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The 1973 Dolphins' Place in History

Larry Csonka will be participating in the Super Bowl LVIII postgame ceremonies, 50 years after earning SB MVP honors
Alain Poupart|
The 1973 Dolphins' Place in History
The 1973 Dolphins' Place in History

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Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins have won the Super Bowl twice, but it's sometimes easy to forget about the 1973 team because of all the attention bestowed upon the '72 team.

That's understandable, obviously, given the 1972 team's unprecedented and unduplicated accomplishment of putting together a perfect season, but the 1973 team shouldn't be short-changed.

In fact, that second Super Bowl-winning team arguably could be considered just as good, if not the best Miami Dolphins team ever.

That's exactly how it played out in a recent ESPN story ranking the 57 Super Bowl champions compiled by analytics writer Aaron Schatz.

Using his own DVOA system, which measures a team's efficiency by comparing success on every single play to a league average based on situation and opponent, Schatz ranked the 1973 Dolphins sixth among the Super Bowl champions, way ahead of the 1972 team's 23rd-place standing.

"The 1972 squad is famous for going undefeated, but the 1973 Dolphins were a better team and finish much higher on our list," Schatz wrote. "Yes, the Dolphins lost twice, but they played a much tougher schedule than the 1972 team. Their one big loss, 16-3 to Baltimore, came when Brian Griese was injured and Earl Morrall had to start at quarterback. Then the 1973 Dolphins had a much more dominating playoff run than the 1972 team. First, they beat the Bengals 34-16, then the Raiders 27-10 in the AFC Championship Game. Super Bowl VIII was a 24-7 win over Minnesota in which the Vikings didn't score until the fourth quarter."

As Schatz points out, there is quite a disaparity in the way the Dolphins won their playoff games during their two Super Bowl title season.

The 1972 Dolphins are one of three team to win the Super Bowl without winning a playoff game by more than seven points along with the 2001 New England Patriots and the 2022 Kansas City Chiefs. The San Francisco 49ers could join that group Sunday against the Chiefs by winning each of their two NFC playoff games by three points.

On the flip side, the 1973 Dolphins are among the seven Super Bowl winners to win all their playoff games by 14 points or more, along with the 1977 Dallas Cowboys, 1983 Los Angeles Raiders, 1985 Chicago Bears, 1986 New York Giants, 1989 San Francisco 49ers, 1996 Green Bay Packers and 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

CSONKA CELEBRATED SUNDAY

This season, of course, marked the 50th anniversary of the Dolphins' second Super Bowl title, which Miami secured with a 24-7 victory against the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl VIII.

The MVP of that game was running back Larry Csonka, and to commemorate the 50th anniversary the Dolphins Hall of Famer will be part of the postgame ceremonies at Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Csonka will deliver the Lombardi Trophy to the podium after the game.

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Alain Poupart
ALAIN POUPART

Alain Poupart is the publisher/editor of Miami Dolphins On SI and host of the All Dolphins Podcast. Alain has covered the Miami Dolphins on a full-time basis since 1989 for various publications and media outlets, including Dolphin Digest, The Associated Press and the Dolphins team website. In addition to being a credentialed member of the Miami Dolphins press corps, Alain has covered three Super Bowls (for NFL.com, Football News and the Montreal Gazette), the annual NFL draft, the Senior Bowl, and the NFL Scouting Combine. During his almost 40 years in journalism, which began at the now-defunct Miami News, Alain has covered practically every sport at one time or another, from tennis to golf, baseball, basketball and everything in between. The career also included time as a copy editor, including work on several books, such as "Still Perfect," an inside look at the Miami Dolphins' 1972 perfect season. A native of Montreal, Canada, whose first language is French, Alain grew up a huge hockey fan but soon developed a love for all sports, including NFL football. He has lived in South Florida since the 1980s.

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