Neither coach said much to his players at halftime.

• Shula talked to his troops about being halfway to their goal.
  Don recalled: We hadn't made any big mistakes in the first half, so what I emphasized in the locker room was maintaining our composure on the field. With a 14-0 lead, I knew we would be in good shape if our defensive guys played well.
• On the Washington sideline before the second half kickoff, Allen simply said, We've got 30 minutes to live! His offensive adjustments would become obvious on their first possession of the 2nd half.

Quarter 3

After Mul-Key returned Yepremian's short kickoff 16y to the 29, the Redskins started their most spirited drive of the game. Realizing he needed to use the pass to set up the run instead of the other way around, Kilmer faked a handoff and fired over the middle to TE Jerry Smith who was downed immediately by LB Mike Kolen at the 41. After Brown gained two, Kilmer threw low to Taylor at the right sideline. With Mathe­son in the game for the 3rd-and-eight play, Billy connected with Taylor slanting in from the right into an open spot in the zone to the Miami 42 to give the Redskins their deepest penetration of the afternoon. Kilmer then lined up both Taylor and Jefferson on the left side and had his two backs go the opposite way on the snap as he rolled left and threw to Roy at the left sideline on the 28. Continuing hot, Billy threw a quick out to Jefferson on the right side to the 20. Harraway then gained three to move the chains to the 17. But that's as far as the Red­skins got. Kilmer tried another play action pass to Taylor slanting from the right. As Scott and Mumphord converged on him, Charley caught his cleats in the turf and stumbled on his last stride as the pigskin arrived. It flew just past his outstretched hands. Billy then called a play that had worked well in the 1st half. He faked a screen to the left, then threw to Harraway on the right, but Charlie dropped the ball. Facing the usual 53 defense on 3rd-and-10, Kilmer looked for a receiver until RDE Bill Stanfill forced him to step up into the pocket right into the arms of Fernandez for a loss of eight. So Curt Knight came in to try a 32y field goal. He had made seven-of-seven during the playoffs but was wide right this time to keep Washington scoreless with 10:47 on the clock. Csonka carried three straight times. RE Verlon Biggs dropped him for a 1y loss. Then Larry went around right end to the 24 where 170 lb CB Fischer hit the 235 lb fullback low. Ron McDole made the stop on a 3y gain to bring on Seiple, who punted to Haymond, who caught the ball on the 25 and tried to run around the coverage but was dropped back at the 18 by Hubert Ginn. The Redskins went back to their staple, running the ball. Brown took a pitch around right end for 7y. Then Harraway ran through right tackle for six to move the chains. Two runs by Brown, for nine around the weak side again, then six, gained another 1st down. Seeing RCB Curtis Johnson playing back, Kilmer threw quickly to Jefferson who ran to the Miami 44. Then, trying to fool the Dolphins by going deep, Kilmer overthrew Jefferson down the right sideline inside the 10. On the next play, Billy again over­threw his receiver. This time it was Taylor on the left sideline two steps behind John­son. Before the next snap, TE Smith moved to make it 3rd-and-15. Miami inserted Charlie Babb as a fifth defensive back. Kilmer spotted Clifton McNeil down the middle but again fired too high. So Bragg punted to Scott, who fair caught the ball on the 12. Washington had run 18 plays in the period to only three for Miami but had nothing to show for it.
Staying on the ground, Griese handed to Morris who slanted over left tackle behind Wayne Moore to the 23. Then Csonka took a delayed handoff to the 34 for a 1st down. Next, Larry got loose for the longest run against the Redskins all year, a 49y ramble during which he lowered his shoulder into Fischer and knocked him down as Pat tried to tackle him. That put Larry at 101y for the day. On 1st down from the 16, Morris carried twice in a run, first to the 12, then around right end to the seven. When Kiick plunged to the five on 3rd-and-one, the Dolphins had 1st-and-goal. With Yepremian warming up on the sideline, Talbot dropped Csonka for no gain. After the play, TE Mandich dropped to the turf on his way back to the huddle and was escorted off the field. So Marv Fleming and Seiple came in for a double tight end alignment. At that point, Griese made his only mistake of the day. He dropped back and tried to loop the ball to Flem­ing in the left front corner of the end zone. But Owens intercepted the underthrown pass to end the threat. On the last play of the scoreless period, Brown tried to sweep left end, but Fernandez burst through and slowed him down before Swift polished him off for a 6y loss to the 14. END Q3: Dolphins 14 Redskins 0 Quarter 4

