Shula in Conference Championship Games | Page 4 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Shula in Conference Championship Games

Shula had a chance with free agency. I remember one year the team had something like 18 former first round picks and of course a lot of those were players they got in free agency and I believe we didn't make the playoffs. I loved coach Shula but he had a lot of bad drafts and plenty of free agents miss tho he did well with some of them like Irving Fryar and Keith Byars.

As far as him coaching in today's NFL.......his style would not fit with the way players are now imo.
Great points, as usual.

Shula was definitely an old-school coach, but Bellicheck has been described the same way.
 
I was at his last one Against Buffalo, what a miserable Day, and a long *** drive back to Virginia, was also Dolphins last appearance in a Conference Championship Game, just unbelievable really.
Hopefully, you'll be able to go to the next one. And, hopefully the result will be different.
 
I think Shula would have won more super bowls during the salary cap Era.

When his teams were close to the talent level of the opponents, Shula won with regularity.

The salary cap is designed for that. You don't see the disparity in pay roll that used to exist.
For sure...not to mention full free agency!
 
I think your post misses some realities....the Dolphin drafts after Marino were poor...Shula truly had to overcome lesser talent. You can blame Shula for that if you choose. In Super Bowls 17 and 19 we had incomplete teams against complete teams.

I always separated the coaching from the talent acquisition...the Bum Phillips quote was very true regarding Shula!

There was also an outstanding Buffalo team to overcome!
 
For sure...not to mention full free agency!
There were always reports that the 49ers were outspending teams by three times.

Imagine that super bowl with a salary cap. SF would hypothetically have to shed maybe four high salaried players to get to where Miami was.
 
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Thank you for sharing those awesome / impressive stats OP! Coach Don Shula is still the G.O.A.T coach I've ever witnessed. All time winningest coach too. Coached the ONLY undefeated NFL team EVER ( 72 Fins) . Just an incredible resume all around and also he was all class . Shula will NEVER be forgotten. Absolute LEGEND!
 
Hey didn’t Shula lose a championship game to GB on a controversial FG that caused the league to raise the goalposts? The footage that exists really looks as though the kick as no good but the refs - who didn’t really know how to call it (you could see it) went arms up. It was pre SB era of I recall. Am I making this up?
It wasn't a championship game. It was a 1965 tiebreaker playoff game, necessitated by Green Bay and Baltimore finishing with the same record. Baltimore would have advanced to the NFL Championship Game with a victory. That game was always mentioned when I was a kid but seldom referenced anymore.

The kick was definitely no good. I've mentioned it many times, including on FootballsFuture.com a couple of weeks ago. Don Chandler threw up his arms in agony because he knew he butchered the kick. Then the referees bailed him out.

I don't think it had anything to do with the coaches. It was a very short kick and the ball arrives in a blur. The goal posts were on the goal line at that point. The referees were anticipating good and instinctively called it that way, while looking straight up at ridiculously short uprights.

That kick caused the rules change to raise the uprights the following season. Then they have been raised multiple times subsequently.

No question field goal kicking has changed as much as anything else during the 5 decades I have followed this sport. It used to be straight on punch kicks from guys who often played another position. Now the mechanics and initial height are awesome.

BTW, the league made absolutely the correct call in drafting the Gator kicker and not the Canes kicker. Regardless of their college reputation, there is no comparison toward how they project to the NFL. Borregales is going to need a ton of work. It's scary how low he launches the ball. Thump city. In contrast the Florida kicker is more erratic but he has the tremendous combo of high launch and low spin.
 
Giving some respect to one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Shula was 6-2 in conference championship games, including his time in Baltimore.

Here's the list....

1968 34-0 Baltimore over Cleveland
1972 21-0 Miami over Baltimore
1973 21-17 Miami over Pittsburgh
1974 27-10 Miami over Oakland
1983 14-0 Miami over NY Jets
1985 45-28 Miami over Pittsburgh
1986 31-14 New England over Miami
1993 29-10 Buffalo over Miami

Shula's teams outscored their opponents 186-115 in those eight games, including three shutouts. In his first six conference championships, Shula's teams outscored their opponents 162-55.
Utter dominance on both sides of the ball. Shula's teams were always impeccably prepared and clinical executing the game plan. They tended to lose when the difference in athletic talent was simply too overwhelming to overcome. That's what you get when you pick late in the draft every year and there was no free agency.

Look at those defensive numbers ... 0, 0, 17, 10, 0, 28, 31, 29. Before 1985 our defense was lights-out. But Marino never had those defenses, and it showed. :/

Offensively, Shula was always a phenomenal coach, with our only two losses coming to in-division opponents who knew our schemes, tendencies and personnel inside and out.
 
Giving some respect to one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Shula was 6-2 in conference championship games, including his time in Baltimore.

Here's the list....

1968 34-0 Baltimore over Cleveland
1972 21-0 Miami over Baltimore
1973 21-17 Miami over Pittsburgh
1974 27-10 Miami over Oakland
1983 14-0 Miami over NY Jets
1985 45-28 Miami over Pittsburgh
1986 31-14 New England over Miami
1993 29-10 Buffalo over Miami

Shula's teams outscored their opponents 186-115 in those eight games, including three shutouts. In his first six conference championships, Shula's teams outscored their opponents 162-55.
Two words.... Bill Arnsparger.
 
