1971 Miami Dolphins season

1971 Miami Dolphins season
Head coach	Don Shula
Home field	Miami Orange Bowl
Results
Record	10–3–1
Division place	1st AFC East
Playoff finish	Won AFC Divisional Playoff (at Chiefs) 27–24 (2OT) Won AFC Championship Game (Colts) 21–0 Lost Super Bowl VI (vs. Cowboys) 3–24

The 1971 Miami Dolphins season was the team's sixth, and second in the National Football League (NFL). The team improved on their 10-4 record from 1970 and finished 10–3–1. The Dolphins opened the season tying the Denver Broncos, before splitting their next 2 games to sit at 1–1–1. The Dolphins then won 8 in a row to sit at 9–1–1. The Dolphins won their first division title, finishing first in the AFC East, and then defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round in 2 overtimes (the game is considered the longest in NFL history by time). They advanced to their first ever AFC championship game, where they defeated the reigning champion Colts, 21–0, and went on to play in their first Super Bowl. However, in Super Bowl VI, Miami was walloped 24–3 by Dallas.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1971 NFL Draft

1971 Miami Dolphins draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
2	47	Otto Stowe	Wide receiver	Iowa State
3	74	Dale Farley	Linebacker	West Virginia
4	99	Joe Theismann *	Quarterback	Notre Dame
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

1971 Miami Dolphins staff

Front office President – Joe Robbie Vice President – Don Shula Director of Player Personnel – Joe Thomas Head coaches Head Coach – Don Shula Offensive coaches Offense/Receivers – Howard Schnellenberger Offensive Backs – Carl Taseff Offensive Line – Monte Clark

Defensive coaches Defense/Linebackers – Bill Arnsparger Defensive Line – Mike Scarry Defensive Backs – Tom Keane

Roster

1971 Miami Dolphins roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 12 Bob Griese 10 George Mira Running backs (RB) 21 Jim Kiick 39 Larry Csonka FB 31 Terry Cole FB 32 Hubert Ginn 15 Charlie Leigh FB 22 Mercury Morris Wide receivers (WR) 81 Howard Twilley 42 Paul Warfield 89 Karl Noonan 87 Willie Richardson 82 Otto Stowe Tight ends (TE) 80 Marv Fleming 88 Jim Mandich

Offensive linemen (OL) 77 Doug Crusan T 67 Bob Kuechenberg G 61 Bob DeMarco C 66 Larry Little G 73 Norm Evans T 62 Jim Langer C 78 Wayne Mass G 79 Wayne Moore T Defensive linemen (DL) 70 Jim Riley DE 75 Manny Fernandez DT 72 Bob Heinz DT 84 Bill Stanfill DE 71 Frank Cornish DE 86 Vern Den Herder DE 74 John Richardson DT

Linebackers (LB) 59 Doug Swift 85 Nick Buoniconti 57 Mike Kolen 58 Dale Farley 53 Bob Matheson 56 Jesse Powell Defensive backs (DB) 25 Tim Foley CB 45 Curtis Johnson CB 40 Dick Anderson SS 13 Jake Scott FS 49 Ray Jones CB 26 Lloyd Mumphord CB 48 Bob Petrella S Special teams 1 Garo Yepremian K 20 Larry Seiple P

Practice squad 11 Jim Del Gaizo QB Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 19, 1971	at Denver Broncos	T 10–10	0–0–1	51,228
2	September 26, 1971	at Buffalo Bills	W 29–14	1–0–1	45,139
3	October 3, 1971	New York Jets	L 10–14	1–1–1	70,670
4	October 10, 1971	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 23–13	2–1–1	60,099
5	October 17, 1971	New England Patriots	W 41–3	3–1–1	58,822
6	October 24, 1971	at New York Jets	W 30–14	4–1–1	62,130
7	October 31, 1971	at Los Angeles Rams	W 20–14	5–1–1	72,903
8	November 7, 1971	Buffalo Bills	W 34–0	6–1–1	61,016
9	November 14, 1971	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 24–21	7–1–1	66,435
10	November 21, 1971	Baltimore Colts	W 17–14	8–1–1	75,312
11	November 29, 1971	Chicago Bears	W 34–3	9–1–1	75,312
12	December 5, 1971	at New England Patriots	L 13–34	9–2–1	61,457
13	December 11, 1971	at Baltimore Colts	L 3–14	9–3–1	60,238
14	December 19, 1971	Green Bay Packers	W 27–6	10–3–1	76,812

Game summaries

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total • Dolphins 3 9 7 10 29 Bills 7 0 7 0 14 Date: September 26 Location: War Memorial Stadium Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST Game weather: 54°F • Wind 11 Referee: Dick Jorgensen

Scoring summary 1 MIA Garo Yepremian 15 yard field goal Dolphins 3–0 1 BUF Wayne Patrick 1 yard run (Grant Guthrie kick) Bills 7–3 2 MIA Garo Yepremian 46 yard field goal Bills 7–6 2 MIA Garo Yepremian 13 yard field goal Dolphins 9–7 2 MIA Garo Yepremian 9 yard field goal Dolphins 12–7 3 MIA Larry Csonka 1 yard run (Garo Yepremian kick) Dolphins 19–7 3 BUF O.J. Simpson 46 yard run (Grant Guthrie kick) Dolphins 19–14 4 MIA Paul Warfield 23 yard pass from Bob Griese (Garo Yepremian kick) Dolphins 26–14 4 MIA Garo Yepremian 48 yard field goal Dolphins 29–14

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Miami Dolphins	10	3	1	.769	5–3	7–3–1	315	174	W1
Baltimore Colts	10	4	0	.714	6–2	8–3	313	140	L1
New England Patriots	6	8	0	.429	4–4	6–5	238	325	W1
New York Jets	6	8	0	.429	4–4	6–5	212	299	W2
Buffalo Bills	1	13	0	.071	1–7	1–10	184	394	L3

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Postseason

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
Divisional	December 25, 1971	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 27–24	45,822
Conference Championship	January 2, 1972	Baltimore Colts	W 21–0	76,622
Super Bowl VI	January 16, 1972	N Dallas Cowboys	L 3–24	80,591

AFC Divisional Playoff

Miami Dolphins 27 K.C. Chiefs 24 (20T)

AFC Championship Game

Miami Dolphins 21 Baltimore Colts 0

Super Bowl VI

Dallas Cowboys 24 Miami Dolphins 3

Scoring summary

• Dallas Mike Clark, FG 14 yds (3–0)
• Dallas L.Alworth, 9 yd pass from Staubach (Mike Clark kick, 10–0)
• Miami Yepremian, FG 23 yds (10–3)
• Dallas Duane Thomas, 5 yd run (Mike Clark kick, 17–3)
• Dallas Mike Ditka, 4 yd pass from Staubach (Mike Clark kick, 3–24)

External links

• 1971 Miami Dolphins at Pro-Football-Reference.com