The Redskins couldn't escape their 2nd-and-16 predicament. After Brown gained a yard, Kilmer connected with Larry, who fumbled out of bounds for a gain of 12. Bragg continued his poor punting, this one sailing only 24y to the Miami 49.
But the Dolphins could do nothing with their fine field position. After Morris ran for two, Griese threw incomplete to Warfield, then connected with Kiick for only 2y. So Seiple punted to the 11. Kilmer started with a 7y pass to Jefferson, followed by a Brown run for a 1st down at the 24. Digging deep into his bag of tricks, Billy handed to Smith on a tight end reverse around the right side for five. Then Brown carried a pitchout to the 41 for a 1st down. Billy went back to pass, then turned into the UCLA single-wing tailback he used to be as he ran to midfield. Harraway got the remaining 1/2y and more as he ran through right tackle to the 42. Charley again to the 37, then Brown for five, a measurement showing the ball inches short. Larry took care of that in short order, hurdling a fallen tackler to the 28. LB Swift blitzed on the next snap, but Kilmer pulled away and hustled to the 20. On 2nd-and-one, Billy hit Taylor on a quick out pattern to the 14 and another 1st down. With Washington fans anticipating a touchdown to put their heroes back in the game, Brown skirted right end to the 11. Then Lady Luck intervened for the Dolphins. Kilmer spotted Smith open on a crossing pattern from the left in the back of the end zone. But his pass bounced off the crossbar of the goal post on the goal line. Needing a touchdown, not a field goal, Billy went to the air again but with dire consequences. He saw Taylor breaking away from Mumphord over the middle from the right, but S Scott stepped in to snag the pass under the goal post and take off down the left sideline. Momentarily, it looked like a 105y interception return, but Harraway caught him at the Washington 48 with 5:08 remaining. The frustrated Redskins had succeeded only in running 7:18 off the clock. Griese fed the defense a steady diet of Csonka and Kiick. Larry for one, Jim for nine and a 1st down. Kiick again for four, Csonka for no gain. Then Bob tried to surprise the Redskins with a pass. He rolled right to escape the rush and threw to Twilley on an out and up, but Fischer knocked the ball down at the five. So Garo Yepremian came in for a 42y field goal try. He had gone 4 of 11 in the 40-49y range. What happened next was perhaps the most bizarre play in Super Bowl history. The snap was low but OK; the hold was fine. But the kick sailed too low, as Garo feared, and hit Bob Heinz, a defensive tackle blocking in the middle of the line, in the back (as a slow motion view of the video confirms). The ball bounced on the ground twice before Garo grabbed it running to his right. Instead of going down, he tried to a throw a pass – to whom nobody knows – but lost control of the ball as his arm came forward. The pigskin blooped into the air over his head. As it came down in front of him, he hit it with two hands like a volleyball player returning a serve. But all that did was deflect the ball into the hands of Mike Bass, who took off down the left sideline untouched to the end zone for a 49y fumble recovery touchdown. Knight's PAT cut the Miami lead in half. Lady Luck had deprived Washington of a touchdown when the pass hit the goal post. Now she made amends with this "kooky play" (as announcer Curt Gowdy described it). Dolphins 14 Redskins 7 (2:07)
View a video of the blocked FG play ... With three timeouts left, Allen surprised many by not calling for an onside kick. Morris took the ball at the one and returned to the 16. The Miami offense took the field with just a one-score lead. After a break for the two-minute warning, Mercury took a handoff around right end. Little Fischer fought off pulling G Larry Little and bumped Morris out of bounds at the 19. Shula sent in Kiick to replace Morris. Seeing that Warfield was covered one-on-one by Bass, the Washington hero who was hanging back, Griese threw an out pattern to Paul at the left sideline. He stepped out at the 30 for a 1st down. It was just Bob's 11th pass of the game and eighth com­pletion. When Owens stopped Kiick for a 1y loss, the Redskins called their first timeout. They would use their remaining two after each succeeding play - Csonka around left end to the 33 and Morris around right end. It looked for a moment that he had enough running room to make the 1st down and seal the game, but he slipped down at the 36. With ten Redskins lined up on the line of scrimmage in punt-block mode, Seiple barely got the punt away as Alston broke through the Miami right side and nearly got a hand on the ball. Haymond returned the 41y punt to the 30 with 1:14 to go.
With the whole world knowing he had to pass, Kilmer threw over the head of Brown – intentionally? – on a down and out as RCB Johnson came up quickly. Then Billy went deep down the left sideline, too long for Taylor. A flip to Brown in the left flat resulted in a tackle by Stanfill for a loss to the 26. Then all hope for the Redskins vanished as Stanfill and Den Herder sandwiched Kilmer for a sack at the 17. Since the clock did not stop on a change of possession, the Dolphins didn't have to run another play.
FINAL SCORE: DOLPHINS 14 REDSKINS 7

Video of Super Bowl VII ...

