NFL game summary for 01/16/1972:

Meanwhile, the same question was being asked about his opponent -- Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. After a series of playoff losses in the 1960s, Landry had finally reached the Super Bowl the year before only to have his team play a dreadfully sloppy game and lose on the final play. Ironically, one of the two most successful coaches in football would emerge from the game with the tag "loser" affixed to his name.

In retrospect, Super Bowl VI can be seen as a contest between Shula's not-quite-ready-for-prime-time over-achievers, still a year away from greatness, and Landry's perhaps till then underachievers ready to blossom big time. This Cowboy team had talent, experience, and a new quarterback. Roger Staubach had warmed the bench behind the competent Craig Morton in 1970; in 1971 he took his first steps toward the Pro Football Hall of Fame by earning the game's MVP award.

In the opening quarter, Chuck Howley, the Super Bowl MVP of the previous year, recovered Dolphin Larry Csonka's fumble at midfield. It was Csonka's first fumble of the entire season. Dallas turned it into a nine-yard field goal. The Cowboys put on a dominating, 76-yard drive in the second quarter to move their lead to 10-0. Only one of the ten plays in the drive gained fewer than five yards. The touchdown came on a seven-yard pass from Staubach to Lance Alworth with a minute and 15 seconds to go. That was just enough time for Miami to tighten the score by driving 44 yards to where Garo Yepremian booted a 31-yard field goal as the half ended. That also ended Miami's scoring for the day.

The Cowboys more or less wrapped up the game by taking the second-half kickoff and driving 76 yards to another touchdown in eight plays, seven of which were runs. Duane Thomas, Dallas' leading rusher for the day by running for 95 yards on 19 plays, scored the touchdown on a three-yard dash. The Cowboys shut down the Dolphins throughout the rest of the third quarter, allowing a mere 13 yards on ten plays. Early in the final period, the ubiquitous Howley intercepted a Bob Griese pass and returned it 41 yards to the Miami nine-yard line. Two plays gained two yards and then Staubach threw successfully to Mike Ditka for the final Dallas touchdown.

With the game out of reach, Miami put on a face-saving drive to cross midfield for the only time in the second half. The Dolphins reached the Dallas 16 before Larry Cole recovered a Griese fumble. The Cowboys then drove 79 yards before being thwarted by a fumble of their own. For the day, Dallas rushed for 252 yards. After the game, Shula said, "My biggest disappointment was that we never challenged. They completely dominated." That about summed it up for a game that wasn't as close as the score.

Team stats coming into this game (NFL ranks in parentheses):

Team		Rush Yds/Gm	Pass Yds/Gm	Tot Yds/Gm	Turnovers
	OFFENSE	173.5  (1)	141.6  (19)	315.1  (5)	23
	DEFENSE	118.6  (8)	142.9  (6)	261.5  (5)	30
	OFFENSE	160.6  (3)	199.0  (2)	359.6  (1)	35
	DEFENSE	81.7  (2)	166.0  (19)	247.7  (3)	51

Line: Cowboys by 6

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Miami Dolphins (12-4-1)	0	3	0	0	3
Dallas Cowboys (14-3-0)	3	7	7	7	24

                     MIA             DAL
First Downs:         10              23
Rushes-yards:        20-80           48-252
Yards/rush:          4.0             5.2
Comp-Att-Yd-INT:     12-23-134-1     12-19-119-0
Sacked-yards:        1-29            2-19
Net pass yards:      105             100
Net yards/pass:      4.4             4.8
Total net yards:     185             352
Total plays:         44 (45% run)    69 (69% run)  
Yards/play:          4.2             5.1
Fumbles-lost:        2-2             1-1
Turnovers:           3               1
Penalties-yards:     0-0             3-15

Attendance: 81,023