1971 Washington Redskins season

The 1971 Washington Redskins season was the team's 40th in the National Football League, and its 35th in Washington, D.C. The Redskins were led by first-year head coach George Allen, who had been the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams for the previous five seasons.

1971 Washington Redskins season
Head coach	George Allen
Owner	Edward Bennett Williams
Home field	RFK Stadium
Results
Record	9–4–1
Division place	2nd NFC East
Playoff finish	Lost Divisional Playoffs (at 49ers) 20–24

George Allen and members of the 1971 team with President Richard Nixon, two days before Thanksgiving.

Coming into the 1971 season, the team had not made the postseason in 26 years. The Redskins had had only four winning seasons since their last playoff berth in 1945, the most recent a 7–5–2 campaign in 1969 under Vince Lombardi, who died of colon cancer in September 1970.[1][2][3]

Allen was Washington's fourth head coach in as many seasons. Lombardi succeeded Otto Graham, and assistant Bill Austin took over when Lombardi fell mortally ill in the summer of 1970, and posted a 6–8 record.

Despite a broken left ankle suffered by leading receiver Charley Taylor in a Week 6 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that forced him to miss the remainder of the season, the Redskins went 9–4–1, good for second place in the NFC East. They earned a wild card berth, but lost in the opening divisional round at San Francisco, 24–20.[4][5][6]

Off-season

NFL Draft

Main article: 1971 NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
2	38	Cotton Speyrer	Wide Receiver	Texas
6	141	Conway Hayman	Guard	Delaware
7	166	Willie Germany	Defensive Back	Morgan State
9	219	Mike Fanucci	Defensive End	Arizona State
10	244	Jesse Taylor	Running Back	Cincinnati
11	272	George Starke	Tackle	Columbia
12	297	Jeff Severson	Defensive Back	Cal-Long Beach
13	322	Dan Ryczek	Center	Virginia
14	349	Bill Bynum	Quarterback	West New Mexico
15	375	Anthony Christnovich	Guard	La Crosse (Wis.)
16	400	Glenn Tucker	Linebacker	North Texas

Roster

1971 Washington Redskins roster

	Quarterbacks 9 Sonny Jurgensen 17 Billy Kilmer 18 Sam Wyche Running backs 43 Larry Brown 26 Bob Brunet 31 Charlie Harraway FB 25 Mike Hull 20 Tommy Mason Wide receivers 86 Boyd Dowler 80 Roy Jefferson 24 Bill Malinchak 85 Clifton McNeil 42 Charley Taylor Tight ends 81 Mack Alston 87 Jerry Smith		Offensive linemen 58 George Burman C 56 Len Hauss C 75 Terry Hermeling T 73 Paul Laaveg G 76 Walt Rock T 62 Ray Schoenke G 74 Jim Snowden T 77 Mike Taylor T 60 John Wilbur G Defensive linemen 89 Verlon Biggs DE 77 Bill Brundige DT 79 Ron McDole DE 64 Manny Sistrunk DT 72 Diron Talbert DT		Linebackers 55 Chris Hanburger 53 Harold McLinton 32 Jack Pardee 66 Myron Pottios 67 Rusty Tillman Defensive backs 41 Mike Bass CB 45 Speedy Duncan CB 37 Pat Fischer CB 23 Brig Owens S 16 Richie Petitbon SS 29 Ted Vactor Special teams 4 Mike Bragg P 5 Curt Knight K		Reserve lists Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Main article: 1971 NFL season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Game recap
1	September 19	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 24–17	1–0	Busch Memorial Stadium	46,805	Recap
2	September 26	at New York Giants	W 30–3	2–0	Yankee Stadium	62,795	Recap
3	October 3	at Dallas Cowboys	W 20–16	3–0	Cotton Bowl	61,554	Recap
4	October 10	Houston Oilers	W 22–13	4–0	RFK Stadium	53,041	Recap
5	October 17	St. Louis Cardinals	W 20–0	5–0	RFK Stadium	53,041	Recap
6	October 24	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 20–27	5–1	Municipal Stadium	51,989	Recap
7	October 31	New Orleans Saints	W 24–14	6–1	RFK Stadium	53,041	Recap
8	November 7	Philadelphia Eagles	T 7–7	6–1–1	RFK Stadium	53,041	Recap
9	November 14	at Chicago Bears	L 15–16	6–2–1	Soldier Field	55,049	Recap
10	November 21	Dallas Cowboys	L 0–13	6–3–1	RFK Stadium	53,041	Recap
11	November 28	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 20–13	7–3–1	Veterans Stadium	65,358	Recap
12	December 5	New York Giants	W 23–7	8–3–1	RFK Stadium	53,041	Recap
13	December 13	at Los Angeles Rams	W 38–24	9–3–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	80,402	Recap
14	December 19	Cleveland Browns	L 13–20	9–4–1	RFK Stadium	53,041	Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 3

Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys

1 2 3 4 Total • Redskins 7 7 3 3 20 Cowboys 0 9 0 7 16 Date: Sunday, October 3 Location: Cotton Bowl Game start: 1:00 p.m. CDT Game weather: 70 °F (21 °C), wind 10 mph (16 km/h) Referee: Jack Reader TV announcers (CBS): Ray Scott, Pat Summerall Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Scoring summary 1 Redskins Charlie Harraway 57 yard run (Curtis Knight kick) Redskins 7–0 2 Cowboys Mike Clark 22 yard field goal Redskins 7–3 2 Redskins Roy Jefferson 50 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curtis Knight kick) Redskins 14–3 2 Cowboys Mike Clark 9 yard field goal Redskins 14–6 2 Cowboys Mike Clark 27 yard field goal Redskins 14–9 3 Redskins Curtis Knight 25 yard field goal Redskins 17–9 4 Redskins Curtis Knight 32 yard field goal Redskins 20–9 4 Cowboys Calvin Hill 1 yard run (Mike Clark kick) Redskins 20–16

Week 8

1 2 3 4 Total Eagles 0 0 7 0 7 Redskins 0 0 0 7 7 Date: November 7 Location: RFK Stadium Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST Game weather: 47 °F (8 °C) • Wind 17 mph (27 km/h) Referee: Fred Silva

Scoring summary 3 PHI Ronnie Bull 12 yard pass from Pete Liske (Happy Feller kick) Eagles 7–0 4 WSH Clifton McNeil 32 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick) Tie 7–7

[7]

Postseason

Main article: 1971–72 NFL playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Venue	Attendance	Game recap
Divisional	December 26	at San Francisco 49ers	L 20–24	Candlestick Park	45,327	Recap

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys	11	3	0	.786	7–1	8–3	406	222	W7
Washington Redskins	9	4	1	.692	6–1–1	8–2–1	276	190	L1
Philadelphia Eagles	6	7	1	.462	4–3–1	5–5–1	221	302	W3
St. Louis Cardinals	4	9	1	.308	1–7	2–8–1	231	279	L2
New York Giants	4	10	0	.286	1–7	3–8	228	362	L5

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Richard Nixon play

There was a rumor that President Richard Nixon called a key play that caused the Redskins to lose to the 49ers in the divisional round of the playoffs. Nixon, a friend of George Allen, once attended a practice game where he tried the same play to much better results.[8]

Awards, records, and honors

References

1. "Lombardi dies of cancer". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. September 3, 1970. p. 1, part 1.
2. "Lombardi loses fight". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. September 3, 1970. p. 39.
3. "State to mourn Lombardi in rites". Milwaukee Sentinel. September 4, 1970. p. 1, part 1.
4. "49ers, Colts march into finals". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. September 27, 1971. p. 1, part 2.
5. "Go-for-broke pass pays off for 49ers". Free Lance-Star. (Fredericksburg, Virginia). Associated Press. December 27, 1971. p. 16.
6. Maule, Tex (January 3, 1972). "The Cowboys fly – the Redskins die". Sports Illustrated. p. 15.
7. Pro-Football-Reference.com
8. http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/9424/presidential-orders