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1972 New England Patriots season

Season of National Football League team the New England Patriots

Field	Value
team	New England Patriots
year	1972
record	3–11
division_place	5th AFC East
coach	John Mazur (fired)
Phil Bengtson (interim)
general manager	Upton Bell (fired)
Peter Hadhazy (interim)
owner	Billy Sullivan
stadium	Schaefer Stadium
playoffs	Did not qualify
pro bowlers	None
AP All-pros	None
uniform	Image:AFC-1972-Uniform-NE.PNG
shortnavlink	Patriots seasons

Phil Bengtson (interim) Peter Hadhazy (interim) | AP All-pros = None

The 1972 New England Patriots season was the franchise's third season in the National Football League and 13th overall. The Patriots ended the 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, and missed the playoffs for the ninth straight season. After being embarrassed 31–7 in their home opener against Cincinnati, the Patriots would win their next two games against Atlanta and eventual NFC champion Washington. However, the Patriots would continue their mid-season misery, losing nine consecutive games to slide to 2–10 before winning their first (and only) road game against the New Orleans Saints, who went 2-11-1.

New England went winless against AFC opponents. Out of their 11 losses, only two were by one possession, a 24–17 loss to Baltimore in the Patriots' first Monday Night Football appearance and a 27–24 loss to Buffalo. The worst of these losses was a 52–0 thrashing by the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Miami Dolphins, who would go on to achieve the only undefeated season in NFL history. That Dolphins loss remains the worst loss and most points ever allowed in a game in Patriots history.

Although they won three games, the 1972 Patriots had the second-worst point differential (minus-254) of any team in a 14-game NFL season, ahead of only the expansion 1976 Buccaneers. The 1972 Patriots had the franchise’s worst point differential until the 1990 team was outscored by 265 points (181–446) in a 1–15 season. They lost eight of their fourteen games by three touchdowns or more, and their first two wins were by a single point. Jim Plunkett and reserve quarterbacks combined for only 10 touchdown passes with 28 interceptions, and were sacked 44 times. The defense allowed 5,250 total yards and ranked last in the league. Pro Football Reference argues that the 1970 and 1972 Patriots were, owing to the more difficult schedule faced by the 1990 team, the weakest Patriot teams ever, and rivalled only by the 1991 Colts and 2009 Rams as the weakest team by an established franchise since the NFL–AFL merger. The team drafted John Hannah before the next season to bolster the offensive line.

Draft

Main article: 1972 NFL draft

Staff

President – Billy Sullivan
Assistant General Manager/Interim General Manager – Peter Hadhazy
Director of Player Personnel – Bucko Kilroy
Director of Pro Scouting – Rommie Loudd
Head Coach – John Mazur
Interim Head Coach – Phil Bengtson
Offensive Coordinator – Sam Rutigliano
Receivers – Jerry Stoltz
Offensive Line – Bruce Beatty
Defensive Coordinator – Dick Evans
Linebackers – John Meyer
Defensive Backfield – Tom Fletcher
Special Teams – Burnie Miller

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

New England Patriots	year=1972	border=2}}"	Week	New England Patriots	year=1972
September 17	Cincinnati Bengals	L 7–31	0—1	Schaefer Stadium	60,999
September 24	Atlanta Falcons	W 21–20	1—1	Schaefer Stadium	60,999
October 1	Washington Redskins	W 24–23	2—1	Schaefer Stadium	60,999
October 8	at Buffalo Bills	L 14–38	2—2	War Memorial Stadium	41,749
October 15	New York Jets	L 13–41	2—3	Schaefer Stadium	60,999
October 22	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 3–33	2—4	Three Rivers Stadium	46,081
October 29	at New York Jets	L 10–34	2—5	Shea Stadium	62,867
	Baltimore Colts	L 17–24	2—6	Schaefer Stadium	60,999
November 12	at Miami Dolphins	L 0–52	2—7	Miami Orange Bowl	80,010
November 19	Buffalo Bills	L 24–27	2—8	Schaefer Stadium	60,999
November 26	at Baltimore Colts	L 0–31	2—9	Memorial Stadium	54,907
December 3	Miami Dolphins	L 21–37	2—10	Schaefer Stadium	60,999
December 10	at New Orleans Saints	W 17–10	3—10	Tulane Stadium	64,889
December 17	at Denver Broncos	L 21–45	3—11	Mile High Stadium	51,656
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1 vs Bengals

