1972 New England Patriots season

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 of 3–11, 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 Washington. However, the Patriots would continue their mid-season misery, as they would lose nine consecutive 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 ever allowed in a game in franchise history.

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

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.[1] They lost eight of their fourteen games by three touchdowns or more, and their first two wins were by a single point. Pro Football Reference argues that the 1970 and 1972 Patriots were, owing to the tough schedule of the 1990 team, the weakest Patriot teams ever,[2] and rivalled only by the 1991 Colts and 2009 Rams[3] as the weakest team by an established franchise since the NFL–AFL merger.

Staff

New England Patriots 1972 staff
Front Office President – Billy Sullivan Assistant General Manager/Interim General Manager – Peter Hadhazy Director of Player Personnel – Bucko Kilroy Director of Pro Scouting – Rommie Loudd Head Coaches Interim Head Coach – Phil Bengtson Offensive Coaches Offensive Backs/Receivers – Sam Rutigliano Receivers – Jerry Stoltz Offensive Line – Bruce Beatty			Defensive Coaches Defensive Line – Dick Evans Linebackers – John Meyer Defensive Backfield – Tom Fletcher Special Teams Coaches Special Teams – Burnie Miller

Roster

1972 New England Patriots roster

	Quarterbacks 14 Brian Dowling 11 Steve Goepel 16 Jim Plunkett Running backs 31 Josh Ashton 30 Carl Garrett 24 Bob Gladieux 40 Jack Maitland 35 Henry Matthews 36 John Tarver FB Wide receivers 84 Hubie Bryant 21 Tom Reynolds 33 Reggie Rucker 18 Randy Vataha Tight ends 82 Tom Beer 86 Bob Windsor		Offensive linemen 61 Sam Adams Sr. G 67 Bill Lenkaitis C 64 Mike Montler G 56 Jon Morris C 77 Tom Neville T 74 Bob Reynolds T 60 Len St. Jean G Defensive linemen 85 Julius Adams DE 88 Ron Berger DT 63 Rick Cash DT 76 Dave Rowe DT 70 Dennis Wirgowski DE		Linebackers 51 Ron Acks 49 Dick Blanchard 50 Jim Cheyunski 55 Ralph Cindrich 52 Ron Kadziel 66 Ed Weisacosky Defensive backs 25 Rickie Harris FS 23 George Hoey CB 29 Honor Jackson SS 44 John Outlaw CB 26 Clarence Scott SS Special teams 2 Pat Studstill P 12 Mike Walker K		Reserve lists {{{reserve_lists}}} Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 17, 1972	Cincinnati Bengals	L 31–7	60,999
2	September 24, 1972	Atlanta Falcons	W 21–20	60,999
3	October 1, 1972	Washington Redskins	W 24–23	60,999
4	October 8, 1972	at Buffalo Bills	L 38–14	41,749
5	October 15, 1972	New York Jets	L 41–13	60,999
6	October 22, 1972	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 33–3	46,081
7	October 29, 1972	at New York Jets	L 34–10	62,867
8	November 6, 1972	Baltimore Colts	L 24–17	60,999
9	November 12, 1972	at Miami Dolphins	L 52–0	80,010
10	November 19, 1972	Buffalo Bills	L 27–24	60,999
11	November 26, 1972	at Baltimore Colts	L 31–0	54,907
12	December 3, 1972	Miami Dolphins	L 37–21	60,999
13	December 10, 1972	at New Orleans Saints	W 17–10	64,889
14	December 17, 1972	at Denver Broncos	L 45–21	51,656

Game summaries

Week 1 vs Bengals

See also: 1972 Cincinnati Bengals season

Week One: Cincinnati Bengals (0–0) at New England Patriots (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bengals	7	3	7	14	31
Patriots	0	7	0	0	7

at Schaefer Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts

• Date: September 17, 1972
• Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
• Game weather: 74 °F (23 °C) • Wind 19 miles per hour (31 km/h; 17 kn)
• Game attendance: 60,999
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter CIN – Essex Johnson 14-yard run (Horst Muhlmann kick). Bengals 7–0. Drive: Second quarter CIN – Horst Muhlmann 38-yard field goal. Bengals 10–0. Drive: 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

1 2 3 4 Total Redskins 0 14 0 9 23 • Patriots 0 7 10 7 24 Date: October 1 Location: Schaefer Stadium, Foxboro, Massachusetts Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 54 °F (12.2 °C); wind 14 miles per hour (23 km/h; 12 kn)

Scoring summary Q2 WSH Charley Taylor 30 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick) WSH 7–0 Q2 WSH Charley Taylor 4 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick) WSH 14–0 Q2 NE Josh Ashton 2 yard run (Charlie Gogolak kick) WSH 14–7 Q3 NE Reggie Rucker 11 yard pass from Jim Plunkett (Charlie Gogolak kick) Tie 14–14 Q3 NE Charlie Gogolak 42 yard field goal NE 17–14 Q4 WSH Jerry Smith 9 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick) WSH 21–17 Q4 NE Josh Ashton 24 yard pass from Jim Plunkett (Charlie Gogolak kick) NE 24–21 Q4 WSH Malinchak blocked punt through end zone NE 24–23

[4]

Standings

AFC East
	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

1. All NFL teams sorted by point differential from 1961 to 1977
2. Pro Football Reference; Boston/New England Patriots Team Encyclopedia
3. Pro Football Reference; Rams Franchise Encyclopedia
4. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-May-04.