super Bowl,” recalls Shula.  “When he became available, I didn’t hesitate to bring him down to Miami as insurance for Griese.  Earl just stepped in and gave us great confidence in the games that he started.”

While Morrall’s leadership was essential, it was the Dolphins’ ground game which carried the offensive load. 

LARRY CSONKA (1,117) and MERCURY MORRIS (1,000) comprised the first teammate duo in NFL history to each reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark in the same season.  They led the Dolphins to an NFL team-record 2,960 rushing yards.

It was the success of the running game which epitomized the team’s selflessness. 

“We were a very unselfish team,” says former Dolphins defensive tackle MANNY FERNANDEZ.  “A lot of players sacrificed their personal ambitions for the good of the team.  PAUL WARFIELD, for example, was playing for a team that threw him the ball three times a game.  In today’s game he would be the ‘go-to guy’ with 10 passes a week going to him.  He was more than willing to take that backseat to become a blocker in the running game.”

Warfield, who led the ’72 Dolphins with 606 receiving yards – a total lower than in any of his previous six seasons – agrees with Fernandez’ assessment.  “The success of the team was paramount,” he says.  “Everyone’s focus was to win, and to win at the highest level.”

That desire to reach the highest level was fueled by failure one year earlier. 

“The drive for the whole season was the Super Bowl VI loss to Dallas (24-3),” says Griese.  The Cowboys rushed for a then-Super Bowl-record 252 yards, and the Dallas defense held Miami to a Super Bowl record-low three points, forced three turnovers and yielded only 185 total yards.  “There was nothing that was going to stop us from going to the Super Bowl and winning it,” says Griese.

“Our 17-0 season happened because the Miami Dolphins football team had something to prove,” says Warfield.  “We were humiliated in Super Bowl VI.  When we came to training camp in 1972, our objective was to get back to the Super Bowl and to reinforce in our own minds – as well as in the minds of fans across the country – that we were a better football team.”

Every position played its part.

“It was a very well-balanced team,” says Fernandez, who posted 10 tackles and one sack in the Super Bowl while playing for the team’s unsung defense, aptly called the “No-Name” defense. 

“The ‘No-Name’ defense took pride in the 11-man concept,” says Shula of a unit which allowed a then-NFL season-low 171 points.

It was a concept embraced by the entire team. 

“The group was the essence of the word ‘team,’” says Warfield.  “That is why we accomplished something that no one else has ever accomplished, and perhaps, something that no other team will ever accomplish in the history of this game.”

“To me,” says Shula, “every team is separate and distinct.  I have always felt that the reason you keep scores and the reason you keep records is to make determinations.  Nobody has done what this team did.”

The ’72 Dolphins were…perfect.

“I don’t see how any team could state it was greater than we were,” says Fernandez.  “Show me somebody with a better record.”

There is no such team.

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The championship teams with the best single-season winning percentages in the four major professional sports: