Top 10 All-Time Individual Miami Dolphins Super Bowl Performances

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Not sure I've seen this anywhere. This is my list off the top of my head with the caveat that I've never re-watched a super bowl loss. Feel free to chime in. I'm sure I've missed a few obvious choices.

1. Larry Csonka, Super Bowl VIII --- There was a reason Csonka was the first one off the bus. You knew right away that you were going to have a physical football game and his presence alone was intimidating. In Super Bowl VIII, Csonka set the record for carries (33) and yards (145) as Miami thoroughly dominated the Minnesota Vikings.
2. Manny Fernandez, Super Bowl VII --- Fernandez had 17 tackles and spent the day behind the Washington Redskins line of scrimmage. He later commented that he hadn't seen anything other than double teamming except maybe in high school.
3. Jake Scott, Super Bowl VII --- The MVP of the game, Scott had two interceptions, one in the end zone to thwart a Redskins drive.
4. Bob Griese, Super Bowl VII/VIII --- I lumped the two together for Griese. In those two super bowls, Griese was 14-18 for 161 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. His qb rating was 110 for Super Bowl VIII.
5. Nick Buonticonti - Super Bowl VIII -- His stop on a fourth a two play late in the second quarter and deep in Miami's territory kept Minnesota off the scoreboard.
6. Dan Marino 1984 -- Super Bowl XIX -- Tough game for Marino with no help from the running game. Had a then record 29 completions for 318 yards 1 td, 2 int.
7. Fulton Walker -- Super Bowl XVII -- His kickoff return for a touchdown was a big-play in a super bowl that was decided late.
8. Csonka, Super Bowl VII --- Csonka carried 15 times for 112 yards, including a 49-yard run to help Miami complete its undefeated season.
9. Bob Kuechenberg, Super Bowl VIII -- One of the best ever efforts by a guard in super bowl history. He held Alan Paige to a zero on the stat sheet. In today's comparison that would be similar to shutting down Aaron Donald.
10. Jimmy Cefalo, Super Bowl XVII -- Cefalo had just two catches in the game, but one went for a 76-yard touchdown.

Others?

 

[WCUPUNK]

Manny Fernandez in Super Bowl VII should be #1 on your list. 17 tackles and a sack from the DT position, he won that game for us.

Edit: sorry I missed you had this at #2.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Manny Fernandez in Super Bowl VII should be #1 on your list. 17 tackles and a sack from the DT position, he won that game for us.

Edit: sorry I missed you had this at #2.

Amazing performance. I think he should have been MVP of that game.

 

[EasyRider]

John Riggins...when he carried three dolphins for about 40 yards into the endzone

oops

 

['Deep]

The draft can't come soon enough

 

[royalshank]

Not sure I've seen this anywhere. This is my list off the top of my head with the caveat that I've never re-watched a super bowl loss. Feel free to chime in. I'm sure I've missed a few obvious choices.

1. Larry Csonka, Super Bowl VIII --- There was a reason Csonka was the first one off the bus. You knew right away that you were going to have a physical football game and his presence alone was intimidating. In Super Bowl VIII, Csonka set the record for carries (33) and yards (145) as Miami thoroughly dominated the Minnesota Vikings.
2. Manny Fernandez, Super Bowl VII --- Fernandez had 17 tackles and spent the day behind the Washington Redskins line of scrimmage. He later commented that he hadn't seen anything other than double teamming except maybe in high school.
3. Jake Scott, Super Bowl VII --- The MVP of the game, Scott had two interceptions, one in the end zone to thwart a Redskins drive.
4. Bob Griese, Super Bowl VII/VIII --- I lumped the two together for Griese. In those two super bowls, Griese was 14-18 for 161 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. His qb rating was 110 for Super Bowl VIII.
5. Nick Buonticonti - Super Bowl VIII -- His stop on a fourth a two play late in the second quarter and deep in Miami's territory kept Minnesota off the scoreboard.
6. Dan Marino 1984 -- Super Bowl XIX -- Tough game for Marino with no help from the running game. Had a then record 29 completions for 318 yards 1 td, 2 int.
7. Fulton Walker -- Super Bowl XVII -- His kickoff return for a touchdown was a big-play in a super bowl that was decided late.
8. Csonka, Super Bowl VII --- Csonka carried 15 times for 112 yards, including a 49-yard run to help Miami complete its undefeated season.
9. Bob Kuechenberg, Super Bowl VIII -- One of the best ever efforts by a guard in super bowl history. He held Alan Paige to a zero on the stat sheet. In today's comparison that would be similar to shutting down Aaron Donald.
10. Jimmy Cefalo, Super Bowl XVII -- Cefalo had just two catches in the game, but one went for a 76-yard touchdown.

Others?

I can’t do any better. I think have it spot on. Regarding Fulton Walker - not only did he have the big TD but several of his returns were big as he kept giving us field position. At the time his return yardage was a SB record.
Marino did all he could in that SB. If you rewatch it, or any documentary (there have been a few), you’ll see he carving up the Niners D early. After two drives produced an easy 10 points, Walsh uncorked his defensive game plan of 3 DL, 7 DBs and the hybrid Keena Turner as a spy. Shula countered by trying to run the ball, but our 5 couldn’t block their 3 so the run game was abandoned and Dan got hit over and over and over and just couldn’t step into many throws. That Niners team, IMO, was better than the ‘85 Bears. Their D was just as good or close and their offense was light years better. What a bad draw we got as our ‘84 team would have beaten most of the SB winners in that era.

 

[AdamD13]

No Garo Yepremian?

