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Interesting Dolphins Superbowl stat

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Miami1

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Something that's always bothered me for years is the 2nd halves of the Superbowls that Miami has played in.

After looking at some stats, these are the 2nd half scoring numbers in each of the SB's Miami has been in

Dallas 14 - Miami 0
Washington 7 - Miami 0
Minnesota 7 - Miami 7
Washington 17 - Miami 0
San Francisco 10 - Miami 0

They have been outscored 55 to 7 in the 2nd half of the Superbowls. That stat speaks for itself. That has to be a considered a big factor of why there are 3 Superbowl losses.
 
Miami1 said:
Something that's always bothered me for years is the 2nd halves of the Superbowls that Miami has played in.

After looking at some stats, these are the 2nd half scoring numbers in each of the SB's Miami has been in

Dallas 14 - Miami 0
Washington 7 - Miami 0
Minnesota 7 - Miami 7
Washington 17 - Miami 0
San Francisco 10 - Miami 0

They have been outscored 55 to 7 in the 2nd half of the Superbowls. That stat speaks for itself. That has to be a considered a big factor of why there are 3 Superbowl losses.
Click to expand...

And this can be explained a few ways.

One, you can point to coaching and adjustments. But you can also point to the other team having more talent too, in some of the cases. The longer the game goes, the talent rises to the top.

The first 3 games were essentially the same roster. The 2nd two had more notable differences. But Coach Shula was a common thread in all of them.

Of the 5 games, I’d only concede to the other team being better in 2 of them. The first and the last.
 
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I started hearing this stat from wise guys in Las Vegas before the 1984 season Super Bowl. They were ridiculing the heck out of Shula and his lack of adjustments, certain it would happen again versus the 49ers. One older guy in particular named Jack was ripping Shula every day regarding this trend. I was surprised because I had never heard the stat before. Then you should have seen the stampede to the betting windows when somehow the Dolphins were made the second half favorite against the 49ers. I didn't believe it then and I still have a difficult time believing that number. Most joints had Miami -3.5 for the second half but downtown at Union Plaza the famed Jackie Gaughan actually used Miami -4.5.

I was at the small wise guy joint called Churchill Downs. It was near the current site of Paris Las Vegas. When they posted Dolphins -3.5 at halftime an eccentric redheaded Canadian guy nicknamed Super Dave (after Dave Osborne) ran up there and came back with the ticket on San Francisco. He said, "If anyone watches that first half and can't bet on the 49ers I don't know why they are in this town. And that doesn't even include Shula in the second half."

It's actually worse than the numbers from the OP. Shula's teams never scored a second half point in a competitive Super Bowl. The only scores were a late touchdown drive from Johnny Unitas with 3 minutes remaining in Super Bowl III while the Colts trailed the Jets 16-0, and the opening drive of the second half in the 1973 season Super Bowl when the Dolphins extended the lead from 17-0 to 24-0.
 
Miami1 said:
Something that's always bothered me for years is the 2nd halves of the Superbowls that Miami has played in.

After looking at some stats, these are the 2nd half scoring numbers in each of the SB's Miami has been in

Dallas 14 - Miami 0
Washington 7 - Miami 0
Minnesota 7 - Miami 7
Washington 17 - Miami 0
San Francisco 10 - Miami 0

They have been outscored 55 to 7 in the 2nd half of the Superbowls. That stat speaks for itself. That has to be a considered a big factor of why there are 3 Superbowl losses.
Click to expand...
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The Roger Craig screen passes lit up our defense every time SF needed a first down.
The Fins never adjusted probably in fear of Russ Francis
In the 85 superbowl, the 49ers were the superior team.
I hope my memory isnt failing ...lol
 
Miami1 said:
Something that's always bothered me for years is the 2nd halves of the Superbowls that Miami has played in.

After looking at some stats, these are the 2nd half scoring numbers in each of the SB's Miami has been in

Dallas 14 - Miami 0
Washington 7 - Miami 0
Minnesota 7 - Miami 7
Washington 17 - Miami 0
San Francisco 10 - Miami 0

They have been outscored 55 to 7 in the 2nd half of the Superbowls. That stat speaks for itself. That has to be a considered a big factor of why there are 3 Superbowl losses.
Click to expand...
Valid debate...of course they had Minnesota and Washington shutout at the half...and the Washington score was a freak bobble by our kicker.

Dallas outclassed us in Superbowl 6 for the whole game.

Super Bowl 17 we had no QB.

Super Bowl 19 we were beaten by the greatest Niner team in history and they were simply a far more complete team than we were.

I think the only significance you can take away from the five Superbowls is that we got beaten by superior teams 3 times.
 
