Golden Football Magazine
NFL Championship Games
1971: Super Bowl VI - Dallas Cowboys vs Miami Dolphins: Second Half
This series covers the history of the NFL through the prism of its yearly championship games.
Note: The gray boxes contain asides that provide interesting material but could be skipped
without losing the continuity of the article.

Part 1 - Pregame | Part 2 - 1st Half

 

 


Isaac Thomas


Staubach hands off.


Blaine Nye


Thomas rambles as Buoniconti gives chase.


Thomas scores TD.


Staubach pitches out.


Griese throws as Lilly gets cut down.


Herb Adderley breaks up pass to Kiick.


Cliff Harris


Thomas on the loose as Jim Riley pursues.


Ditka runs after pass reception.


Staubach scrambles.


Staubach prepares to pitch to Thomas.


Bob Matheson


Calvin Hill


Walt Garrison


Manny Fernandez
Both teams made halftime adjustments.
  • Since it was clear that Dallas was targeting Buoniconti, Shula ordered his linemen to move closer together to make it harder for blockers to get to the middle linebacker.
  • Anticipating what Shula would do, Landry decided to have his backs run wide.
    C Dave Manders: We figured at the half they would adjust to stop the inside stuff, so we swept in the second half with quick pitchouts wide.

Quarter 3

Miami chose to take the wind from the North for this period. Yepremian booted to Isaac Thomas, who returned from the six to the 29. The Cowboys then embarked on a touchdown drive that essentially sealed their coveted Super Bowl victory.
Garrison and Thomas started in the backfield. Walt ran for 3y off the left side. Then Duane took a pitch and cut inside right end to the 36. Landry sent in Calvin Hill for Thomas and had Staubach throw to the former Yale star in the right flat for a first down at the 48. Thomas came back and swept right on the short side behind blocks by Garrison, T Rayfield Wright, and G Blaine Nye. Duane banged through several tacklers for 7y into Miami territory. Then the Cowboys repeated the play, and Thomas roared into the secondary without being touched for 23y to the 22. Continuing to feast on the left side of the Dolphin defense on the short side of the field, Landry called a reverse to Bob Hayes who sprinted all the way to the five. Finally running the first play to the left in the series, Garrison put his head down to the third. Then Staubach called his only audible of the afternoon. Landry's play called for the quarterback to roll right. But noticing that Bob Matheson was in the game, Roger knew pressure would come from his right based on where Matheson lined up. So he changed to a quick pitch to Thomas running left. Duane slid outside to avoid Buoniconti's tackle, and pranced into the end zone. Clark added the point to complete the eight-play, 71y march. Cowboys 17 Dolphins 3 (9:43)
Bob Lilly after the game: You know when I really started believing (my team would win)? When the offense crammed the ball down their throats in the third quarter. On their butts! They just knocked everybody on their butts.

As Thomas takes pitch, Anderson reads play but is brushed out of the way as Duane turns in.

Buoniconti makes beeline for Thomas, but Duane veers left and runs into the end zone.
Morris took the kick at the goal line and scampered out to the 37 where Cliff Harris made the tackle. From the I formation, Kiick took a pitch, immediately dodged the crashing LLB Howley, and gained 3y before Lilly brought him down from behind. Then Csonka found a hole at right tackle to the 43. On 3rd-and-five, Warfield went in motion to the left, then went down and in, but Griese's pass was tipped away by a diving Cornell Green. Harris made a fair catch of Seiple's punt at the 46.
Dallas continued to run to their right side. After Garrison gained three, Thomas swept for four. With Hill in for third down, Staubach prolonged the possession by tossing to Garrison over the middle in front of the deep-dropping linebackers for a first down at the 40. Finally, Dallas went to the well once too often as LCB Tim Foley crashed and dropped Thomas for a loss of five. Before the next snap, Dallas was penalized for delay of game. Staubach then dropped back, faked a screen right, then left, and scampered to his right to turn a big loss into a gain of three.
The Cowboys had already surpassed the Super Bowl rushing record of 160y set by Green Bay in Super Bowl II.
Staubach threw errantly toward Hayes at the right sideline to bring on the punt team. Kicking into the wind, Widby booted to Jake Scott at the 21. He sprinted up the middle to the 42. Would that effort spark the Dolphins?

Scott tackled by Cliff Harris and D.D. Lewis after returning punt.
The answer was "No." Griese threw two straight times to Kiick, first short, then long, but Howley broke up the first and Adderley, the second. Another pass, this one to Warfield in the middle of the field, also misfired. So Seiple punted, and Harris made a fair catch at the 21.
The Cowboys continued to flank two wide receivers to the wide side of the field and run on the short side. Garrison gained 3. Then Thomas took a handout to the left side, but Buoniconti banged him down after just a 1y advance. S Scott blitzed and smashed Staubach right after Roger threw a long incompletion over Hayes's head. Widby's short punt got a great roll to the 28.

