In 1974, one sudden death overtime period (15 minutes) was added to all preseason and regular season games; if no team scored in this period, the game would result in a tie. This rule was enacted to decrease the number of tie games. Goal posts were moved from the goal line to the end line, where they were in 1932. This was to reduce the number of games being decided on field goals, and to increase their difficulty, as well as to reduce the risk of player injuries. Division winners in the AFC were Miami in the East, Pittsburgh in the Central, and Oakland in the West, with the Wild-Card going to Buffalo. In the NFC, it was St.Louis in the East, Minnesota in the Central, and Los Angeles in the West, with the Wild-Card going to Washington. In the first round of the playoffs, in a play that became known as the Sea of Hands, the Raiders' Clarence Davis somehow caught the winning touchdown pass with 24 seconds left in the game among "the sea of hands" of three Dolphins defenders. Ken Stabler dropped back to pass and looked for Biletnikoff in the end zone, but he was tightly covered. With Dolphins defensive end Vern Den Herder dragging him down, Stabler
threw a desperate pass to the left side of the end zone into a "sea of hands," where Davis fought his way through the Dolphins defenders to make the touchdown catch. This miraculous play would give the Raiders a hard fought 28-26 victory over the two-time defending champion Miami Dolphins, and would effectively end the Miami Dynasty. Following the 1974 season, Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Paul Warfield would leave the Miami Dolphins and join the Memphis Southmen of the WFL. Although Miami was a good team in 1975, they were no longer a serious Super Bowl contender. In the other AFC playoff game, the Pittsburgh Steelers officially began their dynasty with a convincing win over the Buffalo Bills 32-14. In the NFC, Los Angeles beat Washington 19-10, while Minnesota took care of St.Louis 30-14. In the conference championship games, the Vikings beat the Rams 14-10 and the Steelers beat the Raiders 24-13, setting up the match-up for Super Bowl IX. The game was played on January 12, 1975 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. The first half of Super Bowl IX was a defensive struggle, with the lone score being the first safety in Super Bowl history when
Tarkenton was downed in his own end zone. The Steelers then recovered a fumble on the second half kickoff, and scored on fullback Franco Harris's 9-yard run. The Vikings cut the score, 9–6, early in the fourth quarter by recovering a blocked punt in Pittsburgh's end zone for a touchdown, but the Steelers then drove 66 yards on their ensuing possession to score on Larry Brown's 4-yard touchdownreception to put the game out of reach 16-6, and claim Super Bowl IX and the NFL Championship.