The VI Super Bowl took place at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 16, 1972. The teams were the Miami Dolphins against the Dallas Cowboys. CBS estimated the viewer ship of this game to be the top rated one day telecast ever, Super Bowl VI was seen in an approximated 27,450,000 homes. The Cowboys were on a roll, head coach Tom Landry had the Cowboys in the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year, also having won eight-consecutive games, including playoff victories over Minnesota, 20-12, and San Francisco, 14-3, and after settling on Roger Staubach as the starting quarterback. The Cowboys were not without support in high places. Lyndon B. Johnson, Mr. Nixon's predecessor in the White House, assured Landry by telegram, "My prayers and my presence will be with you in New Orleans, although I don't plan to send in any plays." The Cowboys' route to their second consecutive Super Bowl was similar to their path of the previous year.

With Landry calling the plays, Roger Staubach and Craig Morton alternated at quarterback for the first seven games, three of them losses. Once Landry settled on Staubach as his field general, things improved dramatically and the Cowboys won their last eight games, including playoff victories over Minnesota, 20-12, and San Francisco, 14-3. Their leading ball carrier was Duane Thomas, who gained 793 yards in 175 carries during a turbulent season that began when Thomas, reacting to management's refusal to tear up the last two years of his three-year contract, missed a practice and was fined. The Dolphins, in their second season under Shula, opened the schedule with a 10-10 tie with Denver, then defeated Buffalo, lost to the Jets and ran off eight consecutive victories before suffering defeats by New England and Baltimore. In the playoffs, the Dolphins defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 27-24, in a double overtime classic that has been called the finest football game ever played, and wrapped up the conference title with a 21-0 victory over the Colts. The Dolphins were young and wide-eyed, with 32 of their 44 players between the ages of 24 and 26. Their ground attack revolved around "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," otherwise known as Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka. The pair, somebody thought, bore resemblances to the leading characters in a then-popular movie. "We're two of a kind," conceded Kiick. "We enjoy running over people. We like to hit. Larry really runs over people. I feel sorry for those defensive backs who have to stop him.

He destroys them. I can't really run over them because of my size. "I get as much satisfaction when Larry has a good game running with the ball as I do myself. If he's running well it means I'm blocking well. Because Larry's so big, people get the idea that he's slow, but just watch him when he runs to the outside." The Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys took the field, in front of 81,023 fans in 39-degree temperature at Tulane Stadium. 20,000 balloons were released and eight F-4 Phantom jets streaked over the stadium as the Air Force Academy Chorus sang the National Anthem. The Cowboys received their first big break of the game when fullback Larry Csonka, who had not fumbled all season, missed the handoff from Griese. Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley recovered the fumble at the Cowboy's 46-yard line, which the offense turned into a nine-yard field goal toward the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter the Cowboys marched 76 yards in eight plays and Staubach put the ball across the goal line with a seven-yard pass to Lance Alworth.

The Cowboys were up 10-0 with 1:15 remaining in the first half. The Dolphins managed to use the rest of the clock wisely and moved the ball into position for Garo Yepremian to kick a 31-yard field goal with four seconds left. Dallas converted Chuck Howley's recovery of Larry Csonka's first fumble of the season into a 3-0 advantage and led at halftime 10-3. After Dallas received the second-half kickoff, Duane Thomas led a 71-yard march in eight plays for a 17-3 margin. Howley intercepted Bob Griese's pass at the 50 and returned it to the Miami 9 early in the fourth period, and three plays later Roger Staubach passed 7 yards to Mike Ditka for the final touchdown. Thomas rushed for 95 yards and Walt Garrison gained 74. Roger Staubach, was voted the game's Most Valuable Player (MVP), completed 12 of 19 passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns. The Cowboys rushed for a record 252 yards and their defense limited the Dolphins to a low of 185 yards while not permitting a touchdown for the first time in Super Bowl history. The score was cowboys 24, dolphins 3. After the game shula said "My biggest disappointment was that we never challenged. The completely dominated." That about summed it up for a game was not as close as the score.