1971 Miami Dolphins season

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 at 10–3–1 to win the first of four consecutive AFC East titles. They opened the season with a tie at Denver, split the next two, then won eight consecutive to improve to 9–1–1.

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 Divisional Playoffs (at Chiefs) 27–24 (2OT) Won AFC Championship (vs. Colts) 21–0 Lost Super Bowl VI (vs. Cowboys) 3–24
Pro Bowlers	7 QB Bob Griese FS Jake Scott DE Bill Stanfill G Larry Little WR Paul Warfield RB Mercury Morris FB Larry Csonka

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 a second overtime (the game is considered the longest in NFL history by time). They advanced to their first AFC championship game and shut out the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Colts 21–0. However, in Super Bowl VI, Miami was walloped 24–3 by the Dallas Cowboys. After losing that Super Bowl, the Dolphins did not lose another game until week 2 of the 1973 season, going 32–2 (.941) overall in the next two seasons (1972, 1973), both ending with Super Bowl victories.

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
6	151	Dennis Coleman	Linebacker	Mississippi
7	178	Ron Dickerson	Defensive back	Kansas State
9	230	Vern Den Herder	Defensive end	Central College (Iowa)
10	255	Ron Maree	Defensive tackle	Purdue
11	282	Vic Surma	Tackle	Penn State
12	307	Leroy Byras	Running back	Alcorn A&M
13	333	Lonnie Hepburn	Defensive back	Texas Southern
14	359	David Vaughn	Tight end	Memphis State
15	386	Bob Richards	Guard	California
16	410	Chris Myers	Wide receiver	Kenyon
17	437	Curt Mark	Linebacker	Mayville (ND)
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

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game Site	Attendance	Recap
1	September 19	at Denver Broncos	T 10–10	0–0–1	Mile High Stadium	51,228
2	September 26	at Buffalo Bills	W 29–14	1–0–1	War Memorial Stadium	45,139
3	October 3	New York Jets	L 10–14	1–1–1	Miami Orange Bowl	70,670
4	October 10	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 23–13	2–1–1	Riverfront Stadium	60,099
5	October 17	New England Patriots	W 41–3	3–1–1	Miami Orange Bowl	58,822
6	October 24	at New York Jets	W 30–14	4–1–1	Shea Stadium	62,130
7	October 31	at Los Angeles Rams	W 20–14	5–1–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	72,903
8	November 7	Buffalo Bills	W 34–0	6–1–1	Miami Orange Bowl	61,016
9	November 14	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 24–21	7–1–1	Miami Orange Bowl	66,435
10	November 21	Baltimore Colts	W 17–14	8–1–1	Miami Orange Bowl	75,312
11	November 29	Chicago Bears	W 34–3	9–1–1	Miami Orange Bowl	75,312
12	December 5	at New England Patriots	L 13–34	9–2–1	Schaefer Stadium	61,457
13	December 11	at Baltimore Colts	L 3–14	9–3–1	Memorial Stadium	60,238
14	December 19	Green Bay Packers	W 27–6	10–3–1	Miami Orange Bowl	76,812
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Monday (November 29), Saturday (December 11)

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 (12 °C) • Wind 11 mph (18 km/h) 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

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
Divisional	December 25	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 27–24 (2OT)	1–0	Municipal Stadium	45,822
AFC Championship	January 2, 1972	Baltimore Colts	W 21–0	2–0	Orange Bowl	76,622
Super Bowl VI	January 16, 1972	Dallas Cowboys	L 3–24	2–1	Tulane Stadium	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