Super Bowl XII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1977 season. The Cowboys defeated the Broncos by the score of 27–10 to win their second Super Bowl. The game was played on January 15, 1978, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. This was the first time that the Super Bowl was played inside a domed stadium, and the first time that the game was played in prime time.

The game pitted the Cowboys' current quarterback, Roger Staubach, against their former quarterback, Craig Morton. Led by Staubach and the Doomsday Defense, Dallas advanced to their second Super Bowl after posting a 12-2 record season record and playoff victories over the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings. The Broncos, led by Morton and the Orange Crush Defense, made their first Super Bowl appearance after also posting a 12-2 regular season record and postseason wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders.

The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held. For example, Super Bowl I was played on January 15, 1967, following the 1966 regular season, while the most recent game, Super Bowl XLVI, was played on February 5, 2012, to determine the champion of the 2011 season.

The game was created as part of a merger agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues' champion teams would play in an AFL–NFL World Championship Game until the merger was to officially begin in 1970. After the merger, each league was redesignated as a "conference", and the game was then played between the conference champions. Currently, the NFC leads the series with 25 wins to 21 wins for the AFC.

John Golden Richards (born December 31, 1950 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is a former professional American football player who played wide receiver in the National Football League for eight seasons for the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bears. Richards was a starter for the Cowboys in Super Bowl X against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the Cowboys' Super Bowl XII win over the Denver Broncos, he caught a touchdown pass from running back Robert Newhouse. Richards played college football at Brigham Young University and University of Hawaii, and was drafted in the second round of the 1973 NFL Draft. He was known for his speed and punt returning skills. Richards was mentioned on an episode of cartoon King of the Hill.

Elisha Nelson "Eli" Manning (born January 3, 1981) is an American football quarterback for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He is the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and the younger brother of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning played college football at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) after attending prep school at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans. He was drafted as the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers and immediately traded to the New York Giants, who in return gave up a package highlighted by fourth overall selection Philip Rivers.

Manning won the Most Valuable Player award in Super Bowl XLII in 2008 after leading the Giants to victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots. On February 5, 2012 he again led his team to victory in Super Bowl XLVI, a rematch with the Patriots, in which Manning again won MVP honors and also set a new Super Bowl record with nine consecutive completions to start the game. Manning is one of five quarterbacks who have won multiple Super Bowl MVP awards.

Thomas Edward Patrick "Tom" Brady, Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football at Michigan, Brady was drafted by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.

In Brady's ten seasons as a starter, the Patriots have earned trips to the Super Bowl in half of them (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLII, and XLVI), winning three of them (XXXVI, XXXVIII, and XXXIX). He has also won two Super Bowl MVP awards (XXXVI and XXXVIII), has been selected to seven Pro Bowls (and invited to eight, although he declined the 2006 invitation), and holds the NFL record for most touchdown passes in a single regular season. His career postseason record is 16–5. He also helped set the record for the longest consecutive win streak in NFL history with 21 straight wins over two seasons (2003–04), and in 2007 he led the Patriots to the first undefeated regular season since the institution of the 16-game schedule. Brady has the fourth-highest career passer rating of all time (96.4) among quarterbacks with at least 1,500 career passing attempts.