;First quarter

CIN – Essex Johnson 14-yard run (Horst Muhlmann kick). Bengals 7–0. ;Second quarter
CIN – Horst Muhlmann 38-yard field goal. Bengals 10–0.
NE – Larry Carwell 45-yard blocked field goal return (Mike Walker kick). Bengals 10–7. ;Third quarter
CIN – Jess Phillips 1-yard run (Horst Muhlmann kick). ''Bengals 17–7. '''Drive:''''' ;Fourth quarter
CIN – Lemar Parrish 51-yard punt return (Horst Muhlmann kick). Bengals 24–7.
CIN – Bob Trumpy 11-yard pass from Ken Anderson (Horst Muhlmann kick). ''Bengals 31–7. '''Drive:''''' ;Top passers
CIN – Ken Anderson – 10/15, 102 yards, TD
NE – Jim Plunkett – 9/17, 117 yards, 2 INT ;Top rushers
CIN – Essex Johnson – 15 rushes, 82 yards, TD
NE – Carl Garrett – 12 rushes, 34 yards ;Top receivers
CIN – Chip Myers – 3 receptions, 42 yards
NE – Carl Garrett – 1 reception, 35 yards

Week 3 vs Redskins

;First quarter

No scoring plays ;Second quarter
WAS – Charley Taylor 30 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick). Redskins 7–0.
WAS – Charley Taylor 4 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick). Redskins 14–0.
NE – Josh Ashton 2 yard run (Charlie Gogolak kick). Redskins 14–7. ; Third quarter
NE – Reggie Rucker 11 yard pass from Jim Plunkett (Charlie Gogolak kick). 14–14.
NE – Charlie Gogolak 42 yard field goal. Patriots 17–14. ; Fourth quarter
WAS – Jerry Smith 9 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick). Redskins 21–17.
NE – Josh Ashton 24 yard pass from Jim Plunkett (Charlie Gogolak kick). Patriots 24–21.
WAS – Safety; Malinchak blocked punt through end zone. Patriots 24–23. ;Top passers
WAS – Billy Kilmer – 14/30, 213 yards, 3 TD, INT
NE – Jim Plunkett – 17/33, 255 yards, 2 TD ;Top rushers
WAS – Larry Brown – 20 rushes, 113 yards
NE – Josh Ashton – 23 rushes, 108 yards, 1 TD ;Top receivers
WAS – Charley Taylor – 7 receptions, 134 yards, 2 TD
NE – Reggie Rucker – 4 receptions, 69 yards, 1 TD

Standings

References

[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/tgl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&year_min=1961&year_max=1977&game_type=R&game_num_min=0&game_num_max=99&week_num_min=0&week_num_max=99&game_day_of_week=&game_time=&time_zone=&game_location=&surface=&roof=&game_result=&overtime=&league_id=&team_id=&opp_id=&conference_game=&division_game=&tm_is_playoff=&opp_is_playoff=&tm_is_winning=&opp_is_winning=&tm_scored_first=&tm_led=&tm_trailed=&c1stat=&c1comp=gt&c1val=&c2stat=&c2comp=gt&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=points_diff&order_by_asc=Y All NFL teams sorted by point differential from 1961 to 1977]
''Pro Football Reference''; [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nwe/ Boston/New England Patriots Team Encyclopedia]
''Pro Football Reference''; [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/ram/ Rams Franchise Encyclopedia]
[https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/197210010nwe.htm Pro-Football-Reference.com]. Retrieved 2014-May-04.

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