1971 Baltimore Colts season

1971 Baltimore Colts season
1971 Baltimore Colts season
Owner	Carroll Rosenbloom
General manager	Don Klosterman
Head coach	Don McCafferty
Home field	Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	10–4
Division place	2nd AFC East
Playoff finish	Won Divisional Playoffs; (at Browns) 20–3; Lost AFC Championship; (at Dolphins) 0–21
	← 1970; Colts seasons; 1972 →;

The Colts playing against the Browns in the 1971 AFC Divisional Playoffs Game.

The 1971 Baltimore Colts season was the 19th season for the team in the National Football League. Led by second-year head coach Don McCafferty, the Colts appeared to be on the verge of winning the AFC East again after beating the Miami Dolphins 14–3 in the penultimate game of the regular season. However, the Colts lost the final game of the season at home to the New England Patriots, dropping them to 10–4 and the wild card berth.^[1] They lost to the Dolphins in the AFC Championship game. The Baltimore defense gave up a total of 140 points for 14 regular season games, an average of ten points a game. In their four defeats, they lost by a combined total of 15 points.

This was the final season under the ownership of Carroll Rosenbloom, who traded franchises with the Los Angeles Rams in July 1972, with players and coaching staffs remaining intact.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Offseason

NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team

Personnel

Staff/coaches

1971 Baltimore Colts staff

Front office

Owner/president and treasurer – Carroll Rosenbloom
General manager – Don Klosterman

Coaching staff

Head coach – Don McCafferty

Offensive coaches

Receivers/offensive ends – Dick Bielski
Offensive coordinator – John Idzik
Offensive line coach – Red Miller

Defensive coaches

Defensive coordinator/defensive line – John Sandusky
Defensive backfield – Bobby Boyd
Linebackers coach – Hank Bullough

Roster

**1971 Baltimore Colts roster**

	Quarterbacks 19 Karl Douglas 15 Earl Morrall 19 Johnny Unitas Running backs 36 Norm Bulaich 23 Don McCauley 41 Tom Matte 48 Don Nottingham 34 Tom Nowatzke 42 Charlie Pittman Wide receivers 17 Sam Havrilak 33 Eddie Hinton 27 Ray Perkins 87 Willie Richardson Tight ends 88 John Mackey 84 Tom Mitchell		Offensive linemen 50 Bill Curry C 61 Cornelius Johnson G 67 Lynn Larson T 68 Dennis Nelson T 62 Glenn Ressler G 71 Dan Sullivan G 72 Bob Vogel T 65 John Williams G Defensive linemen 79 Jim Bailey DT 69 Rusty Ganas DT 85 Roy Hilton DE 76 Fred Miller DT 81 Billy Newsome DE 78 Bubba Smith DE 74 George Wright DT		Linebackers 53 Tom Beutler 32 Mike Curtis 83 Ted Hendricks 51 Bill Laskey 56 Ray May 52 Robbie Nichols Defensive backs 35 Jim Duncan CB 25 Tom Curtis SS 44 Rex Kern 20 Jerry Logan S 47 Charlie Stukes CB 21 Rick Volk S Special teams 30 Ron Gardin PR-CB 49 David Lee P 80 Jim O'Brien K		Reserve lists Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 19	New York Jets	W 22–0	1–0	Memorial Stadium	56,458
2	September 26	Cleveland Browns	L 13–14	1–1	Memorial Stadium	56,837
3	October 3	at New England Patriots	W 23–3	2–1	Schaefer Stadium	61,232
4	October 10	at Buffalo Bills	W 43–0	3–1	War Memorial Stadium	46,206
5	October 17	at New York Giants	W 31–7	4–1	Yankee Stadium	62,860
6	October 25	at Minnesota Vikings	L 3–10	4–2	Metropolitan Stadium	49,784
7	October 31	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 34–21	5–2	Memorial Stadium	60,238
8	November 8	Los Angeles Rams	W 24–17	6–2	Memorial Stadium	57,722
9	November 14	at New York Jets	W 14–13	7–2	Shea Stadium	63,947
10	November 21	at Miami Dolphins	L 14–17	7–3	Miami Orange Bowl	75,312
11	November 28	at Oakland Raiders	W 37–14	8–3	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,689
12	December 5	Buffalo Bills	W 24–0	9–3	Memorial Stadium	58,476
13	December 11	Miami Dolphins	W 14–3	10–3	Memorial Stadium	60,238
14	December 19	New England Patriots	L 17–21	10–4	Memorial Stadium	57,942
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1

	1	2	3	4	Total
Jets	0	0	0	0	0
• Colts	10	9	0	3	22

Date: September 19
Location: Memorial Stadium
Game start: 4:00 p.m. EDT
Game attendance: 56,458
Game weather:
72 °F (22 °C); wind 8 mph (13 km/h)

^[5]

Standings

AFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Miami Dolphins	10	3	1	.769	5–3	7–3–1	315	174	W1
Baltimore Colts	10	4	0	.714	6–2	8–3	313	140	L1
New England Patriots	6	8	0	.429	4–4	6–5	238	325	W1
New York Jets	6	8	0	.429	4–4	6–5	212	299	W2
Buffalo Bills	1	13	0	.071	1–7	1–10	184	394	L3

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

^[6]

Postseason

The team made it to the playoffs as a No. 4 seed and traveled to Cleveland to play the Cleveland Browns in the divisional round. The Colts led 14–0 at the half and would cruise to a 20–3 win. They then traveled south to play the Miami Dolphins and tried to make it to their second consecutive Super Bowl. Colts QB Johnny Unitas was intercepted three times as they were shut out 21–0.

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
Divisional	December 26	at Cleveland Browns	W 20–3	1–0	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	70,734
AFC Championship	January 2, 1972	at Miami Dolphins	L 0–21	1–1	Miami Orange Bowl	76,622

References

^ "Plunkett bumps Colts from lead". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. December 20, 1971. p. 1, part 2.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Colts owner trades club for Rams". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. July 14, 1972. p. 1, part 2.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Colts' owner now sole owner of Rams". The Bulletin. (Bend, Oregon). UPI. July 14, 1972. p. 12.
^ Maule, Tex (August 14, 1972). "Nay on the neighs, yea on the baas". Sports Illustrated. p. 67.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-Aug-14.
^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 297