Pope: Steelers forgot about the ’72 Dolphins’ forgotten man in AFC Championship Game
The forgotten man of the Dolphins was remembered Sunday. Punter-turned-runner Larry Seiple got the game ball for the first time in his six-year career.
The 27-year-old University of Kentucky graduate had missed three late-season games with a leg injury. And he was the butt of unfavorable comparisons with Pittsburgh punter Bobby Walden during the week.
But Seiple literally may have run the Dolphins back into the Super Bowl. His fake kick and 37-yard dash in the second quarter got Miami back into its eventual 21-17 American Football Conference championship victory over the Steelers.
“I guess it must have looked pretty stupid to the fans here, and those watching on television,” Seiple said. “Three Steelers were running ahead of me, actually going down to block for the punt return, and it was just like they were out there blocking for me.”
Seiple finally was dropped at the Pittsburgh 12. Two plays later Larry Csonka took a nine-yard pass from Earl Morrall for a touchdown, and Garo Yepremian’s placekick tied it at 7-7.
“I should have scored,” Seiple said. “But like an idiot, I cut outside instead of going to the inside, down near the goal line.
Seiple was drafted as a running back in 1967. Among active Dolphins, only offensive tackle Norm Evans and receiver Howard Twilley have been around longer than the 6-2, 210-pounder.
“I’ve pulled the fake kick maybe 12 or 13 or 14 times with the Dolphins and I’ve only failed to make a first down twice,” Seiple said. “One was in a regular-season game against Buffalo a long time ago when they were beating us pretty bad. The last time I even tried it was in a preseason game against San Francisco last year, and I missed then.
“Coach [Don] Shula always tells me it’s all right — as long as I make a first down. I’m strictly on my own. Yeah, Shula said something to me when I came out of there today. But I was so happy and excited I don’t have any idea what he said.”
Seiple hadn’t even been aware of how many yards he needed for a first down — seven — when he went back to kick. “I saw an outside rush coming, but that isn’t the key. The keys are the men in the middle who usually wait. And the Steelers didn’t wait. They were turning to go back downfield to help with the return. So I took off. Heck, my own team didn’t even know I was running.”
Seiple said he had considered the gambit last week against Cleveland. “But it was a playoff game, and it was too close late in the game for me to try it. I’ve always been too scared to try it in a playoff.”
Somebody asked Seiple if he weren’t taking a lot on himself with such a risky play. “I didn’t have time to think about it today. It’s something you decide in a split second. Anyway, I know I can hold my own as a runner. I’m not great but I’m not bad. A lot of guys can outrun me. This thing is just a matter of timing.”
It took a slick trick like that for the Dolphins to win their way into Super Bowl VII in Los Angeles (Jan. 14) against a Washington team that beat them 27-24 in a preseason game.
These Steelers weren’t accidental contenders.
They were the real article. They proved they can go head to head against anybody. But the Dolphins’ extension of their strike to 16 triumphs showed that wasn’t any fluke either.
It also underlined Shula’s insistence on overall balance — offense, defense and special teams. Afterward, Shula refused to say it was Miami’s best game of the year: “We beat everybody we had to as they came up.”
I thought it definitely was their best full game against an outstanding team.
Shula hedged on his choice of a starting quarterback for the Super Bowl: Sunday’s starter Earl Morrall or Sunday’s winner Bob Griese. But you wouldn’t get much of a price against Griese after he whisked the Dolphins out of their 7-7 halftime tie,
“I’ll make a decision on that Wednesday when we go back to work for the Super Bowl,” Shula said.
More than likely, Griese decided for him. Griese’s right lower leg and ankle, racked up Oct. 15 against San Diego, is almost back to 100 per cent. By Super Bowl VII it should be as sound as ever.
For perhaps the 10,000th time during the season, Shula was pressed as to the “pressure” of the historic winning streak.
“All we want to be now is 1-and-0,” he beamed. “But honestly we’ve never really felt the pressure of a streak. We’ve never gone around sticking out our chests and saying, ‘We’re 8-and-O’ or ‘We’re 13-and 0.’”
And what about the satisfaction of this entry into the Super Bowl compared with last year’s?
“I wouldn’t say any more or any less. I don’t want to take anything away from the great season we had last year although Dallas beat us 24-3 in the Super Bowl.
“It’s two different things. Last year we were proud to win the AFC title over the defending Super Bowl champion, Baltimore. Now it’s more a question of getting back to the Super Bowl and winning it for the first time.”
Shula’s employer, managing partner Joe Robbie, left no doubt as to which season has been more satisfying to him.
“I’ve always said it’s harder to stay a champion than to get to be one,” Robbie grinned. “This year we were unbeaten, scored more points than anybody, and gave up less than last year.
“And today we won when there probably was an uneasy feeling among our fans after we just got by Cleveland 20-14 in the first playoff.
“I do think there’s a greater national affection for both these teams — Dolphins and Steelers — than any others among those fans who don’t have their ‘own’ teams. It’s because they’re the two Cinderella teams of pro football.”
Robbie said Sunday was only the second time he’d ever rooted against the Steelers and their beloved owner, Art Rooney. “Rooney’s a great human being, but I had to root against him last week when they finally beat Oakland, because if Oakland had won, we would have played today’s game in Miami.
“And today, well...” He didn’t have to answer that.
“Hey!” Robbie shouted. “We set another record. We’re the only team ever to win two AFC championships in one year. We won the first one over Baltimore on Jan. 2, 1972. And this one was Dec. 31, 1972, I’ll bet that’s a record that’ll never be broken.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 8:15 AM.