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....a little early this season, with the Chiefs losing yesterday.

The Chiefs are a good team but Alex Smith can't throw the long ball. I think it's going to be a long time before someone equals the record of the Dolphins.

politicalfootball wrote:The Chiefs are a good team but Alex Smith can't throw the long ball. I think it's going to be a long time before someone equals the record of the Dolphins.

Yes, it's going on 45 years. Hard to believe that I was a senior in high school and a big Dolphins fan when they did it. The Pats came real close one season so I suspect that some day some team's stars will line up just right.

At this point they should be toasting that they are even alive. The NFL has changed so much that I feel this is a really stupid thing to do, but hey, their choices are Medicare, Metamucil, or champagne.

Largent80 wrote:At this point they should be toasting that they are even alive. The NFL has changed so much that I feel this is a really stupid thing to do, but hey, their choices are Medicare, Metamucil, or champagne.

Actually the '72 Dolphins champagne celebration is a myth. All it's used for is to highlight the demise of the last unbeaten team. Here's what Don Shula had to say about it a few years ago:

"The champagne story is ridiculous,” Shula said.  “People really do think that we’re a bunch of angry old men and we gather and just root for that last undefeated team to get beat and when they do, we pop the champagne.  I think the thing that happened is, one year, the last undefeated team got beat and Nick Buoniconti and Dick Anderson lived next to each other in Coral Gables, and they went out in their driveway and opened a bottle of champagne and popped it and toasted to each other.  And they were too cheap to invite the rest of us to their party.”

RiverDog wrote:Yes, it's going on 45 years. Hard to believe that I was a senior in high school and a big Dolphins fan when they did it. The Pats came real close one season so I suspect that some day some team's stars will line up just right.

Who could argue with Mercury Morris, Jim Kick and Larry (I'll friggin truck ya if you get in front of me) Czonka in the same backfield?

Can't quite remember the WRs on that team but that backfield I still remember their names - full names.

Paul Warfield.

Howard Twilly (sp?)

Sort of like Largent

Uppercut wrote:Howard Twilly (sp?)

Sort of like Largent

More like Largent than you thought. Like Largent, Twilley was from U of Tulsa.

I also remember OT Norm Evans and OG Larry Little. Evans eventually was an original Seahawk, taken in the expansion draft as I recall.

Good job on the Paul Warfield - can't believe I forgot that one. Twilley rings a bell but probably didn't stand out for me. The olinemen weren't touted very much in those days so I don't remember any of them. Good job all.

The Dolphins had a defense back then too. They were #1 in both total defense and scoring defense. The were the "No Name Defense" but some of the names I remember were Manny Fernandez, Jake Scott and Dick Anderson. That was a stifling defense. Even after Garo's comedic fumble allowed the redskins to cut their lead to 7 points no one had any hope they could pull of the upset against that Defense.

Also, people that say that the skated to that record on a weak schedule (and to be fair it was, in the regular season) forget that they had to play the Conference championship game on the road at Pittsburgh!

c_hawkbob wrote:The Dolphins had a defense back then too. They were #1 in both total defense and scoring defense. The were the "No Name Defense" but some of the names I remember were Manny Fernandez, Jake Scott and Dick Anderson. That was a stifling defense. Even after Garo's comedic fumble allowed the redskins to cut their lead to 7 points no one had any hope they could pull of the upset against that Defense.

Also, people that say that the skated to that record on a weak schedule (and to be fair it was, in the regular season) forget that they had to play the Conference championship game on the road at Pittsburgh!

Yup. They were known as the No Name Defense, because they didn't have any standout stars on it. DE Bill Stanfill and MLB Nick Bounvocunti, or something like that, were also members of that defense.

No one's mentioned QB Bob Griese, who back then was just as able of a scrambler as our own Russell Wilson is nowadays.

Largent80 wrote:At this point they should be toasting that they are even alive. The NFL has changed so much that I feel this is a really stupid thing to do, but hey, their choices are Medicare, Metamucil, or champagne.

lol, yes!

c_hawkbob wrote:The Dolphins had a defense back then too. They were #1 in both total defense and scoring defense. The were the "No Name Defense" but some of the names I remember were Manny Fernandez, Jake Scott and Dick Anderson. That was a stifling defense. Even after Garo's comedic fumble allowed the redskins to cut their lead to 7 points no one had any hope they could pull of the upset against that Defense.

Also, people that say that the skated to that record on a weak schedule (and to be fair it was, in the regular season) forget that they had to play the Conference championship game on the road at Pittsburgh!

Yeah, I remembered the no name defense and think it was a big part of why they won. FYI - My dad still doesn't forgive Garo for that "dumbass play" as my dad calls it... He's now 84 years old.

idhawkman wrote:Yeah, I remembered the no name defense and think it was a big part of why they won. FYI - My dad still doesn't forgive Garo for that "dumbass play" as my dad calls it... He's now 84 years old.

Probably one of the more comical plays in Super Bowl history. The Redskins didn't do squat that day as the No Name Defense shut them down completely, but that one "dumb ass play" not only ruined the shutout, it put the 'Skins back in the game.

A trivia question for ya: Who is the only running back in NFL history to get called for an unnecessary roughness penalty while he was carrying the ball? Answer: Larry Czonka.