Miami1 said:
Something that's always bothered me for years is the 2nd halves of the Superbowls that Miami has played in.

After looking at some stats, these are the 2nd half scoring numbers in each of the SB's Miami has been in

Dallas 14 - Miami 0
Washington 7 - Miami 0
Minnesota 7 - Miami 7
Washington 17 - Miami 0
San Francisco 10 - Miami 0

They have been outscored 55 to 7 in the 2nd half of the Superbowls. That stat speaks for itself. That has to be a considered a big factor of why there are 3 Superbowl losses.
Click to expand...
Miami and Super Bowl. I know nothing about those two things.
 
To this day, I am amazed that offense on the 1984 team couldn't score a single point in the second half.
Not a single point, ....and the way they lit it up all season.
I remember how good that 49ers team was, but still....zero points? NONE?
Baffling.
 
Wow. That is ugly.

Weird because Don Shula's teams had a lot of comebacks.

I think you have to look at each game individually. In Super Bowl VII, the Dolphins were protecting a 14-0 lead and the defense was playing lights out. Washington's biggest play was a 15-yard gain.

Miami did have a second half drive, highlighted by a Csonka 49-yard run, that reached Washington's 5-yard line. But Griese threw an interception in the end zone on a nice play by Fisher.

Of course, there was also Garo's Gaff with 2:07 to play. Easily the Dolphins could have won 17-0 or even 24-0. It certainly wasn't a second half meltdown by any means.

Super Bowl VI just had an unusual vibe when Csonka lost a fumble early. I believe it was the only fumble he lost all year. I've always wondered if playing KC in the longest game, just two weeks earlier, had an effect on the players.

The most disappointing second half had to be the loss to Washington. That was a winnable game with the defense giving Miami chance after chance. I remember thinking, we just need one first down, a couple of plays.

In retrospect, Shula should have gone to Strock earlier as Woodley just really struggled.
 
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Another point I'd like to make. You don't win 347 games and get to six super bowls without making adjustments.

I think Shula was so good that he was able to get to the super bowl with flawed teams. At some point, talent takes over. And Miami didn't match up in some of those games.

I remember reading an article that the 49ers salary was three times higher than the next team. Can't recall what year it was, or if that was an exaggeration, but they paid for talent. Joe Robbie was a notorious cheap skate.

I remember being excited when free agency hit the NFL, but after a few years realized all the elite players were signing with Dallas or San Francisco. If memory serves, that was a big reason for the salary cap. The owners complained.

The David Woodley Dolphins had a strong defense and a running game, but a pretty bad group of wide receivers.

The 84 Dolphins had a dynamic passing game, but couldn't run the ball. The defense was already on the way down.

Now, maybe Shula could have done some things differently. A fake punt late in that Redskins game might have turned the tide. Maybe some designed runs for Woodley, or going to Strock earlier.
 
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EJay said:
And this can be explained a few ways.

One, you can point to coaching and adjustments. But you can also point to the other team having more talent too, in some of the cases. The longer the game goes, the talent rises to the top.

The first 3 games were essentially the same roster. The 2nd two had more notable differences. But Coach Shula was a common thread in all of them.

Of the 5 games, I’d only concede to the other team being better in 2 of them. The first and the last.
Click to expand...
I thought Washington was better in 1982, but not by much. Theismann over Woodley obviously.

SF was one of the greatest super bowl teams. Even though that 84 Miami team was flawed, I think the Dolphins beat a lot of super bowl entrants from that time period.

Talent-wise, I think Miami matched up against Dallas. But the Cowboys had been there before and the Dolphins lacked that experience.

My take anyway.
 
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SF Dolphin Fan said:
I thought Washington was better in 1982, but not by much. Theismann over Woodley obviously.

SF was one of the greatest super bowl teams. Even though that 84 Miami team was flawed. I think the Dolphins beat a lot of super bowl entrants from that time period.

Talent-wise, I think Miami matched up against Dallas. But the Cowboys had been there before and the Dolphins lacked that experience.

My take anyway.
Click to expand...

Yeah, QB was surely one area WASH was better. A tad of irony there, considering Theismann was drafted by MIA.

Interesting anecdote that some may not know, but Joe Theismann‘s last name was actually pronounced ”thees-mann”, not “thighs-mann” as it has been widely pronounced for 50 years now.

He agreed to go along with the new pronunciation as part of a Heisman Trophy campaign while at Notre Dame.

The reason he eventually agreed to go along with the change was because his german grandmother advised that the correct pronunciation is actually “TICE-mann”. So she gave Joe her blessing on the change because “Thighs-mann” was closer to the correct pronunciation.

I never knew any of that until quite a while after Joe had retired.
 
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