Everything about Super Bowl Vi totally explained
Super Bowl VI was an
American football game played on
January 16,
1972, at
Tulane Stadium in
New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the
National Football League (NFL) champion following the
1971 regular season. The
National Football Conference (NFC) champion
Dallas Cowboys (14-3) defeated the
American Football Conference (AFC) champion
Miami Dolphins (12-4-1), 24–3, to win their first
Super Bowl game.
The Cowboys dominated the game, setting Super Bowl records for the most rushing yards (252), the most first downs (23), the least total yards allowed (185), and the least points allowed (3). The Cowboys are currently the only team ever to prevent their opponent from scoring a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
The Cowboys'
Quarterback, former
Heisman Trophy winner
Roger Staubach, completed 12 out of 19 passes for 119 yards, threw 2 touchdown passes, and rushed 5 times for 18 yards, and was named the Super Bowl's
Most Valuable Player.
Background
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys entered the season still having the reputation of "not being able to win the big games" and "next year's champion". The
Super Bowl V loss added more fuel to that widely held view. As in the previous season, Dallas had a quarterback controversy as Staubach and
Craig Morton alternated as starting quarterback (in a loss to the Bears in game 7, Morton and Staubach alternated
plays).. The Cowboys were 4-3 at the season midpoint. But after head coach
Tom Landry settled on Staubach, the Cowboys won their last seven regular season games to finish with an 11-3 record.
Staubach finished the regular season as the NFL's top rated passer (101.8) by throwing for 1,882 yards, 15 touchdowns, and only 4 interceptions. He was also a terrific rusher, gaining 343 yards and 2 touchdowns on 41 carries. Dallas also had an outstanding trio of running backs,
Walt Garrison,
Duane Thomas, and
Calvin Hill, who rushed for a combined total of 1,690 yards and 14 touchdowns during the season. Garrison led the team in receptions during the season. (Thomas, upset that the Cowboys wouldn't renegotiate his contract after his excellent rookie year, had stopped talking to the press and to almost everyone on the team). Wide Receivers
Bob Hayes and
Lance Alworth also provided a deep threat, catching a combined total of 69 passes for 1,327 yards and 10 touchdowns. The offensive line, anchored by all-pro tackle
Rayfield Wright,
Pro Bowlers
John Niland and
Ralph Neely, and future
hall of famer Forrest Gregg, was also a primary reason for their success on offense. (Neely had broken his leg in November in a dirt-bike accident, and was replaced first by Gregg and then by
Tony Liscio, who came out of retirement.)
The Dallas defense (nicknamed the "Doomsday Defense") had given up only one touchdown in the last 25 quarters prior to the Super Bowl. Their defensive line was anchored by Pro Bowl defensive tackle
Bob Lilly, who excelled at pressuring quarterbacks and breaking up running plays. Dallas also had an outstanding trio of linebackers: Pro Bowler
Chuck Howley, who recorded 5 interceptions and returned them for 122 yards;
Dave Edwards 2 interceptions; and
Lee Roy Jordan, who recorded 2 interceptions. The Cowboys secondary was led by 2 future hall of fame cornerbacks
Herb Adderley (6 interceptions for 182 return yards) and
Mel Renfro (4 interceptions for 11 yards). Safeties
Cliff Harris and Pro Bowler
Cornell Green also combined for 4 interceptions.
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins were based primarily around their league-leading running attack, led by running backs
Larry Csonka and
Jim Kiick. Csonka rushed for 1,051 yards, averaging over five yards per carry, and scored seven touchdowns. Versatile Jim Kiick rushed for 738 yards and three touchdowns, and was second on the Dolphins in receiving with 40 receptions for 338 yards. They fumbled once (by Kiick) between the two of them during the regular season. But Miami also had a threatening passing game. Quarterback
Bob Griese, the AFC's leading passer and most valuable player, put up an impressive performance during the season, completing 145 passes for 2,089 yards and 19 touchdowns with only 9 interceptions. Griese's major weapon was wide receiver
Paul Warfield, who caught 43 passes for 996 yards (a 23.2 yards per catch average) and a league-leading 11 touchdowns. The Dolphins also had an excellent offensive line to open up holes for their running backs and protect Griese on pass plays, led by future Hall of Fame guard
Larry Little.
Miami's defense was a major reason why the team built a 10-3-1 regular season record, including eight consecutive wins. Future Hall of Fame linebacker
Nick Buoniconti was a major force reading and stopping plays, while safety
Jake Scott recorded 7 interceptions.
Playoffs
Before this season, the Dolphins had never won a playoff game in franchise history, but they surprised the entire NFL by advancing to the Super Bowl with wins against the two previous Super Bowl champions.
First Miami defeated the
Kansas City Chiefs (winners of
Super Bowl IV), 27-24, in the longest game in NFL history with kicker
Garo Yepremian's game-winning field goal after 22 minutes and 40 seconds of overtime play. Later, Miami shut out the
defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts, 21-0, in the AFC Championship Game, aided by safety
Dick Anderson who intercepted 3 passes from Colts quarterback
Johnny Unitas and returned one of them for a 62-yard touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys marched to the Super Bowl with playoff wins over the
Minnesota Vikings, 20-12 in the NFC Divisional Playoffs, and the
San Francisco 49ers, 14-3 in the NFC Championship Game, only giving up one touchdown in the two games.
Super Bowl pregame news and notes
Soon after the Dolphins' win in the AFC Championship Game, Shula received a phone call at his home from President
Richard M. Nixon at 1:30 in the morning. Nixon had a play he thought would work, a particular pass to Warfield. (That particular play, which was called late in the first quarter, was broken up by
Mel Renfro.)
