1974 Miami Dolphins season

The1974 Miami Dolphins seasonwas the franchise's 5th season in theNational Football League,the 9th overall, and the 5th underhead coachDon Shula.The team entered the 1974 season as two-time defendingSuper Bowlchampions. They could not improve on their 12-2 record from last season and finished 11-3. Despite this, the Dolphins finished first in the AFC East for the fourth consecutive season, and they finished with the second best record in the NFL. In the playoffs, the Raiders beat the Dolphins in the AFC Divisional Playoff Game in the famous "Sea of Hands"game.

1974Miami Dolphinsseason
Owner	Joe Robbie
General manager	Mike Robbie
Head coach	Don Shula
Home field	Miami Orange Bowl
Results
Record	11–3
Division place	1stAFC East
Playoff finish	LostDivisional Playoffs (atRaiders)26–28
Pro Bowlers	12 QBBob Griese LTWayne Moore LBNick Buoniconti RBMercury Morris CJim Langer WRPaul Warfield FSJake Scott DEBill Stanfill FBLarry Csonka KGaro Yepremian GLarry Little SSDick Anderson

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article:1974 NFL draft

1974 Miami Dolphins draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	26	Don Reese	Defensive tackle	Jackson State
2	38	Andre Tillman	Tight end	Texas Tech
2	47	Benny Malone	Running back	Arizona State
2	52	Jeris White	Defensive back	Hawaii
3	78	Nat Moore*	Wide receiver	Florida
Made roster*Made at least onePro Bowlduring career

Personnel

Staff

1974 Miami Dolphins staff

Front office President –Joe Robbie Vice President –Don Shula Director of Player Personnel –Bobby Beathard Head coaches Head Coach – Don Shula Offensive coaches Offense –Monte Clark Offense –Bill McPeak Offensive Backs –Carl Taseff Receivers –Bob Schnelker

Defensive coaches Defense –Vince Costello Defensive Line –Mike Scarry Defensive Backs –Tom Keane Special teams coaches None - N/A Strength and conditioning None - N/A

Roster

1974 Miami Dolphins roster

Quarterbacks(QB) 12Bob Griese 15Earl Morrall 10Don Strock Running backs(RB) 21Jim Kiick 39Larry CsonkaFB 32Hubert Ginn 23Charlie LeighFB 32Benny Malone 22Mercury Morris 36Don NottinghamFB Wide receivers(WR) 81Howard Twilley 42Paul Warfield 82Melvin Baker 86Marlin Briscoe 89Nat Moore Tight ends(TE) 88Jim Mandich 80Marv Fleming

Offensive linemen(OL) 79Wayne MooreT 67Bob KuechenbergG 62Jim LangerC 66Larry LittleG 73Norm EvansT 77Doug CrusanT 70Tom FunchessT 55Irv GoodeG 64Ed NewmanG 60Tom WickertT Defensive linemen(DL) 83Vern Den HerderDE 75Manny FernandezDT 72Bob HeinzDT 84Bill StanfillDE 74Randy CrowderDT 65Maulty MooreDT 76Don ReeseDE

Linebackers(LB) 59Doug Swift 85Nick Buoniconti 57Mike Kolen 51Larry Ball 58Bruce Bannon 53Bob Matheson Defensive backs(DB) 25Tim FoleyCB 45Curtis JohnsonCB 40Dick AndersonSS 13Jake ScottFS 49Charlie BabbSS 26Lloyd MumphordCB 48Henry Stuckey 41Jeris WhiteCB Special teams 1Garo YepremianK 20Larry SeipleP

Reserve 87Andre TillmanTE(IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Recap
1	September 15	atNew England Patriots	L24–34	0–1	Schaefer Stadium	Recap
2	September 22	atBuffalo Bills	W24–16	1–1	Rich Stadium	Recap
3	September 29	atSan Diego Chargers	W28 –21	2–1	San Diego Stadium	Recap
4	October 7	New York Jets	W21–17	3–1	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
5	October 13	atWashington Redskins	L17–20	3–2	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	Recap
6	October 20	Kansas City Chiefs	W9–3	4–2	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
7	October 27	Baltimore Colts	W17– 7	5–2	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
8	November 3	Atlanta Falcons	W42–7	6–2	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
9	November 10	atNew Orleans Saints	W21–0	7–2	Tulane Stadium	Recap
10	November 17	Buffalo Bills	W35–28	8–2	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
11	November 24	atNew York Jets	L14–17	8–3	Shea Stadium	Recap
12	December 2	Cincinnati Bengals	W24–3	9–3	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
13	December 8	atBaltimore Colts	W17–16	10–3	Memorial Stadium	Recap
14	December 15	New England Patriots	W34–27	11–3	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Miami Dolphins	11	3	0	.786	6–2	9–2	327	216	W3
Buffalo Bills	9	5	0	.643	5–3	7–4	264	244	L2
New York Jets	7	7	0	.500	4–4	5–6	279	300	W6
New England Patriots	7	7	0	.500	4–4	4–7	348	289	L3
Baltimore Colts	2	12	0	.143	1–7	1–10	190	329	L4

Playoffs

AFC Divisional Playoff

AFC Divisional Playoff: Miami Dolphins at Oakland Raiders – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Dolphins	7	3	6	10	26
Raiders	0	7	7	14	28

atOakland Coliseum,Oakland, California

• Date:December 21, 1974
• Game time:4:00 p.m.EST/1:00 p.m.PST
• Game attendance:53,023
• Referee:Ben Dreith
• TV announcers (NBC):Curt Gowdy,Al DeRogatisandDon Meredith

Game information

Scoring MIA – N. Moore 89 kickoff return (Yepremian kick) MIA 7–0 OAK – C. Smith 31 pass from Stabler (Blanda kick) 7–7 MIA – field goal Yepremian 33 MIA 10–7 OAK – Biletnikoff 13 pass from Stabler (Blanda kick) OAK 14–10 MIA – Warfield 16 pass from Griese (kick failed) MIA 16–14 MIA – field goal Yepremian 46 MIA 19–14 OAK – Branch 72 pass from Stabler (Blanda kick) OAK 21–19 MIA – Malone 23 run (Yepremian kick) MIA 26–21 OAK – Davis 8 pass from Stabler (Blanda kick) OAK 28–26

External links

• 1974 Miami DolphinsatPro-Football-Reference