‘72 Dolphins coast to a 52-0 shutout against the Patriots in a milestone win for Shula
DOLPHINS 52, PATRIOTS 0 (Nov. 12, 1972)
After two weeks on the road, Miami was back in the Orange Bowl to host the cellar-dwelling 2-6 New England Patriots. The unbeaten Dolphins were heavy favorites going in and showed why as raced to a 31-0 halftime lead and only poured it on from there, winning by a 52-0 final.
To this day, it still holds as the largest margin of victory in team history. But it also turned out to be a special day for Don Shula as it marked the head coach’s 100th career regular-season victory. And with that, after winning 71 games from 1963-69 in Baltimore, Shula became the first head coach in NFL history to get to 100 wins in his first 10 seasons.
“The talk all week has been on the 100th victory, and I’m happy to get it because no one has done it within 10 years but I’m glad it’s over,” said Shula after the game. “Now we can start counting Dolphins victories instead of coaching victories.”
For only the second time all season, the run-first, pass-second Dolphins actually finished the game with more passing yards (301) than rushing yards (182) while the defense pitched its second shutout of the season and third in franchise history by sacking quarterback Jim Plunkett four times, intercepting him three times (Jake Scott, Dick Anderson and Charlie Babb) and holding the Pats offense to just 169 total yards.
Mercury Morris scored three of Miami’s four first-half touchdowns on scoring runs of 4, 4 and 6 yards and finished the day as Miami’s leading rusher with 90 yards on 16 carries.
Even backup quarterback Jim Del Gaizo got in on the action. After Earl Morrall hit Marlin Briscoe with a 16-yard touchdown (following Scott’s interception and 31-yard return) midway through the third quarter, Del Gaizo entered in what would be his only playing time all season and threw for 142 yards and two scores.
Now at 9-0, it was at this point that the talk of a possible undefeated season began to filter in.
“We don’t feel any pressure being unbeaten,” Shula said. “Our goal is to win the world championship. That’s what were hoping to do with this football team. If during the course of the year all these other things fit into that, fine.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 8:15 AM.