Dolphins Honoring 1972 Team as Achievement Gets Progressively Better
Halftime of the Miami Dolphins' Sunday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers won't be the first time the organization has honored its 1972 team for achieving the only perfect season in NFL history.
But each new celebration comes with two undeniable aspects, one sad, one really good.
The sad part, of course, is the passing of members of that 1972 team as the years roll on, most recently former starting wide receiver Marlin Briscoe. And obviously this will be a celebration that will be missing more than a dozen of the 1972 Dolphins, including Coach Don Shula and fellow Hall of Famers Nick Buoniconti and Jim Langer, among others.
They obviously will be remembered and missed during the celebration of an achievement that grows more impressive with each passing year because it's now been 50 years of NFL teams trying to do what the 1972 Dolphins did — and coming up short.
"I think back then, so what? So you go undefeated, win the Super Bowl — somebody is going to do it in five years," Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese said in a Zoom media session this week. "Nobody did it. In 10 years — they’ll do it soon. 15 years, nobody has done it. 20 years? No, nobody. 30 (years), then the good teams come by, the Brady year, the New York Giants with Eli Manning beating the Patriots in that Super Bowl game. And everybody says, ‘Geez, that must be pretty hard to do, go undefeated.’ So yes, I think as time has gone by, I think more people realize that that was something special. We didn’t realize it was something special. We just thought ... we didn’t try to go undefeated. We just went out there and tried to win each game. Win each game and that’s what we did. But it’s tougher to do now because there are more games. I think we get more respect now than we did back then because we went undefeated.”
Through six weeks of the 2022 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles stand as the only team with a shot to match the 1972 Dolphins' feat — they actually would top it now because the regular season is 17 games compared to 14 back then.
On paper, the Eagles look like they could reach double digits unscathed with their next four games at home against Pittsburgh, at Houston, at home against Washington and at Indianapolis.
“Well, we’re all starting to growl in our beards about it," Hall of Famer Larry Csonka said. "You’re glad that there’s one or two teams that are still undefeated when you reach about the sixth or seventh game mark. But then around the 10-game mark, you start to want to see them disappearing faster because you’re very guarded about it. It’s a jealousy thing. In one capacity, it’s fun. In another capacity, it’s still a competition thing and it’s a little frustrating, particularly when you get to the Super Bowl, and you know it’s coming right down to the wire. Nobody can better us but they can certainly tie us. So you’re pulling very heavily against them to do that. It makes you feel alive. It makes you feel like you’re part of it again, and that’s a very good thing.”
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FOR EVEN MORE COVERAGE ON THE MIAMI DOLPHINS, CHECK OUT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S MIAMI DOLPHINS PAGE ON SI.COM
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REGULARLY HONORING THE 1972 DOLPHINS
The Dolphins first honored the 1972 Dolphins on the 20th anniversary of the perfect season when they recognized the team at halftime of a game against the Buffalo Bills and put them onto the Dolphin Honor Roll.
The team again was honored in 2007, the 35th anniversary, on the day the Dolphins secured their only victory of that season on Greg Camarillo's touchdown catch in overtime against the Baltimore Ravens.
It happened again in 2012, the 40th anniversary, and then in August 2013, the 1972 Dolphins visited President Barack Obama at the White House.
Then came perhaps the greatest recognition of all coming from the NFL when it named the 1972 Dolphins the No. 1 team of all time as part of the NFL's 100 Greatest campaign.
“Well, 50 years means that we have gone 50 years and we’ve been often imitated but never duplicated," Hall of Famer Larry Little said. "It’s definitely a great deal to me because I never thought our record would last this long or actually, because I felt some other teams would come along and at least tie us. Not that no team will ever surpass us. But you know, to tie us but not surpass us.
"I never thought that we would be on top of the mountain by ourselves. I thought we would’ve been joined by someone else and it hasn’t happened.”
A YEAR FOR DOLPHINS ANNIVERSARIES
While the 1972 season obviously is the big one, there are several other seasons celebrating anniversaries this season.
-- The 1982 Dolphins: This is the 40th anniversary of the team that went to the Super Bowl during the strike-shortened season.
-- The 1992 Dolphins: This is the 30th anniversary of the team that reached the AFC Championship Game for the last time, unfortunately losing at home against the Buffalo Bills.
-- Ricky's rushing title: This is the 20th anniversary of Ricky Williams leading the NFL and setting a team record with 1,853 rushing yards.
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