His real legacy---he's the coach you probably didn't want coaching your team in the biggest of the big games:
* Shula's record in championship games, whether pre-merger or the Super Bowl: 2-5. (His 1972-73 Dolphins, of course, but also his 1963-64 Baltimore Colts---against whom a comparatively unknown guy named Frank Ryan matched Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas in a first half shutout, then led the Browns to riddle the Colt defense and score the game's entire 27 points in the second half.)
* Shula's teams were out-scored in championship games, 142-81.
* His teams were out-scored in the second halves of championship games, 91-14.
* In the five championship game losses his teams were out-scored 77-7. (The 7, of course, came very late in Super Bowl III.)
* In five championship games including one his team won (his undefeated Dolphins against the Redskins), Shula's teams were shut out in the second half.
* The total score against Shula's teams in those second-half shutouts: 75-0.
* Maybe the major key: Shula teams were too predictable on defense and Shula either couldn't or wouldn't adjust during the games. (Two key Super Bowl III participants---Jets quarterback Joe Namath and Colts defensive end Bubba Smith---described that very well in their memoirs.)
A good man. A great regular-season coach. But you didn't want him coaching the big game for you.
RIP.
I certainly didn't hate Shula or dislike him, I just thought he was too conservative early on.
He rarely used what I considered one of the top receivers in the league, Paul Warfield.
He had two thousand yard runners, Csonka and Morris, who almost achieved one thousand yards two years in a row, '72 and '73. Morris barely missed getting one thousand yards in '73.
But I still felt Warfield was underused.
Of course, the facts argue against me.
In his first season he turned the Dolphins around and won two consecutive SBs in five years with a strong running game.
So what do I know?
