NFL Super Bowl Winners

Super Bowl VII played on January 14 1973, was won by the Champions of the AFC the Miami Dolphins who defeated the NFC Champions the Washington Redskins at Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California.

The Dolphins coached by Don Shula had won the 1972 AFC East Division in a perfect fashion, 14 games and 14 wins in regular season.

The Miami Dolphins also posted an impressive point scoring figure of 27.5 average per game and a rock solid 12.2 average figure conceded per game. They were first in the NFL for both sets of figures for the 1972 season.

The Dolphins playoff games started with a 20 - 14 defeat of the Cleveland Browns in the AFC Divisional Playoffs. This was followed by a 21 - 17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the American Football Conference Championship Game.

The Dolphins opponents in Super Bowl VII were the Washington Redskins coached by George Allen who had taken the NFC East Division in quite good style 11-3-0. Their scoring average was quite good, finishing seventh in the league with 24 points per game and defensively they were third best conceding on average 15.6 points per game.

However, in the NFC Playoffs the Redskins looked to be on their game but had they improved it?. In the NFC Divisional Playoffs they recorded a 16 - 3 victory over the Green Bay Packers, who although ok defensively throughout regular season were only 11th best in the league for point scoring. No surprise there!

In the NFC Championship Game the Redskins faced the Dallas Cowboys who had finished runner up to them in the NFC East Division. During regular season they had faced each other twice with one win apiece but this time with a place in Super Bowl VII up for grabs the Redskins won easy by 26 points to 3. I would say though that in 1972 the Cowboys were there for the taking, after all they had finished below the Redskins in their division plus they had worse regular season averages.

Super Bowl VII looked like it would go very much to the form team and so it proved.

The Dolphins penned the Redskins in their own side of the field throughout the first half only allowing them to cross midfield once. It must be said though that for all the possession that the Dolphins had during this time they did not race away with the game and were only leading 14 - 0 at half time.

Following a third quarter in which no points were scored by either team, Super Bowl VII was still finely balanced going into the fourth quarter.

Super Bowl VII was probably made to look a lot closer than it actually was but the Redskins did actually "win" the fourth, scoring seven points to the Dolphins zero.

The Dolphins went the whole season unbeaten and ended up 17-0 making them the first team in the NFL to end the season undefeated. A stat that could quite possibly be all to easy to be impressed by. Still, the Dolphins could only beat what was in front of them!

MVP of Super Bowl VII was Miami Dolphins safety Jake Scott, who had two interceptions, including one in the end zone to kill a Redskins Drive.

Note
Throughout the 1972 playoff season the Dolphins level of form hardly changed from their regular season standard. As a consequence of making the playoffs, teams usually become harder to score against and scoring averages tend to drop. The Dolphins were no exception and averaged a respectable 18 points per game. They did however, not necessarily defend any tighter, conceding an average of 12.7 per game (12.2 regular season).

The Washington Redskins were the form team of the NFC. Their playoff averages were impressive whilst in their own Conference and only dropped markedly as soon as they moved outside of it when playing in the Super Bowl. Those playoff averages were 16.3 points scored and only 6.7 conceded and do actually compare very favourably with the Dolphins figures.

These figures suggest to me that although the Dolphins were the better scoring team they did appear to have great difficulty breaking down the Redskins, who had, throughout the 1972 playoffs, defended as if their lives depended on it!

Team	1	2	3	4	OT / Overtime	T / Total
Miami Dolphins (AFC)	7	7	0	0	-	14
Washington Redskins (NFC)	0	0	0	7	-	7

Miami Dolphins Perfect Season Team Signed Giclees

The only team to go undefeated and finish with a perfect season in the history of the NFL. The 1972 Miami Dolphins culminated their perfect season by winning Super Bowl VII and being crowned World Champions. Commemorate the 30th anniversary of this historic feat with this limited edition giclee by world renowned sports and celebrity artist, Malcolm Farley. Malcolm was the official artist of the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and the artist for Mastercard's Memorable Moments campaign. In addition, This giclee is personally hand signed by approximately 40 players and coaches from this legendary team. These include all seven of the hall of famers. Don Shula, Bob Griese, Nick Buoniconti, Larry Csonka, Larry Little, Jim Langer and Paul Warfield. Plus others such as: Jim Dunaway, Jesse Powell, Maulty Moore, Doug Crusan, Charles Leigh, Bill Stanfill, Manny Fernandez, Bob Heinz, Vern Den Hereder, Lloyd Mumphord, Alfred Jenkins, Bob Kuechenberg, Tim Foley, Otto Stowe, James Delgaizo, Jim Kiick, Mercury Morris, Marlin Briscoe, Dick Anderson, Doug Swift, Norm Evans, Charles Babb, Howard Twilley, Hubert Ginn, Terry Cole, Jim "Mad Dog" Mandich, Larry Ball, Mike Kindig, Karl Noonan, Mike Howell, Earl Morrall, Garo Yepremian, Marv Fleming, Mike Kolen, Curtis Johnson, Larry Seiple, Jim Riley, Ed Jenkins, Greg Johnson and Jake Scott. This item is a limited edition of 72. The dimensions are 47x30. Each giclee is individually numbered and comes with a certificate of authenticity from Mounted Memories. Officially licensed by the National Football League.