Kicked extra points and threw a 49 yard TD pass.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I can’t do any better. I think have it spot on. Regarding Fulton Walker - not only did he have the big TD but several of his returns were big as he kept giving us field position. At the time his return yardage was a SB record.
Marino did all he could in that SB. If you rewatch it, or any documentary (there have been a few), you’ll see he carving up the Niners D early. After two drives produced an easy 10 points, Walsh uncorked his defensive game plan of 3 DL, 7 DBs and the hybrid Keena Turner as a spy. Shula countered by trying to run the ball, but our 5 couldn’t block their 3 so the run game was abandoned and Dan got hit over and over and over and just couldn’t step into many throws. That Niners team, IMO, was better than the ‘85 Bears. Their D was just as good or close and their offense was light years better. What a bad draw we got as our ‘84 team would have beaten most of the SB winners in that era.

I'll admit, I didn't think SF was that great until the super bowl. Definitely had my aqua and orange glasses on expecting Miami to win it.

SF just owned the middle of the field, picking on Jay Brophy early and often. And put pressure on Marino all day long.

If memory serves, both of Marino's picks came late and in the redzone.

I thought we'd have more chances with Marino, but it never happened.

 

[royalshank]

I'll admit, I didn't think SF was that great until the super bowl. Definitely had my aqua and orange glasses on expecting Miami to win it.

SF just owned the middle of the field, picking on Jay Brophy early and often. And put pressure on Marino all day long.

If memory serves, both of Marino's picks came late and in the redzone.

I thought we'd have more chances with Marino, but it never happened.

Yes the picks were late w the game out of reach and he was just heaving and praying. We had the narrative all year because of what Dan was doing but the Niners were the quietest 15-1 team ever. Their only loss was in OT on a FG against Pittsburgh who was the AFC runner up we beat in the title game. One could argue that team came closer to going unbeaten than the ‘85 bears did or even the 2007 Pats given that it may have just been a coin flip that gave them the 1 loss. HOF / great players all over that team on both sides of the ball from Montana to Craig to Tyler to Russ Francis to Dwight Clark to Freddie Solomon and Randy Cross; Fred Dean, Lawerence Pillars, Keena Turner and 4 DBs who all went to the pro bowl - Hicks, Lott, Williamson and Wright. All that off of memory. **** me.

You’re right about Brophy - he and Mark Brown were picked on over and over w the swing passes to the backs, and if they tried to cheat and run out there, Montana pulled it down and ran up the middle for a cheap 6-7. They basically ran the same handful of plays on O relentlessly.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Yes the picks were late w the game out of reach and he was just heaving and praying. We had the narrative all year because of what Dan was doing but the Niners were the quietest 15-1 team ever. Their only loss was in OT on a FG against Pittsburgh who was the AFC runner up we beat in the title game. One could argue that team came closer to going unbeaten than the ‘85 bears did or even the 2007 Pats given that it may have just been a coin flip that gave them the 1 loss. HOF / great players all over that team on both sides of the ball from Montana to Craig to Tyler to Russ Francis to Dwight Clark to Freddie Solomon and Randy Cross; Fred Dean, Lawerence Pillars, Keena Turner and 4 DBs who all went to the pro bowl - Hicks, Lott, Williamson and Wright. All that off of memory. **** me.

You’re right about Brophy - he and Mark Brown were picked on over and over w the swing passes to the backs, and if they tried to cheat and run out there, Montana pulled it down and ran up the middle for a cheap 6-7. They basically ran the same handful of plays on O relentlessly.

I knew they were good, but before that SF had played Cincinnati twice and both games went down to the wire.

In my mind, I thought Miami was a much stronger team than those Bengals squads and it was the 49ers first real super bowl challenge.

Shula, as you mentioned, made the right adjustments but Miami just couldn't get the running game going.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

That first quarter, where Miami led 10-7, is really how I expected the game to go.

Credit Walsh for making that adjustment quickly and going to six and seven defensive backs.

 

[royalshank]

That first quarter, where Miami led 10-7, is really how I expected the game to go.

Credit Walsh for making that adjustment quickly and going to six and seven defensive backs.

It was so frustrating to see them drop our RBs in the backfield when they only brought 3 guys to block. Total fail on the O line. IIT Ed Newman didn’t play due to injury in the 2nd half or perhaps he came out even earlier / was on crutches.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

It was so frustrating to see them drop our RBs in the backfield when they only brought 3 guys to block. Total fail on the O line. IIT Ed Newman didn’t play due to injury in the 2nd half or perhaps he came out even earlier / was on crutches.

SF was one of the all-time great super bowl teams. That became obvious that day.

Miami should have been able to run the football better.

 

[FINMAN1]

It was so frustrating to see them drop our RBs in the backfield when they only brought 3 guys to block. Total fail on the O line. IIT Ed Newman didn’t play due to injury in the 2nd half or perhaps he came out even earlier / was on crutches.

I remember the 49ers going to a 4-2-5 defense, and still rushing four, not three. Basically a nickel look, with one of the LBs being a hybrid LB/DB, but still rushing 4 down linemen. They only sacked him 4 times, but applied a LOT of pressure and knock-downs. Marino wasn't used to seeing that kind of heat.

 

[FINMAN1]

Manny Fernandez in Super Bowl VII should be #1 on your list. 17 tackles and a sack from the DT position, he won that game for us.

Edit: sorry I missed you had this at #2.

Manny was a MONSTER in that game. Easily could have been MVP over Scott, or at least shared the MVP.
Also, Manny is the only Dolphin to record a sack in THREE different Super Bowls for Fins!