The Colts were a monumental pain in the butt throughout that Bert jones era. I don't think there has ever been greater animosity and frustration among Dolphins fans toward any single player and team.
Younger fans wouldn't realize it because the Jets are isolated for their ire. But the Colts were easily our biggest divisional rival for at least the first dozen years after the merger. As soon as we thought they were sunk after Unitas reached the end of the line, all of a sudden they find Bert Jones along with countless other stars like Lydell Mitchell and Roger Carr and the Sack Pack.
The Dolphins were no longer great after Csonka/Kiick/Warfield were gone, but still very good. That led to the frustration because we knew we could have handled Bert Jones a few years earlier, but not any more. He narrowly defeat us time and again, along with barely winning other games we needed the Colts to lose.
Then one time -- probably 1977 -- the Colts lost a home game to Detroit near the end of the season on a stunning blocked punt in the final seconds. I was listening on shortwave Armed Forces Radio. I celebrated for maybe a half hour until I tuned to the network coverage and they were saying Baltimore actually benefitted from the defeat. Unbelievable but true. There was some type of quirk in the tiebreaker rules. The Colts were going to fare better in a tie situation because of that loss. It was merely another example that the Bert Jones Colts get every break in the book, just like that New England game in 1975.
The tiebreaker rules were changed as a result of that situation involving Baltimore and Detroit.
BTW, I just looked up that 1975 season. I was wrong that the Colts/Patriots was played on Saturday. I knew Saturday was involved but it was the Dolphins rallying late to defeat Denver at home 14-13 on Saturday to finish the season 10-4 and remain alive. Then on Sunday afternoon everyone tuned in to root for New England. The Patriots were eliminated due to tiebreaker realities but that was a very young talented team with Steve Grogan and Russ Francis and Sugar Bear Hamilton, among others.
Miami really got a huge effort out of the Patriots that day. It's the reason New England was heavily respected and admired by Dolphins fans for years, even as the Patriots improved and became more of a rival also.
I remember the amazing atmosphere in the Orange Bowl late in 1977 when we defeated the nemesis Colts in a tense low scoring game, thanks largely to a long clinching touchdown run by rookie fullback Leroy Harris. It felt like such a relief.
The Bert Jones problem looked like it would linger another decade or more. But his career was shortened due to shoulder issues. Otherwise it would have overlapped the early Marino years.
