Sunday December 24, 1972
. . . where the 1970s live forever!

All NFL game summaries for 12/24/1972:



Jim Kiick scored the winning touchdown on an eight-yard run as Miami came from behind in the fourth quarter to nip Cleveland 20-14 for its fifteenth straight victory. The Miami defense intercepted five of Mike Phipps' passes, two each by Doug Swift and Dick Anderson and one by Curtis Johnson. Charlie Babb, a rookie, blocked a Don Cockroft punt in the first quarter and carried the ball in for a touchdown.

The Dolphins led 10-0 at halftime and 13-7 early in the final period before Phipps hit Fair Hooker with a 27-yard touchdown pass to put Cleveland ahead for the first time. Kiick's winning score climaxed a drive featured by a great catch by Paul Warfield and a costly interference penalty against the Browns. A final Cleveland threat ended with Swift's second interception in the closing seconds.

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

TeamRush Yds/GmPass Yds/GmTot Yds/GmTurnovers
OFFENSE128.1  (19)136.9  (21)264.9  (19)28
DEFENSE166.6  (24)124.0  (2)290.6  (16)29
OFFENSE211.4  (1)148.3  (17)359.7  (1)28
DEFENSE110.6  (3)124.9  (4)235.5  (1)47

Line: n/a

Team1234F
Cleveland Browns (10-5-0)007714
Miami Dolphins (15-0-0)10001020

( 0- 7) MIA Charlie Babb 5 yard return of blocked punt (Garo Yepremian kick) ( 0-10) MIA Garo Yepremian 40 yard field goal ( 7-10) CLE Mike Phipps 5 yard rush (Don Cockroft kick) ( 7-13) MIA Garo Yepremian 46 yard field goal (14-13) CLE Fair Hooker 27 yard pass from Mike Phipps (Don Cockroft kick) (14-20) MIA Jim Kiick 8 yard rush (Garo Yepremian kick)
                     CLE             MIA
First Downs:         15              17
Rushes-yards:        32-165          47-198
Yards/rush:          5.2             4.2
Comp-Att-Yd-INT:     9-23-131-5      6-13-88-0
Sacked-yards:        2-13            4-14
Net pass yards:      118             74
Net yards/pass:      4.7             4.4
Total net yards:     283             272
Total plays:         57 (56% run)    64 (73% run)  
Yards/play:          5.0             4.2
Fumbles-lost:        2-0             2-2
Turnovers:           5               2
Penalties-yards:     3-25            3-25

Attendance: 78,196

Passing:
CLE: Mike Phipps, 9 of 23 for 131 yards and 1 TD (5 int) MIA: Earl Morrall, 6 of 13 for 88 yards
Rushing:
CLE: Bo Scott, 16 for 94 yards; Mike Phipps, 8 for 47 yards and 1 TD; Ken Brown, 4 for 13 yards; Leroy Kelly, 4 for 11 yards MIA: Mercury Morris, 15 for 72 yards; Jim Kiick, 14 for 50 yards and 1 TD; Larry Csonka, 12 for 32 yards; Earl Morrall, 4 for 3 yards; Paul Warfield, 2 for 41 yards
Receiving:
CLE: Bo Scott, 4 for 30 yards; Fair Hooker, 3 for 53 yards and 1 TD; Leroy Kelly, 1 for 27 yards; Milt Morin, 1 for 21 yards MIA: Howard Twilley, 3 for 33 yards; Paul Warfield, 2 for 50 yards; Jim Kiick, 1 for 5 yards
Kick returns:
CLE: Billy Lefear, 3 for 56 yards
Punt returns:
CLE: Thom Darden, 1 for 38 yards; Leroy Kelly, 1 for 8 yards MIA: Jake Scott, 1 for -1 yards
Interceptions:
MIA: Doug Swift, 2 for 19 yards; Dick Anderson, 2 for 12 yards; Curtis Johnson, 1 for 33 yards
Punting:
CLE: Don Cockroft, 5 for 208 yards MIA: Larry Seiple, 5 for 210 yards
Field Goals:
MIA: Garo Yepremian, 2/4


Curt Knight kicked three field goals and Billy Kilmer threw a touchdown pass to Roy Jefferson to lead Washington into the NFC finals with a 16-3 victory over Green Bay. The Redskins used a five-man defensive line and shut down the Packers' running game, holding John Brockington, a 1,000-yard runner, to nine yards on 13 carries. Larry Brown, who sat out the last two regular season games, carried 25 times for 101 yards, the seventh time he had gained over 100 yards this season. Chester Marcol's 17-yard field goal early in the second quarter put the Packers out front, but the Kilmer-to-Jefferson touchdown pass late in the same period gave the Redskins a lead they never yielded.

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

TeamRush Yds/GmPass Yds/GmTot Yds/GmTurnovers
OFFENSE151.9  (7)100.9  (25)252.8  (22)19
DEFENSE108.4  (2)139.8  (8)248.1  (2)36
OFFENSE148.7  (10)163.8  (11)312.5  (7)26
DEFENSE123.8  (7)133.0  (6)256.8  (4)32

Line: n/a

Team1234F
Green Bay Packers (10-5-0)03003
Washington Redskins (12-3-0)0100616

( 3- 0) GB Chester Marcol 17 yard field goal ( 3- 7) WAS Roy Jefferson 32 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick) ( 3-10) WAS Curt Knight 42 yard field goal ( 3-13) WAS Curt Knight 35 yard field goal ( 3-16) WAS Curt Knight 46 yard field goal
                     GB              WAS
First Downs:         10              13
Rushes-yards:        29-78           36-138
Yards/rush:          2.7             3.8
Comp-Att-Yd-INT:     12-24-150-1     7-14-100-0
Sacked-yards:        2-17            1-6
Net pass yards:      133             94
Net yards/pass:      5.1             6.3
Total net yards:     211             232
Total plays:         55 (52% run)    51 (70% run)  
Yards/play:          3.8             4.5
Fumbles-lost:        0-0             1-1
Turnovers:           1               1
Penalties-yards:     6-54            4-39

Attendance: 53,140

Passing:
GB: Scott Hunter, 12 of 24 for 150 yards (1 int) WAS: Billy Kilmer, 7 of 14 for 100 yards and 1 TD
Rushing:
GB: MacArthur Lane, 14 for 56 yards; John Brockington, 13 for 9 yards; Scott Hunter, 2 for 13 yards WAS: Larry Brown, 25 for 101 yards; Charlie Harraway, 10 for 34 yards; Billy Kilmer, 1 for 3 yards
Receiving:
GB: MacArthur Lane, 4 for 42 yards; Carroll Dale, 2 for 28 yards; Leland Glass, 2 for 23 yards; John Brockington, 2 for 17 yards; Jon Staggers, 1 for 23 yards; Len Garrett, 1 for 17 yards WAS: Roy Jefferson, 5 for 84 yards and 1 TD; Charley Taylor, 2 for 16 yards
Kick returns:
GB: Ike Thomas, 3 for 50 yards; Bob Hudson, 1 for 12 yards WAS: Herb Mul-Key, 2 for 60 yards
Punt returns:
GB: Jon Staggers, 3 for 20 yards; Ken Ellis, 1 for 13 yards WAS: Alvin Haymond, 2 for 4 yards; Ted Vactor, 1 for 15 yards
Interceptions:
WAS: Chris Hanburger, 1 for 15 yards
Punting:
GB: Ron Widby, 8 for 293 yards WAS: Mike Bragg, 6 for 279 yards
Field Goals:
GB: Chester Marcol, 1/2 WAS: Curt Knight, 3/3


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