Final statistics

• Time of possession: Dolphins 32:17 Redskins 27:43
• First downs: Dolphins 12 Redskins 16
• Rushing: Dolphins 37-184 Redskins 36-141
• Passing: Dolphins 11-8-1/69 Redskins 28-14-3/87
• Return yardage: Dolphins 7-132 Redskins 8-54
• Fumbles-Lost: Dolphins 2-1 Redskins 1-0
• Penalties: Dolphins 3-35 Redskins 3-25
• Punting average: Dolphins 7-43.0 Redskins 5-31.2
• Attendance: 90,192

The Most Valuable Player Award went to Jake Scott. But the selection process was a farce. The only person who had a vote was Dick Schaap, the editor of Sport magazine that sponsored the award. Schaap would later reveal that he had been out late the previous night and struggled to stay awake during the game. Looking at the highlights, he saw that Scott had two interceptions. Asked later why Manny Fernandez wasn't the MVP, Dick replied, I didn't even know he had 17 tackles.

Post Game

Dolphins

• Before the media was allowed in, Shula told the team how proud he was of them. As captain, Griese stood up to award the game ball. With the coach standing beside him, Bob said, This is a tough decision, because so many people played well. We could give this to Jake with those two big interceptions. Players applauded and yelled. Manny deserves the game ball, too. Seventeen tackles. What a game. And Csonka had 115 yards. Griese named other candidates, like Warfield and the offensive line. This is a tough game ball to award. Then he tapped Shula on the shoulder and said, This is for you, Coach. The room burst into applause.
• Shula: It just means everything to me. This was the one thing I hadn't done. I had been reminded of it by many people. ... There was always the empty feeling of not having accomplished the ultimate. This is the ultimate. ... It's hard for me to compare other teams of other times. No other team has ever won it all and then this, too. I think they deserve everything they've got coming. ... We wanted to take away their short, inside passing, and we wanted to whip them up front, which takes away the run.
  Shula recalled: There is no minimizing the relief I experienced. No one could really feel what I went through. It was an emotional experience that I hope I never have to go through again.
• Griese laughed as he said, I've got to work with Garo on his technique of throwing. I told him we'll work on that in the offseason. Is he left-handed? I don't even think he can throw. But he can kick. On a more serious note, he responded to a reporter's comment that the Dolphins didn't seem overly enthused after winning the championship. It's not our style to get excited. It's just personal pride. That's the way this team has developed. We were just prepared. I think the defense was. I know the offense was.
• Csonka: I just want to go to sleep. We maintained the lead all the way, but it was like a tightrope walk. Asked if the Dolphins will be recognized as a super team, he replied: I certainly hope so. It's certainly time.
• Yepremian didn't duck the media. I took a shower, came out, and answered everybody's questions, he recalled. But he did not share his teammates' joy. (Who can blame him for not feeling part of the team after receiving multiple death threats?) For me at this point, it was all a blur because I was so disappointed in what I had done. I was in mourning at that time, so I did not pay much attention to or participate in the celebration. But he did try some humor with reporters. This is the first time the goat of the game is in the winner's locker room. On his ill-fated passing attempt: I shoulda ate it. I should have just fallen on the ball. I just picked up the ball and thought I could throw it to somebody. I saw two teammates who were open, but when I tried to throw, the ball just slipped out of my hands. My mind went blank. I was so scared, scared maybe I could have lost the game. Wouldn't it have been terrible ... We win 16 games in a row, and then if we'd lost on that play of mine, people still would have said we were a fluke team.
• Morris had ripped Shula after Super Bowl VI for not playing him. Although Kiick played more than he did, Mercury wasn't ripping anybody this time, although he wasn't jumping up and down either. The Super Bowl is just a name they give it. It's not super. It's just a football game, and you don't need to yell and scream.
• Swift: The score ticks me off. I wanted to kill them. I wanted to kill Allen, the bureaucrat of bureaucrats. All his nonsense ... it's nauseating.
• Ginn: We're a machine. That's all. I'm just a part of the machine. The machine worked. It hit hard. It worked together. When the machine works, no team stops it. It kills them. What's to get excited about.
• Mumphord felt vindicated about what he said about Kilmer's passing and his ability to cover Taylor. It's just the truth. The way he throws, you get time to recover back there. What do you say but the truth? I felt I could cover on Charley Taylor, and I did. He's a good receiver but not as tough as he was when he came into the league. This makes me feel great. But we don't have to jump all around the place. We all know what we've done. We feel it inside. That's the best place.
  On the 25th anniversary of Super Bowl VII, Larry Little recalled: We couldn't let a bunch of old men like the Redskins beat us. But we were so good and so motivated, nobody would’ve beaten us that day. Being the only undefeated team is a great record to have. Twenty-five years later, we're still the only one. Even if another team does go undefeated, we can always say we were the first.
  Warfield: The commitment was made that we were going to go back to the Super Bowl and win it. We had grown up and ready to accept challenges. We were ready to win.
  Csonka believed that, in a way, Shula called the 17-0 record as early as training camp. He kept reminding us to take one game at a time and win 'em all. And we did.
  Griese: I was rested. I hadn't been scarred and bruised. My legs weren't tired. My arm wasn't tired.
  Anderson: Whenever the last unbeaten team goes down (each season), Nick Buoniconti and I share a bottle of champagne.

