1978 Miami Dolphins season

The 1978 Miami Dolphins season was the franchise's 9th season in the National Football League, the 13th overall, and the 9th under head coach Don Shula. The team returned to the NFL playoffs for the first time since 1974, with an 11–5 record. Quarterback Bob Griese missed the first seven games due to a knee injury. The Dolphins got off to a 5–2 start behind back-up Don Strock. Upon Griese's return, the Dolphins earned a berth to the playoffs as a Wild Card. Helping to lead the Dolphins back to the postseason was Running Back Delvin Williams who set a team record with 1,258 yards rushing on the season. In the first playoff game involving two Wild Cards, the Dolphins were stunned 17–9 by the Houston Oilers at the Orange Bowl. In the process the Dolphins set two notable records: scoring first in all but one of their sixteen regular season games,^[1] and never trailing at any point in eleven games.^[2] The former record was equalled by the 2004 Patriots, and the latter was beaten by the 2005 Colts.

1978 Miami Dolphins season
Owner	Joe Robbie
General manager	Mike Robbie
Head coach	Don Shula
Home stadium	Miami Orange Bowl
Results
Record	11–5
Division place	2nd AFC East
Playoffs	Lost Wild Card Playoffs (vs. Oilers) 9–17
Pro Bowlers	2 DT Bob Baumhower SS Tim Foley
← 1977 Dolphins seasons 1979 →

The Dolphins playing against the Houston Oilers in the 1978 AFC wild card game.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1978 NFL draft

1978 Miami Dolphins draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
2	51	Guy Benjamin	Quarterback	Stanford
3	64	Lyman Smith	Defensive tackle	Duke
3	81	Jimmy Cefalo	Wide receiver	Penn State
4	93	Gerald Small	Cornerback	San Jose State
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

1978 Miami Dolphins staff

Front office President – Joe Robbie Vice President – Don Shula Executive Vice-President - Mike Robbie Head coaches Head coach – Don Shula Offensive coaches Offense/Receivers/Passing Game – Howard Schnellenberger Offensive Backs – Carl Taseff Offensive Line/Running Game – John Sandusky

Defensive coaches Assistant head coach/Defense – Bill Arnsparger Defensive Line/Run Defense – Mike Scarry Defensive Backs – Tom Keane Special teams coaches Special Teams – Carl Taseff Punting – Tom Keane

Roster

1978 Miami Dolphins roster

Quarterbacks (QB)  7 Guy Benjamin 12 Bob Griese 10 Don Strock Running backs (RB) 34 Jim Braxton 31 Norm Bulaich 27 Gary Davis 38 Leroy Harris 24 Delvin Williams Wide receivers (WR) 81 Jimmy Cefalo 82 Duriel Harris 89 Nat Moore 85 Bo Rather Tight ends (TE) 84 Bruce Hardy 80 Loaird McCreary 87 Andre Tillman

Offensive linemen (OL) 71 Mike Current T 67 Bob Kuechenberg G 68 Eric Laakso G/T 62 Jim Langer C 66 Larry Little G 60 Melvin Mitchell G 79 Wayne Moore T 65 Wally Pesuit C Defensive linemen (DL) 76 John Alexander DE 78 Carl Barisich NT 73 Bob Baumhower NT 75 Doug Betters DE 83 Vern Den Herder DE 77 A. J. Duhe DE

Linebackers (LB) 58 Kim Bokamper OLB 51 Rusty Chambers ILB 57 Sean Clancy OLB 50 Larry Gordon OLB 53 Bob Matheson ILB 55 Earnie Rhone ILB 56 Steve Towle ILB Defensive backs (DB) 49 Charlie Babb FS 44 Charles Cornelius CB 25 Tim Foley SS 45 Curtis Johnson CB 48 Gerald Small CB 41 Norris Thomas CB 21 Rick Volk FS Special teams (ST)  4 George Roberts P  1 Garo Yepremian K

Reserve 63 Mark Dennard C (IR) 88 Lloyd Henry WR (IR) 64 Ed Newman G (IR) 36 Don Nottingham RB (IR) 70 Bob Simpson DE (IR) 74 Steve Young T (IR) Rookies in italics

