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1972 NFL season

The 1972 NFL season was the 53rd regular season of the National Football League. The Miami Dolphins became the first (and to date the only) NFL team to finish a championship season undefeated and untied when they beat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. The Dolphins not only led the NFL in points scored, while their defense led the league in fewest points allowed, the roster also featured two running backs who gained 1,000 rushing yards in the same season.[1]

Regular season

September 17 – December 17, 1972

December 23, 1972

Miami Dolphins

Washington Redskins

January 14, 1973

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Miami Dolphins

January 21, 1973

Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas

Colts and Rams exchange owners[edit]

On July 13, Robert Irsay and Willard Keland bought the Los Angeles Rams from the estate of Dan Reeves and transferred ownership to Carroll Rosenbloom, in exchange for ownership of the Baltimore Colts.[2][3][4]

Draft[edit]

The 1972 NFL Draft was held from February 1 to 2, 1972 at New York City's Essex House. With the first pick, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski from the University of Notre Dame.

New officials[edit]

Referee Jack Vest, the referee for Super Bowl II, the 1969 AFL championship game and 1971 AFC championship game, was killed in a June motorcycle accident. Chuck Heberling was promoted from line judge to fill the vacancy and kept Vest's crew intact. Heberling's line judge vacancy was filled by Red Cashion, who was promoted to referee in 1976 and worked in the league through 1996, earning assignment to Super Bowl XX and Super Bowl XXX.

[5]

Oakland Raiders

If a legal receiver goes out of bounds, either accidentally or forced out, and returns to touch or catch the pass in bounds, the penalty is a loss of down (but no penalty yardage will be assessed).

If a punt or missed field goal crosses the receivers' goal line, a member of the receiving team may advance the ball into the field of play. Previously, the ball was dead when a scrimmage kick crossed the goal line and the receivers were awarded an automatic .

touchback

All fouls committed by the offensive team behind the line of scrimmage will be assessed from the previous spot.

Tie games, previously ignored in computing of winning percentage, were made equal to a half-game win and a half-game loss.

This was the first season third-down conversions were recorded as an official statistic.

: After finishing with a 1–13 record in 1971, Harvey Johnson was reassigned to the team's scouting department. Lou Saban then was named as Johnson's replacement, beginning his second stint after serving as the Bills head coach from 1962 to 1965.

Buffalo Bills

: Abe Gibron replaced the fired Jim Dooley.

Chicago Bears

: John Ralston joined the Broncos as head coach. Lou Saban left the team after a 2–6–1 start in 1971. Offensive line coach Jerry Smith served as interim for the remaining five games.

Denver Broncos

: Ed Hughes resigned and was replaced by Bill Peterson.

Houston Oilers

: Ed Khayat began his first full season as head coach. He replaced Jerry Williams, who was fired after three games in 1971.

Philadelphia Eagles

moved their home games from Municipal Stadium to Arrowhead Stadium at the Truman Sports Complex and became the twelfth team (of 26) to play its home games on artificial turf.

The Kansas City Chiefs

The discontinued wearing orange pants with their white jerseys as they had done from 1968 to 1971. The orange pants returned in 1978 and '79.

Denver Broncos

The added outlines to the jersey numbers

Detroit Lions

The switched from silver to blue helmets. They also discontinued their silver pants in favor of white pants for their blue jerseys, and blue pants for their white jerseys. These uniforms lasted three seasons.

Houston Oilers

The reinstated their white jersey with alternating aqua and orange stripes on the sleeves, which was discontinued when Don Shula became coach. However, this style was not universally adopted, and several notable players, including Bob Griese and Larry Csonka, continued to wear the 1970-71 white jersey with plain sleeves. The Dolphins' aqua jerseys from 1970 to 1971 with plain sleeves, worn twice in 1972 (vs. Buffalo in week 6 and St. Louis in week 11), remained unchanged.

Miami Dolphins

The switched from gold to burgundy helmets, and from the "R" helmet logo (designed by the late Vince Lombardi) to the Native American head logo. The helmet remained unchanged, save for changing from gray face masks to gold in 1978 and a modified logo for 1982 only, until the Redskins nickname was retired prior to the 2020 season.

Washington Redskins

Television[edit]

This was the third year under the league's four-year broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively.[6]


Three games were not televised at all due to an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers strike against CBS: Washington at New York Jets (November 5), Philadelphia at New York Giants (November 26) and New Orleans at New York Jets (December 3).

NFL Record and Fact Book ( 1-932994-36-X)

ISBN

Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League ( 0-06-270174-6)

ISBN

(Last accessed December 4, 2005)

NFL History 1971–1980