{"id":56289,"date":"2022-08-25T19:14:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T19:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-inside-story-of-the-only-perfect-season-in-nfl-history\/"},"modified":"2022-08-25T19:14:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T19:14:00","slug":"the-inside-story-of-the-only-perfect-season-in-nfl-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-inside-story-of-the-only-perfect-season-in-nfl-history\/","title":{"rendered":"The inside story of the only perfect season in NFL history"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“People believe in what they want to believe in,” said Mercury Morris, one of the running backs on that Dolphins team. “But it didn’t happen. I’ll toast to that.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to safety Dick Anderson, the truth dates back to late November 1991, when an 11-0 Washington team fell to the Dallas Cowboys, guaranteeing the ’72 Dolphins would remain, for another season — the 19th, at the time — the only team in NFL history to have a perfect season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Three Dolphins legends — Anderson, quarterback Bob Griese and linebacker Nick Buoniconti — lived on the same block in Coral Gables, Florida. They decided two days before the Washington-Dallas game that remaining the only residents of perfectville<\/em> was worth celebrating. So when Washington lost, they met in one of their driveways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“I walked outside and brought a champagne bottle. The three of us — Nick, Griese, myself — met up, drank and clicked glasses. But the thing is, we did it just one time,” Anderson said. “And it’s been quite some time since we’ve done a champagne toast.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Griese added: “That was the only time we did it. We were just walking around the neighborhood. One guy had a glass, then two guys had a glass, then three guys had a glass.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Anderson remembers bringing a bottle of champagne to a Dolphins game in 1998 to celebrate with a handful of former teammates that the final undefeated team that year — the Denver Broncos — its first loss. But nearly every year since, Anderson said, they mark those moments with family and make calls, texts or emails with teammates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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“My dad loved talking about that season, and he loved when people talked about it,” said Dave Shula, receivers coach at Dartmouth and the son of late Dolphins head coach Don Shula. “But I often get asked what those parties were like when the last undefeated team lost? Well, they didn’t happen.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Left tackle Doug Crusan added: “When the last team loses, I do bourbon at home. I don’t drink champagne. I guess that breaks the tradition.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The reality is, only three players from that Dolphins team — Anderson, Morris and guard Larry Little — still live in Miami-Dade County. Only a few more live in South Florida. They have been spread out for decades, in places ranging from Alaska to Iowa to rural Georgia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But in late October — ahead of the Dolphins’ showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football<\/em> in Week 7 — members of the team will reunite for a special 50th anniversary celebration. A toast to perfection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The 1972 Miami Dolphins accomplished something that no one else has matched, winning every regular-season game on their schedule (there were 14 at the time) and<\/em> all three playoff games, including Super Bowl VII. Before the spotlight shines on them again, I wanted to get an up-close view of what this team was and how it achieved the impossible. I talked with 20 people who either played on the team or were intimately familiar with it about the untold stories, the games that defined the campaign, the Hall of Fame coach, life after perfection and the other memories they will cherish.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“People believe in what they want to believe in,” said Mercury Morris, one of the running backs on that Dolphins team. “But it didn’t happen. I’ll toast to that.” According to safety Dick Anderson, the truth dates back to late November 1991, when an 11-0 Washington team fell to the Dallas Cowboys, guaranteeing the ’72 …<\/p>\n

The inside story of the only perfect season in NFL history<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56667,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/unc-devonta-smith-catches-up-with-his-crimson-tide-nephew\/","url_meta":{"origin":56289,"position":0},"title":"Unc DeVonta Smith catches up with his Crimson Tide nephew","date":"August 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Miami wide receiver Jaylen Waddle hasn't done much in practice since the Dolphins' joint workouts with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two weeks ago. 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