Thomas runs left as Mike Kolen is blocked.
After throwing three times on the previous possession, Miami ran the ball twice, Csonka gaining two and Kiick sweeping left for six. The Dolphins finished the period without a first down.
END OF Q3: Cowboys 17 Dolphins 3
The Dallas lead in total offense grew to 277-117 during the period. The Cowboys led in first downs 18-5.
As the teams changed directions, Craig Morton warmed up on the Dallas sideline in case Staubach wasn't able to shake off the hard hit by Scott.

Griese and Leroy Jordan (55) match wits.

Quarter 4

With Shula imitating Landry by sending in plays via his tight ends, Griese rolled right and threw to Warfield for Miami's first third-down conversion of the day. On 1st-and-10 at his 43, Griese handed to Kiick on a right-tackle dive for 2y. Then Warfield caught a 4y pass and was instantly hit by Green. That set up 3rd-and-2 at the Miami 49. Twice before in that situation, the Dolphins had thrown to Kiick out of the backfield. Sure enough Griese called the same play and threw toward Jim in the right flat. But LLB Howley was lying in wait and caught the ball in front of the receiver at midfield and ran down the sideline untouched behind a convoy of blockers until he stumbled and fell at the 9.

Howley intercepts and takes off down the sideline.
Howley: We'd been faking at cutting off that pattern all day. This time it was no fake. The ball was thrown perfect, said the pride of West Virginia. For me. He was angry that he didn't reach the end zone. I guess my feet just couldn't keep up with my legs. ... One thing it proved is that I don't have those pretty halfback moves. I'm embarrassed to say that no one touched me ... I saw Bob Griese turn back to stop me going inside, and when I tried to cut back, my feet just went everywhere.
Staubach returned and handed to Thomas who gained 0 at LT. The Dolphins declined the illegal motion penalty. Hill replaced Thomas and took a handoff over RG to the 7. On 3rd and Goal, Staubach retreated and, ignoring Buoniconti's blitz, made up for not throwing to an open Ditka earlier in the game by hitting the TE as he ran across the EZ to the right. Cowboys 24 Dolphins 3 (11:42)
Ditka on the touchdown: That was a great thrill. ... I know I didn't come into this game thinking about scoring any touchdowns ... or even catching any passes. All I was thinking about was blocking. I knew we had to run to win, and we had to have the blocking to run.
Staubach on the touchdown pass: Bob Hayes was the primary receiver and I was supposed to look toward Mike to draw attention away from Hayes. But when I looked at Mike he was open again. I remember what Ditka said afterwards. He'd dropped a pass earlier so this was a big one for him. Mike said if he'd dropped that touchdown, he'd have kept going around the corner for a beer.

L: Buoniconti tackles Hill on the seven. R: Ditka snags touchdown pass.


After faking to Garrison, Staubach fades to throw touchdown pass to Ditka.
The Cowboys finally started to smile on the sideline. Burned too many times by comebacks that snatched victory from their grasp, they had remained business-like. The Miami fans had been waving white handkerchiefs the whole game to encourage their heroes. Herb Adderley looked into the stands and noticed no one was waving a handkerchief anymore. I know why. They're crying in them!
With the outcome decided, the Dolphins hoped to at least score a touchdown. Morris returned the kickoff 21y to the 23. The possession started promisingly when Griese flipped a flare pass to Csonka in the left flat. The big fullback ran to the 38. After Kiick gained three, Griese found Marv Fleming running free down the middle. The tight end fell down but got up just as Harris arrived to tackle him at the Dallas 31.

Griese passes over Cornell Green.
Csonka took a delayed handoff and zoomed forward to the 25.
At that point, Csonka and Kiick had identical stats: 8 carries for 30y - not what Miami had hoped for.
The Cowboys unleashed an all-out blitz that resulted in a blocked pass that fell incomplete. Undaunted, Griese fired a nice pass to TE Jim Mandich at the right sideline for a first down at the 16 - the Dolphins' first penetration of the Dallas red zone all afternoon. But the drive ended abruptly when Griese pulled out from center a split second too soon, and Larry Cole recovered the fumble at the 20.
Thomas ran for 4, then 2. Would Dallas put the ball in the air or be content to stay on the ground with a 21-point lead. Staubach rolled right and hit Ditka coming across from the left side for 21y to the 47. With Bob Matheson in at MLB for Buoniconti, Thomas weaved his way to the Miami 46.
It turned out that Buoniconti had his bell rung sometime in the first half and probably suffered a concussion. He would not return to the game after Matheson took over. Bob said, After I came out, Nick asked me what the score was. He thought it was still 10-3.

