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1972 New Orleans Saints season
1972 New Orleans Saints season
Owner	John W. Mecom, Jr.
Head coach	J. D. Roberts
Home field	Tulane Stadium
Results
Record	2–11–1
Division place	4th NFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	None
	← 1971; Saints seasons; 1973 →;

The 1972 New Orleans Saints season was the team's sixth as a member of the National Football League (NFL). They failed to improve on their previous season’s output of 4–8–2, winning only two games.^[1] The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

The Saints suffered through their second 2–11–1 season in three years, tying with the Philadelphia Eagles for the second worst record in the league, only surpassed by the Houston Oilers’ 1–13. Coincidentally, one of the Saints' two wins came at the Eagles' expense. It would be their worst until they went 2–12 in 1975.

Offseason

NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1972 New Orleans Saints draft
1	8	Royce Smith	Guard	Georgia
2	31	Willie Hall	Linebacker	USC
3	60	Bob Kuziel	Center	Pittsburgh
3	74	Tom Myers *	Safety	Syracuse
4	85	Mike Crangle	Defensive end	Tennessee-Martin
4	99	Joe Federspiel	Linebacker	Kentucky
4	101	Mike Coleman	Defensive end	Knoxville College
5	111	Bill Butler	Running back	Kansas State
5	112	Carl Johnson	Guard	Nebraska	Played offensive tackle in college
5	126	Bob Davies	Defensive back	South Carolina
6	137	Wayne Dorton	Guard	Arkansas State
6	150	Curt Watson	Running back	Tennessee
7	164	Ernie Jackson	Defensive back	Duke
8	189	Ron Vinson	Wide receiver	Abilene Christian
9	216	Kent Branstetter	Defensive tackle	Houston
10	241	Andy Kupp	Guard	Idaho
11	267	Paul Dongieux	Linebacker	Mississippi
12	293	Steve Lockhart	Tight end	Arkansas State
13	320	Cephus Weatherspoon	Wide receiver	Fort Lewis
14	345	Steve Barrios	Wide receiver	Tulane
15	372	Rusty Lachaussee	Quarterback	Tulane
16	397	Joe Balthrop	Guard	Tennessee
Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[2]

Personnel

Staff

**1972 New Orleans Saints staff**
	Front office President – John W. Mecom, Jr. Executive Vice President – Richard F. Gordon, Jr. Head coaches Head Coach – J. D. Roberts Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Ken Shipp Offensive Line – Jim Royer			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line – Jim Champion Linebackers – Marv Matuszak Defensive Backfield – Bud Whitehead

^[3]

Roster

**1972 New Orleans Saints roster**
Quarterbacks (QB) 14 Edd Hargett 8 Archie Manning Running backs (RB) 38 Bill Butler 45 Art Green 35 Bob Gresham 47 Virgil Robinson 42 Jim Strong Wide receivers (WR) 46 Danny Abramowicz 26 Margene Adkins 41 Bob Newland 85 Cephus Weatherspoon 86 Creston Whitaker Tight ends (TE) 83 Dave Parks		Offensive linemen (OL) 51 John Didion C 78 Glen Ray Hines T 77 Carl Johnson G 50 Jake Kupp G 65 Bob Kuziel C 76 Don Morrison T 66 Royce Smith G 61 Del Williams G 68 Wimpy Winther Defensive linemen (DL) 75 Mike Crangle 89 Dave Long DT 74 Doug Mooers 87 Richard Neal DE 72 Joe Owens DE 82 Bob Pollard DT		Linebackers (LB) 59 Wayne Colman 58 Joe Federspiel MLB 56 Willie Hall 54 Tom Roussel 55 Tom Stincic Defensive backs (DB) 29 Billie Hayes 18 Hugo Hollas SS 20 Delles Howell CB 30 Ernie Jackson CB 11 Bivian Lee 37 Tom Myers FS 23 Doug Wyatt Special teams 10 Julian Fagan P 9 Happy Feller K				Practice squad 12 Bobby Scott QB Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 17	at Los Angeles Rams	L 14–34	0–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	66,303
2	September 25	Kansas City Chiefs	L 17–20	0–2	Tulane Stadium	70,793
3	October 1	San Francisco 49ers	L 2–37	0–3	Tulane Stadium	69,840
4	October 8	at New York Giants	L 21–45	0–4	Yankee Stadium	62,507
5	October 15	Atlanta Falcons	L 14–21	0–5	Tulane Stadium	66,294
6	October 22	at San Francisco 49ers	T 20–20	0–5–1	Candlestick Park	59,167
7	October 29	Philadelphia Eagles	W 21–3	1–5–1	Tulane Stadium	65,664
8	November 5	at Minnesota Vikings	L 6–37	1–6–1	Metropolitan Stadium	49,784
9	November 12	at Atlanta Falcons	L 20–36	1–7–1	Atlanta Stadium	58,850
10	November 19	at Detroit Lions	L 14–27	1–8–1	Tiger Stadium	53,752
11	November 26	Los Angeles Rams	W 19–16	2–8–1	Tulane Stadium	64,325
12	December 3	at New York Jets	L 17–18	2–9–1	Shea Stadium	62,496
13	December 10	New England Patriots	L 10–17	2–10–1	Tulane Stadium	64,889
14	December 17	Green Bay Packers	L 20–30	2–11–1	Tulane Stadium	65,881
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
San Francisco 49ers	8	5	1	.607	3–2–1	6–4–1	353	249	W2
Atlanta Falcons	7	7	0	.500	3–3	5–5	269	274	L2
Los Angeles Rams	6	7	1	.464	4–2	5–5–1	291	286	L2
New Orleans Saints	2	11	1	.179	1–4–1	2–8–1	215	361	L3

Notable events

In their third game against the 49ers, the Saints became the thirty-second NFL team, and the first since the 1970 Cleveland Browns, to score only a safety in a full game. This was done again in the last week of the regular season by the San Diego Chargers, but after that was done only by the 1980 Buffalo Bills, the 1983 Minnesota Vikings, the 1993 Cincinnati Bengals, 2011 Atlanta Falcons (playoffs), and 2013 Jacksonville Jaguars.
The regular season finale vs. Green Bay kicked off at noon CST instead of the usual 1 p.m. Noon would become the kickoff time for all home games in the early window beginning in 1982.

References

^ 1972 New Orleans Saints
^ "1972 New Orleans Saints draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
^ "All-Time Roster". NewOrleansSaints.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2014.

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[1] 1972 New Orleans Saints

[2] "1972 New Orleans Saints draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 10, 2014.

[3] "All-Time Roster". NewOrleansSaints.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2014.

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