Super Bowl XVII — 1982 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

John Riggins, RB, Washington Redskins

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Note: Washington ran a true one-back offense that game - John Riggins was the lone backfield starter (a 38-carry, 166-yard, 1-TD performance including a famous 43-yard fourth-and-one touchdown run), with no starting fullback, not a missing data point. Miami's David Woodley was relieved late by Don Strock (0/3 per the box score, not included above).

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl XVII, played at the end of a strike-shortened nine-game 1982 regular season, brought the Washington Redskins their first NFL championship since 1942 as they rallied past the Miami Dolphins 27-17 behind a legendary performance from 33-year-old fullback John Riggins. The game also completed a decade-long arc of revenge for Washington, which had lost to these same Dolphins 14-7 in Super Bowl VII ten years earlier -- this time the previous loser prevailed. Miami dominated the first half, building a 17-10 lead on a 76-yard touchdown catch by Jimmy Cefalo and a spectacular 98-yard kickoff-return touchdown by Fulton Walker, the first kickoff-return score in Super Bowl history. Washington controlled the entire second half, however, scoring 17 unanswered points while limiting Miami to just 47 offensive plays and 176 total yards for the game, with the Dolphins managing only two first downs over the final 30 minutes. The turning point came with Washington trailing 17-13 and facing fourth-and-1 at Miami's 43-yard line with just over ten minutes remaining: on coach Joe Gibbs's "I-Right 70 Chip" call, Riggins took a handoff, broke through a gap after cornerback Don McNeal slipped off his tackle attempt, and rumbled 43 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, giving Washington its first lead of the game at 20-17. Riggins finished with a Super Bowl-record 166 rushing yards on 38 carries and 181 yards from scrimmage -- more offense, remarkably, than Miami's entire team produced (176 total yards) -- and was a unanimous choice for Super Bowl MVP. Quarterback Joe Theismann complemented Riggins's workhorse effort by completing 15 of 23 passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns, including a score to Charlie Brown. On the other side, Miami's Fulton Walker set Super Bowl records for kickoff-return yardage (190 yards on four returns, a 47.5-yard average) but could not sustain the Dolphins' offense, as quarterback David Woodley was limited to just 4 of 17 passing for 97 yards and completed no passes at all over the game's final 40 minutes. The victory carried outsized significance for a Washington roster built heavily around undrafted free agents -- 26 players on the roster had gone unselected in the NFL Draft, nicknamed the "Ragtag Regiment" or "Hogs" for the dominant offensive line that paved Riggins's path -- and for a franchise that had not tasted a championship in 40 years. It also stood as just the second Super Bowl rematch in history, following Steelers-Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII, and further validated coach Joe Gibbs's ground-oriented offensive philosophy, built around a punishing offensive line, that would help Washington capture two more Super Bowl titles over the following decade. For Miami, the loss began a string of near-misses that would keep the franchise out of the Super Bowl winner's circle for the remainder of the Dan Marino era.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Super Bowl XVII
• Pro-Football-Reference: Super Bowl Game Summaries