73 Dolphins Were Even Better than the Perfect Team

As good as things were for the Miami Dolphins in ‘71 and ‘72, things only got better for South Florida in 1973. This team was no longer considered a Cinderella or a newcomer on the block. This was one of the most solid franchises ever assembled, and they won games even more convincingly in the ‘73 season than in ’72 despite hiccups to Oakland and Baltimore later, both tough rivals. The Dolphins played with the total confidence of a proven champion and simply waltzed through the playoffs by destroying the Bengals and Raiders. Little seemed to stand in their way of another title, and immortality. 

Over in the NFC, the Minnesota Vikings had other ideas. They were seeking to reverse their poor fortune in losing to Kansas City in the Super Bowl four years earlier. Coach Bud Grant led a superb group of players guided by Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton. The Vikings, like the Dolphins, had gone 12-2 in the regular season but they struggled a little bit more in the playoffs in defeating Washington 27-20 and then Dallas in the NFC championship.  

It was this setting on a cool windy day in Coral Springs, Florida that a 13-year old future sport psychologist and Dolphins-crazed fan set up his tape recorder near the television audio speaker to record Curt Gowdy’s voice on what would surely be a memorable day. Larry Csonka would not let us down as he bluntly smashed through the Vikings defense like a hot knife through butter. He accumulated 145 yards rushing, a new record, and earned Most Valuable Player.

What many do not realize is that equally impressive to Csonka’s running this day was the fine execution of the offensive line, following Coach Don Shula’s revolutionary cross-blocking scripts to perfection. Reviewing the tapes from the game, it’s clear that Minnesota simply had no answer for Miami run machine. The Dolphins ran at will in a game where quarterback Bob Griese only had to throw 7 passes, completing 6. Rather than living up to their reputation as the “purple people eaters,” the Vikings defense on this day were simply purple from the bruises inflicted by aqua and orange brawn!

The game was not even as close as the score indicates. Miami built a quick 14-0 lead on two huge drives and were up 24-0 before the Vikings scored a meaningless touchdown at the end. There was a sense that Miami could have scored 60 points and achieved a shut-out if that had wanted to, but the slow, steady, pounding running attack proved too effective to abandon. It is perhaps this legacy of successful running that Miami would never be able to repeat ever again, although they often tried until Marino changed all that with his Namath like lasers.  

This day in Rice Stadium in Houston belonged only to the Dolphins, and the MPI analysis now reveals that this 7^th Super Bowl was the most dominant performance of a team in the first 7. Miami’s total MPI score advantage (.580 to .421) and 7/7 MPI category superiority highlights this clearly. Most impressive was the way the Miami Offense decimated the Nordic defense .630 to .375. Even though Minnesota’s pressure defense was actually a reasonable .462, Miami’s pressure offense was an unbelievable .667. This represents 2/3 of perfection! Many will be surprised to learn, however, that the overall best unit on the field this day was the Miami special teams, which achieved a .673 to .365 advantage over Minnesota’s special teams unit.

Rarely has one team so thoroughly dominated another team than in Super Bowl VIII. It will be interesting as we stroll through history to see if a more dominant single Super Bowl performance emerges. Could Montana’s Forty-Niners or Johnson’s Cowboys be better? Only Time will tell and we will know by December. But for now the Super Bowl of Super Bowls belongs to the Miami Dolphins of 1973 and the unstoppable rushing attack produced by a Hall of Fame offensive line and the extraordinary running skills of Larry Csonka, Mercury Morris and Jim Kiick.

At this point in history, many sports writers were wondering if the Dolphins would ever lose again and several comical stories emerged about this in the South Florida press. After three straight Super Bowl appearances and back to back titles to match the Packers, the only thing that could derail this machine was fate. Tragically for the Miami Dolphins, fate intervened as a new league called the WFL lured away Miami’s star trio of Csonka, Kiick and Warfield. Had this not happened, it’s my confident view that this team would have won 2-3 more Super Bowls at least. Instead they would be a very very good team that could never seal the deal. They would find their way into two more Super Bowls, once with Dan Marino, but they have still not won another championship. Who could have possibly imagined this back in 1974 when the federal government almost considered changing the USA flag's colors to aqua, white and orange! After the Patriot’s recent successes, it was a probably a smarter move to stay with red, white and blue!

Congrats 1973 Miami Dolphins! Click for Video

 

The MPI or Mental Performance Index is the first system of scoring  developed in sports which includes in the scoring key mental factors such as pressure management, reduction of mental errors and focused execution. It was developed by licensed clinical and sport performance psychologist Dr. John F. Murray in 2002 to show the extreme importance of mental factors in sports. It is much more accurate than the final score and other statistics in showing how one team performed relative to another team. It has almost perfectly estimated the relative performance of the teams before each of the past 5 Super Bowls. Dr. Murray's MPI forecast has also beaten the official Super Bowl spread 4 out of 5 times now. He has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows, and the forecast has also appeared in hundreds of articles. Why all the focus, energy and interest in this topic? Because it so clearly demonstrates the importance of mental factors in sports. For more information about the MPI or Dr. Murray's services, please call 561-596-9898 or send an email to: johnfmurray@mindspring.com