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Any one remember?

Awsi Dooger said:
I remember playing basketball that morning in a local park, with all of my neighborhood friends. Very matter of fact. Nobody was concerned at all.

The Dolphins did not reach my rushing yardage projection. I was irritated about that. While playing basketball and leading up to the game my theme had been at least 200 yards rushing. Sometimes I got bold with 250. I didn't see how it wouldn't happen. I believe the final tally was slightly below 200.

But stats don't always cooperate when a team jumps out to a big early lead. I didn't learn that until perhaps a dozen years later...new to Las Vegas and studying trends. In that Super Bowl the early rushing total suggested well beyond 200. But once the lead was significant the game reached a lull stage, without as much urgency on offense and mostly containing the Vikings.

There are few things in sports as random as the final outcome when a dominant team or athlete surges to a huge advantage early. The stats can keep going. Or stall. The margin can keep going. Or stall. Tiger Woods cruised during the fourth round countless times, the win already secured. Analysts who rely on that final time or margin as absolute can be fooled by frontrunners more than any type of performer.

I have a tape of this game. Everything is familiar from my memories as a 14 year old except one thing: I am always shocked at how tight the tailback is to the line of scrimmage. I always want to grab Mercury and yank him a yard or two further back. I guess when I went to school at USC a half decade later our Student Body Right featured different spacing...allowing more time for Marcus Allen or other tailbacks to pick and choose. I retain that image as ideal, and not the Dolphins version from the early '70s.

That era was so special I'm not overly bothered that it hasn't repeated. We earned it then and haven't earned it since. That's the way I look at it. Great choices then and poor to middling choices subsequently. And I'm not merely referring to draft picks. Those Dolphins were virtually unanimous as smartest team in the league, if not professional sports period. The Celtics under Auerbach owned that smartest in sports tag for so long. But that team stalled briefly in the early '70s, until picking up an unexpected title just a few months after this Dolphins/Vikings game. That was kind of surprising when they upset the Bucks and Jabbar in a 7 game final.

With the Dolphins and Celtics simultaneously on top, there was much discussion in summer 1974 toward which franchise was the smartest in the sporting world.

I like to mention that type of thing because it gets lost to time. Nobody thinks of those 1973 Dolphins with any connection to the Boston Celtics. They were briefly linked on sports radio talk shows and in bar stool type conversations. If we had ESPN type programming from that time frame the clips would be startling.

The Celtics won again two years later. Then Bird, and more smart stuff.
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Bob Griese was so cerebral a field General. Lost over time is how the QBs of ‘yore called their own plays. Bob was so smart and unselfish - he had great feel for the in-game stuff. There are no stats for this but has anyone been better in this regard?
 
I was 11. Family had a weekend camping/ snowmobile plan. I talked my parents into letting me stay home to watch. Older brother had to work but was home later to watch me. 2 chicken pot pies after a dominating first half. Remember it like it was yesterday.
 
royalshank said:
Bob Griese was so cerebral a field General. Lost over time is how the QBs of ‘yore called their own plays. Bob was so smart and unselfish - he had great feel for the in-game stuff. There are no stats for this but has anyone been better in this regard?
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Griese was phenomenal. That's why I get annoyed when younger fans look at stats only, without full appreciation for how the game varied in that era.

He passed sparingly but it was almost always strategic, and perfectly timed. Invariably the Dolphins would open the game very effectively on the ground. Then as soon as the safeties started cheating upward, Griese would fake a toss and hit someone in the area the safety vacated. We would be anticipating it in the stands. My dad would always want it sooner than I did. I would insist it was still too soon...wait for a more pivotal situation.

It was like chess on the football field. Gorgeous to behold. The slant to Warfield was the dependable dagger. But Griese varied that up so perfectly the opponent would be lulled and forget about it...until they got burned.