When asked about the Dolphins' defensive team prior to Super Bowl VI, Landry said that he couldn't recall any of the players' names, but they were a big concern to him. This remark immediately led to the nickname "No-Name Defense".
According to Tom Landry, the Cowboys were very confident. "When they talked among themselves they said there was no way they were going to lose that game."
On Media Day, Duane Thomas refused to answer any questions and sat silently until his required time was up. Roger Staubach surmises that Duane Thomas would have been named MVP if he'd cooperated with the press prior to the game.
This game was originally scheduled to be the last to be played in Tulane Stadium. It was hoped the
Louisiana Superdome would be ready in time for the
1972 NFL season. However, political wrangling led to a lengthy delay in construction, and groundbreaking didn't take place until August 11, 1971, five months before this game. The Superdome wasn't completed until August 1975, forcing
Super Bowl IX to be moved to Tulane Stadium. That Super Bowl proved to be the final NFL game in the stadium, which was demolished in late 1979.
Television and entertainment
The game was broadcast in the
United States by
CBS with
play-by-play announcer Ray Scott and
color commentator Pat Summerall. Although Tulane Stadium was sold out for the game, unconditional
blackout rules in the NFL prohibited the live telecast from being shown in the New Orleans area. This would be the last Super Bowl that was blacked out in the TV market that the game was played. The following year, the NFL allowed Super Bowl VII to be televised live in the host city (Los Angeles) when all tickets were sold. In 1973, the NFL changed its blackout policy to allow games to be broadcast in the home team's market if sold out 72 hours in advance.
The
Kilgore College Rangerettes drill team performed during the pregame festivities. Later, the
United States Air Force Academy Chorale sang the national anthem.
The halftime show was a "Salute to
Louis Armstrong" featuring
jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald,
actress and singer
Carol Channing,
trumpeter
Al Hirt and the
U.S. Marine Corps Drill Team.
Despite being the second Super Bowl after the AFL-NFL merger, Super Bowl VI was the first one to have the NFL logo painted at the 50-yard line. The NFL would do this for all but one Super Bowl after this until
Super Bowl XXXI.
Game summary
According to Roger Staubach,
On the third play of the Dolphins' next possession at their own 38-yard line, Griese was sacked by Lilly for a 29-yard loss. Early in the second quarter, Miami drove to the Cowboys 42-yard line with the aid of a 20-yard reception by receiver
Howard Twilley, but the drive stalled and ended with no points after kicker
Garo Yepremian missed a 49-yard field goal attempt.
Later in the period, Dallas drove 76 yards in nine plays, including a 21-yard reception by Alworth, and then scored on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Staubach to Alworth to increase their lead, 10-0. Miami started the ensuing drive with just 1:15 left in the half, and quarterback
Bob Griese completed three consecutive passes, two to receiver
Paul Warfield and one to running back
Jim Kiick, for 44 total yards to reach the Dallas 24-yard line. On the next play Griese threw to Warfield, who was open at the 2-yard line, but the ball was deflected by Green and bounced off Warfield's chest. Miami had to settle for Yepremian's 31-yard field goal to cut the Dolphins deficit to 10-3 going into halftime.
But Dallas dominated the second half, preventing any chance of a Miami comeback. Dallas reasoned that Miami would make adjustments to stop the Cowboys' inside running game which had been so successful in the first half. So the Cowboys decided to run outside. The Cowboys opened the third period with a 71-yard, 8-play drive, which included four runs by Thomas for 37 yards, a reverse by Hayes for 16 yards, and only one pass, scoring on Thomas' 3-yard sweep to make the score 17-3. This seemed to fire up the Dallas defense, who managed to prevent Miami from getting a single first down in the entire third quarter. The farthest advance Miami had in the third quarter was to its own 42-yard line as Griese and the offense were, said Shula, "destroyed." Jim Kiick said, "Dallas wasn't that much better, but football is momentum. We lost it in the first quarter when we fumbled and they scored, and we never got it back." Said the Dolphins' Howard Twilley:
It's so hard to figure. We went in confident. We really thought we'd win and win handily. Something happened, though, during the week. I guess it was that week. The week has its own momentum, like nothing we'd been in before...[Shula] said we'd been embarrassed. He said we didn't even compete....That's the sickest feeling I've ever had.
Said Cornell Green, "The difference between the Dolphins and Cowboys was that the Dolphins were just happy to be in the game and the Cowboys came to win the game."
[.
Griese completed the same amount of passes as Staubach (12), and threw for 15 more yards (134), but threw no touchdown passes and was intercepted once. Csonka and Kiick, were held to just 80 combined rushing yards (40 yards each), no touchdowns, and lost 1 fumble on 19 carries. Warfield was limited to just 4 receptions for 39 yards. Thomas was the top rusher of the game with 19 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown. He also caught 3 passes for 17 yards. Dallas running back Walt Garrison added 74 rushing yards and caught 2 passes for 11 yards.
]Scoring summary
- DAL - FG: Mike Clark 9 yards 3-0 DAL
- DAL - TD: Lance Alworth 7 yard pass from Roger Staubach (Mike Clark kick) 10-0 DAL
- MIA - FG: Garo Yepremian 31 yards 10-3 DAL
- DAL - TD: Duane Thomas 3 yard run (Mike Clark kick) 17-3 DAL
- DAL - TD: Mike Ditka 7 yard pass from Roger Staubach (Mike Clark kick) 24-3 DAL
Starting lineups
Referee: Jim Tunney
Umpire: Joe Connell
Head Linesman: Al Sabato
Line Judge: Art Hoist
Field Judge: Bob Wortman
Back Judge: Ralph Vandenberg
Note: A seven-official system wasn't used until 1978Further Information
Get more info on 'Super Bowl Vi'.
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