Redskins

• Allen: I can't get out of here fast enough. We'll stay overnight and leave in the morning. There'll be a lot of hours of agony tonight. It doesn't do any good to play in the Super Bowl and not win it. But my message to the team after the game was, "Don't worry. We'll be back." ... Our problem was running. We thought we could run but couldn't. We had planned to throw some at Mumphord, but we had to run first to do it. We did not seem to have the spark we had against Green Bay and Dallas. You have to get adjusted to the carnival atmosphere of the game.
• Kilmer: Our team was ready to play. They just played better than we did. If you can't get ready for this one, you can't get ready for any game. ... I simply did not throw that well today. I think if I had throw well, we would have beaten them. ... I knew they would be tough, but I just thought we would be a lot tougher.
• Brown managed 72y on 22 carries. We figured we had to run against Miami, but their overall defense is so good that we couldn't get anything started.
• Hauss: They beat us, and they deserved to win. When asked about Fernandez, who had abused him all day, Len said, He's a good man. They're a good team, and they beat us.
• G John Wilbur praised the Dolphin D: They're like swarming bees. You think you've blocked them well, and you only get two, three, four yards before they're all over you.
• RB and special teams player Bob Brunet: I hate to dwell on it, but a couple of things happened that might have changed the game. One was the penalty against Hal McLinton, and the other was the punt Jake Scott fumbled and recovered. ... It's legal to slap the ball if the center moves it. He did it against Los Angeles last year, and no penalty was called. Brunet also claimed he was clipped on the fumbled punt.
• 36-year-old Jack Pardee indicated he would probably retire. I just want to get home and talk it over with my family. The man who had missed an entire season while fighting skin cancer continued: Physically, I'm okay. I thank the Lord on my knees every night for that. This isn't the first I've evaluated the situation, but I doubt that I'll be back. I hope to stay with the Redskins in some capacity. After all, I've got that boy over there, my son Steve, who is just about ready to take my place. ... It's no fluke that this Redskins team got to the Super Bowl. It's a solid club, no flash in the pan. I'm just glad I had a couple of years to be with a good team.
• Vactor: It's just a damned shame to come to the Super Bowl and not play a good game.
  35 years later, some of the '72 Redskins reminisced about Super Bowl VII.
  Len Hauss admitted, I've never watched the film of that game, and I won't. I have a Super Bowl ring — it's in my safe deposit box. I've never worn it. I'm never going to wear it. It's a loser's ring. ... We peaked two weeks early. We played out best game of the year, maybe our best ever, when we beat Dallas (in the NFC Championship game). ... Did all the distractions and George's practices, meetings and curfews cause Jake Scott to get the interception? Did they cause Manny Fernandez to be All-World that day? No, it wasn't the way George coached. It was the way we played. Miami played better than we did. Maybe they were a team of destiny.
  Brig Owens: We weren't surprised to be there, but when you go to your first Super Bowl, you're a little in awe of what's taking place. We went into the game a little flat.
  Charlie Taylor: We overtrained for that game. We had two weeks to work and burned ourselves out a little bit.
  Pat Fischer agreed. If we could've gone right into it the next week after Dallas, whether we would've won or not, that's a different story, but we would've played better. All the practices and meetings were the same, and they were long. You can get mentally exhausted. We didn't play with the same sort of intensity that got us there.
  D-line coach LaVern Torgeson: We got out there and had great practices up until Wednesday, but our players were stale by the time we played. We'd never been therer before and didn't know quite how to handle it. The players became bored, I guess. We made a mistake by getting ready for the game too quick.