The Dolphins continued their undefeated campaign in the postseason, beating the Cleveland Browns in the Divisional Round and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game to set up Super Bowl VII against Washington. In the Dolphins’ ensuing 14-7 victory, Fernandez led Miami with six credited tackles (17, unofficially) and a sack against Billy Kilmer, and the Dolphins defense didn’t allow a single point.
Though Fernandez was a top contender to be lauded with Super Bowl MVP honors, the award went to safety Jake Scott, who picked off Kilmer twice.
“To be honest, I don’t remember the end of the game,” Fernandez told Wolfe. “I don’t remember the party after the game. I got a concussion the last 10 minutes of the game. I looked at my wife when I woke up in the morning and asked her, ‘How did we do?’ I had no recollection of the whole evening. Watching the film later, it was like a flare pass.
“The play was … to (Washington running back) Larry Brown. I was the first one to get to him. He almost got free, and I was trying to get him down. Then Nick Buoniconti came in and tried to finish it, and his helmet speared me right in the temple. I got up on my feet. I was wobbly. I got up into the Redskins’ huddle. Nick had to get me back into our huddle. … It wasn’t my first concussion. But I’m happy to say, nowadays, my mind is all good. I’m still recovering from other playing injuries — nine back and three shoulder surgeries — but my mind is good. And we had the greatest team of all time.”
Fernandez and the Dolphins made it back to the Super Bowl in 1973, losing two games along the way but once again claiming the Lombardi Trophy, this time with a win over the Minnesota Vikings. Miami also once again led the league in scoring defense, holding regular-season opponents to 10.7 PPG.
“We didn’t do it with smoke and mirrors. We did it with great players and coaches,” Fernandez told Wolfe. “Our worst players were better than some team’s best players. They had your back, and you had to do your best to have their back. We would talk s— to each other. But we didn’t let anybody talk s— about us.”
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