Thomas carries behind Tony Liscio's block.
No one knew it at the time, but that carry would be Duane's last in a Dallas uniform.
Then Garrison sped through a nice hole opened by C Dave Manders for 17y. Staubach faked a handoff, then looked deep. Seeing no one open, he scrambled to the 24. Riley stopped Garrison for just a 1y gain. On 3rd-and-four, Hill took a pitch left for 3y to set up 4th-and-one. Landry sent in the field goal unit with no intention of actually kicking it. Fearing a blocked kick return for a touchdown, Tom called for a fake. Dan Reeves took the snap, spun around and ran around right end for a first down at the 13. Anderson came up from the secondary to dump Hill for a loss of five. Before the next snap, the officials signaled the two-minute warning. When play resumed, Ditka took an end-around handoff and followed Niland around left end for 17y to the one.
On the sideline, Landry yelled, "Get in there! Get in there!" as Ditka roared down the sideline. Tom leaped in joy when Ditka landed on the flag, but his joy subsided when the official marked Mike short of the goal line.
Hill tried to leap over left tackle into the end zone, but S Jake Scott's helmet knocked the ball loose and it landed in the arms of Fernandez sitting on the ground at the four.
The Dolphins had time to gain one more first down. After Kiick got seven, Csonka turned right end for 11. Then came a 2y screen pass to Larry and his 4y sweep before Cowboy fans counted down the final five seconds. Miami's last possession reduced their deficit in number of plays to only 67-40. Landry had beaten Shula at his own game.
As the final minute ticked away, Craig Morton, who had lost the starting quarterback job to Staubach at midseason, walked over to Coach Landry on the sideline and said, Congratulations! I'm really happy for you.
FINAL SCORE: COWBOYS 24 DOLPHINS 3
Staubach, who finished the season 13-0 in games he started, was announced as the game's MVP right after the game.
Roger said, Holy cow! when told of his honor. He felt he didn't deserve it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to give the car back. I have three young daughters, and I can use it. But in this game, quarterbacks appear to be singled out more than any other players and sometimes they get more credit sometimes than the other guys. I was just fortunate to be on a really good team. (The award included a car of the recipient's choice. Previous winners had all chosen a sports car. Family man Staubach opted for a station wagon.)
Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman revealed that Duane Thomas actually won the voting. But Larry Klein, the editor of Sport magazine that sponsored the award, was concerned about how Thomas would behave at the awards gala in New York. So Klein announced that Staubach won the award.

Tom Landry finally smiles as Rayfield Wright and others carry him off.
When they put Landry down, Don Shula hugged him instead of shaking his hand.
Final statistics
  • Time of possession: Cowboys 39:12 Dolphins 20:48
  • First downs: Cowboys 23 Dolphins 10
  • Rushing: Cowboys 48-252 Dolphins 20-80
  • Passing: Cowboys 19-12-0/119 Dolphins 23-12-1/105
  • Return yardage: Cowboys 4-74 Dolphins 6-143
  • Fumbles-Lost: Cowboys 1-1 Dolphins 2-2
  • Penalties: Cowboys 3-15 Dolphins 20:48
  • Punting average: Cowboys 31:24 Dolphins 0-0
  • Attendance: 81,023
Post Game