I've mentioned many times that Griese had an uncanny ability to draw a crucial offsides. That was more predictable -- 3rd and 4 or 3rd and a long 3. Later in the game. He wouldn't waste it early. When that situation arose I'd be nudging my dad as soon as the prior play ended: "Dad, it's 3rd and 4. Here it comes."

I would literally be laughing as the Dolphins approached the line of scrimmage. Griese always had the head bob and hard count but gad did he exaggerate it in that situation. His chin would almost hit the center on the lower back. There goes the flag. Here come the white hankies throughout the Orange Bowl. We've outsmarted you again.

And the league had to change the head bob rules and application of them, solely due to Bob Griese.

Marino was more of a dart throwing contest than a chess match. Never as interesting to me. I realize I am in the minority there.
 
I was 12 at the time. Larry ZONK running all over the Vikings but I remember Bob Kuechenburg totally dominating Alan Page and really our o-line dominating their HOF D-line. I wish our o-line now was half that good

Ozzy rules!!
 
Most fans only remember Bob Griese these days as the drunk guy on the pre-season broadcasts, which is unfortunate. He was one of the best who's ever played.
 
royalshank said:
Bob Griese was so cerebral a field General. Lost over time is how the QBs of ‘yore called their own plays. Bob was so smart and unselfish - he had great feel for the in-game stuff. There are no stats for this but has anyone been better in this regard?
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Agreed 100%. Because Miami was such a brutally dominating running team, people forget how effective Griese was, he was the perfect QB for Shula, considering Shula coached like a chess grandmaster, Griese QBed the same way, for that time, he was extremely accurate, as the pressure mounted, he took his game to another level, and it was extremely rare he made a mistake in a game. His game resembled what you see from Brady in a time when the rules went against passing more then running the ball.
 
Awsi Dooger said:
Griese was phenomenal. That's why I get annoyed when younger fans look at stats only, without full appreciation for how the game varied in that era.

He passed sparingly but it was almost always strategic, and perfectly timed. Invariably the Dolphins would open the game very effectively on the ground. Then as soon as the safeties started cheating upward, Griese would fake a toss and hit someone in the area the safety vacated. We would be anticipating it in the stands. My dad would always want it sooner than I did. I would insist it was still too soon...wait for a more pivotal situation.

It was like chess on the football field. Gorgeous to behold. The slant to Warfield was the dependable dagger. But Griese varied that up so perfectly the opponent would be lulled and forget about it...until they got burned.

I've mentioned many times that Griese had an uncanny ability to draw a crucial offsides. That was more predictable -- 3rd and 4 or 3rd and a long 3. Later in the game. He wouldn't waste it early. When that situation arose I'd be nudging my dad as soon as the prior play ended: "Dad, it's 3rd and 4. Here it comes."

I would literally be laughing as the Dolphins approached the line of scrimmage. Griese always had the head bob and hard count but gad did he exaggerate it in that situation. His chin would almost hit the center on the lower back. There goes the flag. Here come the white hankies throughout the Orange Bowl. We've outsmarted you again.

And the league had to change the head bob rules and application of them, solely due to Bob Griese.

Marino was more of a dart throwing contest than a chess match. Never as interesting to me. I realize I am in the minority there.
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I agree 100% - he may have been the “coolest” cat to ever play the position. From Purdue to the pros, you just didn’t rattle him - he got in YOUR head with his head. Funny you mention the slant to Warfield - that play was so pretty as Warfield hauled it in looking more like a gazelle than a human the way he ran. Griese was more of an early Joe Montana or Tom Brady while Marino more of a Peyton Manning or Aaron Rogers type player. Yes the games were more strategic rather than just trying to outscore everyone. Anyone recall the intentional safety Bob called vs the Oilers? Talked about a lot today yet few teams do it. Was a great chess move in a great football game.
 
Born in 89. Barely remember much of Marino era. So most of my memories of this franchise are well yeah. Probably why I’m such a bitter prick when I talk football with people.
 
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