Shula had a chance with free agency. I remember one year the team had something like 18 former first round picks and of course a lot of those were players they got in free agency and I believe we didn't make the playoffs. I loved coach Shula but he had a lot of bad drafts and plenty of free agents miss tho he did well with some of them like Irving Fryar and Keith Byars.

As far as him coaching in today's NFL.......his style would not fit with the way players are now imo.
we did make the playoffs that year. It was 1995. shula last season. 18 first rounders. It was rididcious . We signed a bunch of guys that were over the hill or never lived up to draft status. We still started off 4-0. blew huge lead to colts. Marino got hurt. We backed into playoffs at 9-7. got crushed by bills in playoffs round one. Shula retired and JJ came in. We signed Eric green, gary clark, steve enteman, trace armstrong, etc. Only trace armstrong was any good. It was terrible.
 
we did make the playoffs that year. It was 1995. shula last season. 18 first rounders. It was rididcious . We signed a bunch of guys that were over the hill or never lived up to draft status. We still started off 4-0. blew huge lead to colts. Marino got hurt. We backed into playoffs at 9-7. got crushed by bills in playoffs round one. Shula retired and JJ came in. We signed Eric green, gary clark, steve enteman, trace armstrong, etc. Only trace armstrong was any good. It was terrible.
Ricky Sanders etc etc. they were all washed up.
 
I feel like shula was over rated. But I only became a fan in 1984 so I didn't see the glory years. but the 1986 87 88 89 seasons not making the playoffs was inexcusable. I will say that if he would have had chance to reshape team like they can in free agency now he might have done better. Back then they only had free agency called Plan B. Not sure if anyone remembers that. We got Tony paige that way. When we had real free agency for the 1995 season it was high priced over the hill guys. Steve enteman, gary clark, randal hill, just terrible.


But Marino didn't help matters in his early years. I watch some old games and I know it was harder to throw back then compared to know but Marino threw into coverage so many times in mid 1980s. It wasn't until 1990 they started throwing a little less and he controlled the gunslinger in him a bit. Now if marino plays today he wins a superbowl. Easier rules to throw ball, free agency to reshape your team every year unlike mid 80s. Better medicine and technology for his injuries and lower legs.
 
I feel like shula was over rated. But I only became a fan in 1984 so I didn't see the glory years. but the 1986 87 88 89 seasons not making the playoffs was inexcusable. I will say that if he would have had chance to reshape team like they can in free agency now he might have done better. Back then they only had free agency called Plan B. Not sure if anyone remembers that. We got Tony paige that way. When we had real free agency for the 1995 season it was high priced over the hill guys. Steve enteman, gary clark, randal hill, just terrible.


But Marino didn't help matters in his early years. I watch some old games and I know it was harder to throw back then compared to know but Marino threw into coverage so many times in mid 1980s. It wasn't until 1990 they started throwing a little less and he controlled the gunslinger in him a bit. Now if marino plays today he wins a superbowl. Easier rules to throw ball, free agency to reshape your team every year unlike mid 80s. Better medicine and technology for his injuries and lower legs.
Overrated? Coach in any sport for 33 years and suffer only 2 losing seasons. Winningest coach of all time. How can you be overrated? If anyone was overrated if was Lombardi who only coached 10 years...
 
I feel like shula was over rated. But I only became a fan in 1984 so I didn't see the glory years. but the 1986 87 88 89 seasons not making the playoffs was inexcusable. I will say that if he would have had chance to reshape team like they can in free agency now he might have done better. Back then they only had free agency called Plan B. Not sure if anyone remembers that. We got Tony paige that way. When we had real free agency for the 1995 season it was high priced over the hill guys. Steve enteman, gary clark, randal hill, just terrible.


But Marino didn't help matters in his early years. I watch some old games and I know it was harder to throw back then compared to know but Marino threw into coverage so many times in mid 1980s. It wasn't until 1990 they started throwing a little less and he controlled the gunslinger in him a bit. Now if marino plays today he wins a superbowl. Easier rules to throw ball, free agency to reshape your team every year unlike mid 80s. Better medicine and technology for his injuries and lower legs.
PS everyone threw into coverage back then and before. Look at completion %ages by decade. When 52% was considered good that wasn’t because 48% of balls were being “thrown away”. It’s because guys could actually cover people so by default you were always throwing into coverage. Look at INTs. Almost every year since the Jurassic period, guys led the league w double digit picks. Then you’ve seen it only done 2x since 2007. Have to realize the game was sooo different. Look at Marino’s TD to INT ratio - it was better for his career than Elway, Unitas, Bradshaw, Griese, Jim Kelly, Aikman - every HOFer from his era or prior except Montana and Staubach. And the 3 of them were close.
 
I feel like shula was over rated. But I only became a fan in 1984 so I didn't see the glory years. but the 1986 87 88 89 seasons not making the playoffs was inexcusable. I will say that if he would have had chance to reshape team like they can in free agency now he might have done better. Back then they only had free agency called Plan B. Not sure if anyone remembers that. We got Tony paige that way. When we had real free agency for the 1995 season it was high priced over the hill guys. Steve enteman, gary clark, randal hill, just terrible.


But Marino didn't help matters in his early years. I watch some old games and I know it was harder to throw back then compared to know but Marino threw into coverage so many times in mid 1980s. It wasn't until 1990 they started throwing a little less and he controlled the gunslinger in him a bit. Now if marino plays today he wins a superbowl. Easier rules to throw ball, free agency to reshape your team every year unlike mid 80s. Better medicine and technology for his injuries and lower legs.
PSS - totally agree w paragraph 2 here.
 
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