Cowboys

  • Bob Lilly ran into the locker room and leaped for joy. I feel like I could jump all the way out of the stadium. He told reporters: It's like all your life you've been trying to climb a hill, and finally - finally - you get to the top.
    Lilly had kept the victory cigar that he wasn't able to light the year before in Miami. He kept it in his freezer all year just for this occasion. When he removed the plastic wrapper to enjoy it, he found it dried out and falling apart. Undeterred, he held it together with one hand and lit it with the other. He managed to get out a few good puffs of smoke.
    Years later, Big Bob recalled, The sensation felt like a hundred pounds of weight had been lifted off my shoulders. To finally get to the Big One and win it, it was just about the happiest moment you can have as an athlete.
  • Landry: We won it on good overall performance and heart and desire. ... I'm more satisfied with having won for the benefit of the Howleys and the Lillys (the two players who had been members of the franchise's first team in 1961). I never had a chance to play on a championship team, and I was afraid that maybe some of these guys would miss it too. That's my greatest satisfaction. Later, speaking with just a few Dallas reporters, Landry recounted the game plan. We did something different on pass defense. We doubled both wide receivers and covered the tight end with a linebacker ... because we were playing the percentages. Miami doesn't throw to its tight end. We were hard to beat after that third-quarter drive.
    President Nixon called the dressing room to talk to Landry. He congratulated the whole team but singled out the offensive line for their performance. Tom reported: He said he thought it was one of the best performances he'd ever seen and so much like the Vince Lombardi tradition that it was fitting the world championship trophy is named after Lombardi.
  • Owner Clint Murchison had never lost faith. This is the successful conclusion of our 12-year plan.
  • GM Hank Schramm: They can't say we don't win the big one anymore. And we'll be back. This is just a start. We'll be stronger in the next six years.
  • Dan Reeves organized a group of players who tossed their fully-clothed coach into the showers. Then Dan went to Schramm. C'mon, we've been looking for you. Then it was the owner's turn. Just to show you how confident I was, said Murchison, I brought a change of clothes along. When asked if he had done that the year before in Miami, Clint replied, No comment.
  • Staubach: Our game plan was to go out and start passing early to keep them opened up and then hit them with our runners. It worked perfectly. He was already looking ahead to the next season. I'm going to work harder this offseason than ever before. I'm going to start working out in March. I'm going to study films. Football fans are a strange breed. They are with me now because we are winners. But next year if I start having some bad games, they'll turn on me just as they would on anyone else. Believe me, I don't take myself too seriously at this stage. I haven't played one full year yet. I can't let down.
  • Leroy Jordan: God, it's just great. We've gotten rid of any psychological block - if there ever was one.
    Jordan recalled: When we won that Super Bowl it was certainly a great thrill, but for us, it was more a lifting of a heavy burden that we had been bearing since 1966 ... So many of us after the game were so happy to have that lifted off of us, the victory itself wasn't that big. It was almost anti-climactic - it was more important to get the bridesmaid-but-never-a-bride tag removed from us.
  • Calvin Hill: I thought I could have started, and I was kind of angry about it. The coach doubted my knee, but I thought it was sound enough for me to start. That was a big disappointment when I didn't get to. That had been one of my goals this year. But then maybe it all worked out for the best anyway. It will just give me something to shoot for next year. ... The money ($15,000 to each member of the winning team) will soon be gone, but we'll always have the satisfaction of having won this world championship.
  • Lance Alworth: Statistically, there were a lot of things that I didn't accomplish this year as compared to years past, but this makes it all worth it. The Super Bowl championship ... now this is what it's all about.
  • Mel Renfro was a key member of the secondary that held Warfield to 4 catches for 39y. That's all I heard all week from the writers. "Warfield, Warfield, Warfield." That it was supposed to be the key to the whole game, whether I could cover him or not. Honestly, I got sick and tired of being asked that. It wasn't all that cut and dried. It never is. I was getting help from both Cornell and Cliff. ... He never caught a pass on me all day. We doubled him most of the time, and we were cutting him with a LB at the line, but I had him four, five times alone, and he never caught a pass on me.
    The CB opposite Renfro, Cornell Green, recalled: When (Super Bowl VI) was over, I just said, "Fine, we won one." And I ran off the field. A lot of people started carrying Landry around. I didn't have time for that. I was getting out of there and getting to the locker room. So I didn't hang around to celebrate. It was, "We finally did it." That's it.
  • LB Dave Edwards: They're a young team. So we knew they had to keep on doing the same things in this game they did in the season. They weren't versatile enough to put a new wrinkle here or there. ... We weren't going to take chances on our offensive team. We were going to keep them from scoring, period.
  • Reporters wondered if they should bother to interview Thomas. He had been one of the first players to shower. His mentor Jim Brown waited for him when he exited the shower. Great game, said Jim. Thanks, replied the enigmatic RB. What are you doing now - you talkin' or you playin'? asked the former Browns great with a smile. Duane went to the raised platform where Tom Brookshier was interviewing the stars of the game following the award ceremony. Clearly nonplussed, Tom talked about Brown for a while before asking, Duane, you do things with great speed, but you never hurry. Are you that fast? Are you that quick? Thomas gave a one-word reply. Evidently. Taken aback, the interviewer turned to Brown for his opinion. Jim said, Duane Thomas is probably the most gifted runner in football today. He's big and he has great speed. It's obvious that he has fantastic moves. I think that he's probably as smart as any football player playing today. So that combination is fantastic. After Brookshier admitted he was nervous when Brown asked him, Tom asked Duane, Do you like football? Yeah, I do, was the reply. I do, but that's why I went out for pro ball. That's what I am, a football player.
  • When Thomas finally left the platform, he answered reporters' questions for the first time in months. I didn't want you (reporters) to interfere with my concentration.
    Two weeks after the Super Bowl, Thomas was arrested for possession of marijuana. He pleaded guilty and received five years probation. Dallas traded him to the Chargers July 30. He would never play a down for San Diego. He gained 442y in two seasons with the Redskins.

