1972 Dallas Cowboys season

1972 Dallas Cowboys season
Head coach Tom Landry
Owner Clint Murchison, Jr.
Home field Texas Stadium
Results
Record 10–4
Division place 2nd NFC East
Playoff finish Lost Conference Championship

The 1972 Dallas Cowboys season was their 13th in the league. The team failed to improve their previous output of 11–3, winning only ten games.[1] They qualified for the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season but settled for the wildcard spot. A pre-season injury to quarterback Roger Staubach and the trade of Duane Thomas (both had been integral figures in the 1971 championship team) hindered the offense (mitigated somewhat since their replacements, Craig Morton and Calvin Hill, were former starters). In the divisional playoff round, Staubach came off the bench to engineer an improbable 30–28 comeback win over the 49ers (Dallas had trailed by 28–16 with less than 2 minutes to play). The win over the 49ers still ranks as one of the all-time great Cowboys wins. However, the momentum could not carry them to a victory over Washington in the NFC Championship game.

Regular season

Roger Staubach was lost in the 3rd pre season game with the Los Angeles Rams when Marlin McKeever tackled him. It required him to get a shoulder operation. Veteran backup Quarterback Craig Morton would lead the Cowboys for the 1972 season. When the Cowboys got down in the December 23rd playoff game Tom Landry inserted Roger who led them from a come from behind 30–28 victory over San Francisco. In 1972 The Cowboys would build up big leads in games only hang on in to win the game. Some examples of this would be the Monday Night when they hosted Detroit, the November 5 game in San Diego, a November 12th game at home versus St Louis, and the December 9 home game against Washington. The December 18, 1972 Sports Illustrated ran a story on the 1972 Dallas Cowboys surrounding their game with the Washington Redskins on pages 20-23, and featuring Cowboy middle linebacker #55 Lee Roy Jordan on the cover.

Still another factor in the Cowboys 1972 season was that All Pro defensive tackle Bob Lilly played through an injury to his back for most all of the year, along with a bone spur near his heel and an injured muscle just above his knee. Lilly was furthermore selected for his 10th Pro Bowl but did not play in the game. Lilly had 2 1/2 sacks on the season, while overall the team totaled 32.

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 17, 1972 Philadelphia Eagles W 28–6
55,850
2 September 24, 1972 at New York Giants W 23–14
62,725
3 October 1, 1972 at Green Bay Packers L 16–13
47,103
4 October 8, 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers W 17–13
65,682
5 October 15, 1972 at Baltimore Colts W 21–0
58,992
6 October 22, 1972 at Washington Redskins L 24–20
53,039
7 October 30, 1972 Detroit Lions W 28–24
65,378
8 November 5, 1972 at San Diego Chargers W 34–28
54,476
9 November 12, 1972 St. Louis Cardinals W 33–24
65,218
10 November 19, 1972 at Philadelphia Eagles W 28–7
65,720
11 November 23, 1972 San Francisco 49ers L 31–10
65,124
12 December 3, 1972 at St. Louis Cardinals W 27–6
49,787
13 December 9, 1972 Washington Redskins W 34–24
65,136
14 December 17, 1972 New York Giants L 23–3
64,602

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Week One: Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys  – Game summary
1 2 34Total
Eagles 3 3 006
Cowboys 0 7 14728

at Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas

  • Date: September 17
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: 80 degrees, wind 11 mph
  • Box Score
Game information

First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
  • DAL – Lance Alworth 13 yard pass from Craig Morton (Toni Fritsch kick), Cowboys 14–6
  • DAL – Calvin Hill 3 yard run (Toni Fritsch kick), Cowboys 21–6
Fourth quarter
Top passers
  • PHI – John Reaves – 11/19, 143 yards, 2 interceptions
  • DAL – Craig Morton – 13/26, 235 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions
Top rushers
  • PHI – Po James – 13 carries, 28 yards
  • DAL – Calvin Hill – 17 carries, 65 yards, 1 touchdown
Top receivers
  • PHI – Harold Jackson – 9 receptions, 161 yards
  • DAL – Ron Sellers – 3 receptions, 88 yards, 1 touchdown

Week 2: at New York Giants

Week Two: Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants  – Game summary
1 2 34Total
Cowboys 7 3 31023
Giants 0 7 0714

at Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

  • Date: September 24
  • Game time: 1:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: 60 degrees, wind 8 mph
  • Box Score
Game information

First quarter
  • DAL – Walt Garrison 1 yard run (Toni Fritsch kick), Cowboys 7–0
Second quarter
  • DAL – Toni Fritsch 54 yard field goal, Cowboys 10–0
  • NYG – Rich Houston 55 yard pass from Norm Snead (Pete Gogolak kick), Cowboys 10–7
Third quarter
  • DAL – Toni Fritsch 13 yard field goal, Cowboys 13–7
Fourth quarter
  • DAL – Toni Fritsch 8 yard field goal, Cowboys 16–7
  • NYG – Rich Houston 94 yard pass from Norm Snead (Pete Gogolak kick), Cowboys 16–14
  • DAL – Lance Alworth 3 yard pass from Craig Morton (Toni Fritsch kick), Cowboys 23–14
Top passers
  • DAL – Craig Morton – 15/27, 158 yards, 1 touchdown
  • NYG – Norm Snead – 19/26, 298 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception
Top rushers
  • DAL – Calvin Hill – 20 carries, 91 yards
  • NYG – Ron Johnson – 14 carries, 42 yards
Top receivers
  • DAL – Billy Parks – 4 receptions, 49 yards
  • NYG – Rich Houston – 5 receptions, 175 yards, 2 touchdowns

Playoffs

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
Divisional December 23, 1972 at San Francisco 49ers W 30–28
61,214
Conference Championship December 31, 1972 at Washington Redskins L 26–3
53,129

Standings

NFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Washington Redskins 11 3 0 .786 7–1 10–1 336 218 L2
Dallas Cowboys 10 4 0 .714 6–2 7–4 319 240 L1
New York Giants 8 6 0 .571 5–3 7–4 331 247 W1
St. Louis Cardinals 4 9 1 .321 1–6–1 3–7–1 193 303 W2
Philadelphia Eagles 2 11 1 .179 0–7–1 0–10–1 145 352 L5

Season recap

The Dallas Cowboys since its inception have always had cheerleaders, but during the team preparations to defend their World Championship title in 1972, a turning point in cheerleader history would be made with the creation of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, wearing new star spangled uniforms and performing dance routines, instead of the traditional acrobatic displays.

The Cowboys qualified for the playoffs a record seventh consecutive year.

Roster

Dallas Cowboys 1972 roster
Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

 Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive Backs

Special Teams

 Reserve Lists

Currently vacant

Rookies in italics
45 Active, 0 Inactive

Trivia

This season marks the first time in Cowboys history they wore their white jerseys for every game. The second and only other time so far was 2010.

Publications

References

  1. ↑ 1972 Dallas Cowboys

External links

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