Standings

1978 AFC East standings
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
New England Patriots(2)	11	5	0	.688	6–2	9–3	358	286	L1
Miami Dolphins(4)	11	5	0	.688	5–3	8–4	372	254	W3
New York Jets	8	8	0	.500	6–2	7–5	359	364	L2
Buffalo Bills	5	11	0	.313	2–6	4–10	302	354	W1
Baltimore Colts	5	11	0	.313	1–7	3–9	240	421	L5

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Recap
1	September 3	at New York Jets	L 20–33	0–1	Shea Stadium	Recap
2	September 10	at Baltimore Colts	W 42–0	1–1	Memorial Stadium	Recap
3	September 17	Buffalo Bills	W 31–24	2–1	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
4	September 24	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 3–17	2–2	Veterans Stadium	Recap
5	October 1	St. Louis Cardinals	W 24–10	3–2	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
6	October 9	Cincinnati Bengals	W 21–0	4–2	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
7	October 15	at San Diego Chargers	W 28–21	5–2	San Diego Stadium	Recap
8	October 22	at New England Patriots	L 24–33	5–3	Schaefer Stadium	Recap
9	October 29	Baltimore Colts	W 26–8	6–3	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
10	November 5	Dallas Cowboys	W 23–16	7–3	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
11	November 12	at Buffalo Bills	W 25–24	8–3	Rich Stadium	Recap
12	November 20	at Houston Oilers	L 30–35	8–4	Astrodome	Recap
13	November 26	New York Jets	L 13–24	8–5	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
14	December 3	at Washington Redskins	W 16–0	9–5	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	Recap
15	December 10	Oakland Raiders	W 23–6	10–5	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
16	December 18	New England Patriots	W 23–3	11–5	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap

Results

Week 3

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Bills	0	7	3	14	24
• Dolphins	7	7	10	7	31

• Date: September 17
• Location: Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida
• Game start: 4:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 82 °F (28 °C); Wind 12 mph (19 km/h)

Scoring summary

1		MIA	Leroy Harris 4 yard run (Garo Yepremian kick)	MIA 7–0
2		BUF	Terry Miller 1 yard run (Tom Dempsey kick)	Tie 7–7
2		MIA	Andre Tillman 6 yard pass from Don Strock (Garo Yepremian kick)	MIA 14–7
3		MIA	Garo Yepremian 49 yard field goal	MIA 17–7
3		BUF	Tom Dempsey 46 yard field goal	MIA 17–10
3		MIA	Gary Davis 65 yard run (Garo Yepremian kick)	MIA 24–10
4		BUF	Frank Lewis 92 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (Tom Dempsey kick)	MIA 24–17
4		MIA	Delvin Williams 18 yard run (Garo Yepremian kick)	MIA 31–17
4		BUF	Roland Hooks 4 yard pass from Joe Ferguson (Tom Dempsey kick)	MIA 31–24

^[3]

Playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent (seed)	Result	Record	Venue	Recap
Wild Card	December 24	Houston Oilers (5)	L 9–17	0–1	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap

AFC Wildcard Playoff (Sunday December 24, 1978): vs. Houston Oilers

Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Oilers	7	0	0	10	17
Dolphins	7	0	0	2	9

at Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

• Game time: 4:00 pm EST
• Game weather: 77 °F (25 °C), relative humidity 78%, wind 12 mph (19 km/h)
• Game attendance: 70,036
• Referee: Dick Jorgensen
• TV announcers (NBC): Dick Enberg and Len Dawson

Game information
Scoring MIA – Tillman 13 pass from Griese (Yepremian kick) MIA 7–0 HOU – Wilson 13 pass from Pastorini (Fritsch kick) 7–7 HOU – field goal Fritsch 35 HOU 10–7 HOU – Campbell 1 run (Fritsch kick) HOU 17–7 MIA – Safety, Pastorini ran out of end zone HOU 17–9

Awards and honors

Milestones