    Tom Brookshier interviewing Duane Thomas with Jim Brown to the right
    Duane Thomas finally shared his recollections of the 1971 season for Carlton Stowers' 1982 book, Journey to Triumph: 101 Dallas Cowboys Tell Their Stories.
    That was the year the Dallas Cowboys knew they were going to win. All that was necessary was to correct a few errors we had been making in the past and to become a little more detail-oriented and eliminate the mental mistakes. Everyone on the team scrutinized himself and determined what it was he had to do to make sure we didn't miss our chance at winning it all. There was an interesting chemistry on the '71 team. Everyone was a student of the game. And as the year progressed and the games became more and more important, you could see the light get brighter. There was a steadily building enthusiasm for what was taking shape. ... On offense we knew that we had any number of ways of beating people - with the running game, the passing game and even the kick return teams. ... You know, people still talk about the fact I didn't talk but, hey, Bob Lilly, who was one of the greatest leaders we had, said more on his TV commercials than he said in his whole career with the Cowboys. ... We didn't have a lot of people who needed motivating. That team was self-motivated to do something really special ...

Dolphins

  • Don Shula: Dallas demolished us. We never got untracked. My biggest disappointment is that we never challenged them, never took it right to them. ... They tore us apart on defense and completely controlled our offense.
    He felt the Cowboys' drive at the beginning of Q3 was the turning point. We were only behind 10-3 and felt if we could get the ball and put some points on the board, we could get back in the game. ... Don't take anything away from Dallas though. They played a near-perfect game and didn't make a mistake until Calvin Hill fumbled with about two minutes to play, and by that time it didn't make any difference. ... It was their running game, both inside and outside, that beat us. And to compound our problems, we never could seem to get back-to-back gainers together and never established our own running game. ... We can look back on this season for a while with pride, but the only way we can erase this memory is to come back next year and win the Super Bowl. I hope we learned something from this. But just the same, we'll have to start all over from scratch when training camp starts next summer. It wasn't any one defensive play. They just had a great line. But that Bob Lilly was something else again. Don refused to point the finger at his QB. After all Bob Griese has done for us this year, I'd be the last one to lay the blame on the QB. We just never got rolling, and Griese is the man who makes us roll.
  • Asked if he had felt frustrated during the game, Griese sighed, A number of times, my man, a number of times. He added: We're young, and I certainly hope we're back in the Super Bowl soon. But it means another training camp, all the sweat, and winning a lot of tough games to get back where we were Sunday morning.
  • Paul Warfield: They were pretty intent on taking away the inside, and they did it. I just couldn't shake loose. They showed me more than I expected.
  • OT Norm Evans was dejected. There just aren't words to describe how I feel at this moment. You're supposed to be a big, tough strong guy and all you want to do is go hide somewhere and cry.
    Years later, G Larry Little was asked, Despite your team's youth and inexperience, could the Dolphins have beaten Dallas that afternoon had some things been done a little differently?
    Larry responded: I believe so. I think the mistake that was made was that, although we had three excellent backs in Csonka, Kiick and Morris, we didn't utilize Mercury as much as we could have in that game. All Dallas did was pile up the inside, knowing we wouldn't be able to run to the outside with Kiick. Although Jim was a good outside runner, he didn't have the speed like Mercury did to open up the offense.
    Cowboys CB Cornell Green independently supported what Little said. I have no idea why Shula didn't play Mercury more. I don't know what Mercury did to piss Shula off. I wish I did.
Tex Schramm got in the last word of the day. As the Cowboys bus left the stadium, the Dolphins bus pulled up beside it. Don't mess with Dallas! yelled Tex.
Dolphins DT Manny Fernandez broke down walking from the team bus through the hotel parking lot after the game. He cried for 10 minutes because he had failed his family, his team­mates, and himself.

Future Hall of Famers in Super Bowl VI:
Dallas Cowboys - GM Tex Schramm, Coach Tom Landry, Herb Adderley, Bob Hayes, Bob Lilly, Mel Renfro, Roger Staubach, Rayfield Wright
Miami Dolphins - Coach Don Shula, Nick Buoniconti, Larry Csonka, Bob Griese, Jim Langer, Larry Little, Paul Warfield