‘72 Dolphins complete regular-season sweep of stubborn Buffalo Bills

DOLPHINS 30, BILLS 16 (Nov. 5, 1972)

Just two weeks after grinding out a close win over the inferior Bills in the Orange Bowl, the Dolphins traveled to Buffalo expecting another inspired effort from the 2-5 Bills and got it.

Battling the extremely muddy and sloppy conditions of War Memorial Stadium, Miami led by just three points at the half (16-13) before pulling away in the second half to a two-touchdown victory..

The sloppy conditions actually might have played right into the Dolphins’ hands as an already run-heavy offense led by Mercury Morris, Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick took advantage of the conditions. When the day was done, 254 of Miami’s 327 total yards came on the ground, Morris leading the way with 106 yards and two scores while Csonka and Kiick combined for 135 more.

For the third week in a row since Bob Griese went down, backup quarterback Earl Morrall did a solid job of just managing the game without putting up any kind of gaudy numbers (he was 5 of 14 for 89 yards on this day), relying on the strong running attack of his offense.

The Dolphins fell behind 6-3 in the first quarter when Buffalo quarterback Dennis Shaw found running back Randy Jackson for a 13-yard scoring toss, but Miami responded quickly with a six-play, 62-yard drive as Morris bolted for a 22-yard score as the first quarter ended to make it 10-6 and the Dolphins would lead the rest of the way

. Garo Yepremian added two short field goals in the second quarter to make it 16-6 before Morrall made his only mistake of the day, an interception by Tony Greene that Greene returned 39 yards for a touchdown 2:01 before halftime.

The Dolphins got control of the game back by taking the second-half kickoff and driving 80 yards in 11 plays to go back in front 23-13. The ground attack shined on this drive as the first 10 plays were all rushes by Csonka, Kiick or Morris before Morrall dropped back and tossed a 7-yard scoring pass to tight end Marv Fleming.

After a John Leypoldt field goal got Buffalo within seven at the end of the third quarter, Miami slam dunked win No. 8 when Jake Scott picked off a Shaw pass midway through the fourth and the Dolphins turned the short field into a 4-yard Morris TD with 3:55 left to end the scoring.

“Even though we failed to capitalize on some great scoring opportunities early in the ball game and had to settle for field goals, overall I thought we did a good job today,” Dolphins coach Don Shula said after the game. “I think the turning point of the game was our opening drive of the second half. After they had gotten some momentum before halftime with the interception return for a touchdown, we went on the long touchdown drive to go back up by 10 and get the momentum back.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 8:15 AM.