The Doug Swift INT against Cleveland was the clincher but it wasn't a threatening play. You could sense in the stands it was a forced pass and destined to be picked off. The crowd was reacting before it was official. Swift merely stepped in front of the receiver.
At that point the crowd was incredibly loud and energized. It would have taken a semi-fluke for the Browns to pull it out with a TD. Miami's defense had harassed Phipps all day. Even his go-ahead TD pass in the 4th quarter was incredibly fortunate. Anderson picked him off then fumbled during the return. Phipps took advantage of a deflated and stunned defense to put up the go-ahead TD pass a couple of plays later.
Make no mistake, Morrall's deep ball to Warfield was BY FAR the most significant play of that game. If you went back to the Orange Bowl and polled everyone filing out of the stadium, I doubt you would have found 10 people with an alternate choice. Everyone was silent and stunned prior to that leaping catch. We were anemic. Regaining the lead seemed unlikely. Morrall had 74 yards passing for the day, and 35 came on that one pass.
This is an admirable project but backfitting on paper doesn't always mirror the realities from the point in time.
