Larry Csonka has long been unique. He’s in the Hall of Fame. He was part of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins team. He was one of the toughest players in the history of the league. But he has become something else besides a legendary player. Csonka has become a reminder of the league’s great past.
The legacy of Csonka’s undefeated team remained secure after Kansas City lost to Buffalo on Nov. 17. Those Dolphins remain the only team in the Super Bowl era to complete a full regular season and postseason undefeated.
After Kansas City fell, Csonka posted a photo of himself celebrating how their legacy remains intact. Csonka doesn’t do this to be obnoxious. He does it so people remember the greatness of that team and that generation of football.
And you know what? I’m glad he does it. We all need history lessons. We all need to remember the people who built the league we watch and love today. Sometimes they’re forgotten. Sometimes people think the NFL started with Tom Brady. It didn’t.
To Csonka, the Dolphins’ mark recognizes what he calls the Dolphins’ attention to detail, which he believes most teams that play today can’t match.
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But there’s something bigger in play about that Dolphins team. The league has become a high-tech, ratings machine. It’s slick and ever-present and inevitable. There are good people in the league, on the field and in the league office. At times, though, it feels like a conveyor belt. Some of the games look the same. The NFL is a factory. A wildly successful one. But a factory nonetheless.
This isn’t old man yelling at cloud stuff. Well, sort of. It’s more of an appreciation for what the NFL once was. It was the wildest of wests. There was athleticism but the extreme brutality of the 1970s demanded more precision. You can get away with a mistake if you’re a wide receiver and the defensive back can barely touch you while you’re running your route. It’s a different when the corner could clothesline you.
This team from the land of bellbottoms and disco stays relevant in the era of iPhones and electric cars because they remind us of a league that while it had massive cultural faults, while it didn’t always care about the safety of its players, the game was about details and deep care. Again, there are elements of this now, but then, paying attention to the small things was everything.
“I’d like to tell you our success came down to some great strategic thing,” Csonka told USA TODAY Sports, “but that would be bull—-. For us, it was attention to detail. We worked hard to take care of the smallest things. We really strived for that. That was because of a guy named (Don) Shula.
“For us, that attention to detail didn’t just enhance your play, it enhanced the play of your teammates. You became obsessed with that attention to detail. Also, we became each other’s biggest supporters and critics.”
Does Csonka ever think any team will duplicate what the Dolphins did? “I think it’s less likely as time goes on,” Csonka said. “The number of games keeps increasing, too.”
Actually, to me, the odds are almost zero. The parity is a big reason why. Teams are close in abilities but a bigger reason is what Csonka explained: the increasing number of games. Would anyone be shocked to see the NFL in the coming decades go to a 19 or 20 game season? Not me. There’s too much money involved. At least for now. The more games are added, the threat to Miami’s achievement is reduced almost exponentially.
Csonka has written a book about his career in the league and it perfectly captures his impact on it. You cannot write the history of the league without the ’72 Dolphins and you cannot write the history of the Dolphins without Csonka.
Remember him. Remember this team. We may never see anything like it again.
Ever.