1972 New England Patriots season
1972 New England Patriots season | |
---|---|
Head coach |
John Mazur (fired) Phil Bengtson (interim) |
General manager |
Upton Bell (fired) Peter Hadhazy (interim) |
Owner | Billy Sullivan |
Home field | Schaefer Stadium |
Results | |
Record | 3–11 |
Division place | 5th AFC East |
Playoff finish | did not qualify |
Pro Bowlers | none |
AP All-Pros | none |
Uniform | |
The New England Patriots finished the National Football League's 1972 season with a record of three wins and eleven losses, and finished last in the AFC East Division. The Patriots continued their period of futility as they slumped to another horrendous record of 3-11, and missed the playoffs for the 9th straight season. After getting embarrassed 31-7 in their home opener against Cincinnati, the Patriots would win their next 2 games against Atlanta and Washington. However, the Patriots would continue their midseason misery, as they would lose 9 straight games to slide to 2-10 before winning their first (and only) road game against the New Orleans Saints. New England went winless against AFC opponents. Besides their embarrassing home opening loss, the Patriots had plenty of other bad moments during the season. One good example was a 52-0 thrashing given to them by the powerful Miami Dolphins. The loss went down as the worst loss in Patriots history and the most points they've ever allowed in a game in franchise history.
Although they managed to win three games, the 1972 Patriots had the second-worst point differential of any team in a 14-game NFL season, ahead of only the expansion 1976 Buccaneers.[1] They lost eight of their fourteen games by three touchdowns or more, and their first two wins were by a single point.
Staff
New England Patriots 1972 staff | ||||||
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Front Office
Head Coaches
Offensive Coaches
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Defensive Coaches
Special Teams Coaches
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Roster
1972 New England Patriots roster | |||||||||
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Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
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Tight ends
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Defensive linemen
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Defensive backs
Special teams
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Regular season
Schedule
Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Attendance |
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1 | September 17, 1972 | Cincinnati Bengals | L 31–7 | |
2 | September 24, 1972 | Atlanta Falcons | W 21–20 | |
3 | October 1, 1972 | Washington Redskins | W 24–23 | |
4 | October 8, 1972 | at Buffalo Bills | L 38–14 | |
5 | October 15, 1972 | New York Jets | L 41–13 | |
6 | October 22, 1972 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 33–3 | |
7 | October 29, 1972 | at New York Jets | L 34–10 | |
8 | November 6, 1972 | Baltimore Colts | L 24–17 | |
9 | November 12, 1972 | at Miami Dolphins | L 52–0 | |
10 | November 19, 1972 | Buffalo Bills | L 27–24 | |
11 | November 26, 1972 | at Baltimore Colts | L 31–0 | |
12 | December 3, 1972 | Miami Dolphins | L 37–21 | |
13 | December 10, 1972 | at New Orleans Saints | W 17–10 | |
14 | December 17, 1972 | at Denver Broncos | L 45–21 | |
Game summaries
Week 3
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Standings
AFC East | |||||||||
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W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK | |
Miami Dolphins | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 8–0 | 11–0 | 385 | 171 | W14 |
New York Jets | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 6–2 | 6–5 | 367 | 324 | L2 |
Baltimore Colts | 5 | 9 | 0 | .357 | 4–4 | 5–6 | 235 | 252 | L2 |
Buffalo Bills | 4 | 9 | 1 | .321 | 2–6 | 2–9 | 257 | 377 | W1 |
New England Patriots | 3 | 11 | 0 | .214 | 0–8 | 0–11 | 192 | 446 | L1 |
References
- ↑ All NFL teams sorted by point differential from 1961 to 1977
- ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-May-04.