1972 Philadelphia Eagles season

The 1972 Philadelphia Eagles season was the franchise's 40th season in the National Football League. They failed to improve and declined on their previous output of 6–7–1, winning only two games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the twelfth consecutive season.

Media guide published by the Eagles ahead of the 1972 season.

1972 Philadelphia Eagles season
Owner	Leonard Tose
General manager	Pete Retzlaff
Head coach	Ed Khayat
Home field	Veterans Stadium
Results
Record	2–11–1
Division place	5th NFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

Both of the Eagles' victories were one-point decisions on the road vs. AFC teams, 21–20 over the Kansas City Chiefs and 18–17 over the Houston Oilers, a victory which cost the Eagles the #1 selection in the 1973 NFL draft. The meeting with the Chiefs was the last until 1992, and Kansas City did not come to Philadelphia until 1998.

Following the disastrous season, the third with three wins or fewer since 1968, general manager Pete Retzlaff resigned, and coach Ed Khayat was fired by owner Leonard Tose.

Offseason

The Eagles held training camp at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania. This was their last year there. The next year, they moved camp to Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, only 7 miles from Veterans Stadium where they played their home games in Philadelphia.

NFL Draft

The 1972 NFL draft was held on February 1–2, 1972. The draft was 17 rounds and a total of 443 players were chosen.

The Eagles chose John Reaves, a quarterback from the University of Florida, with the 14th pick in the 1st round. They had the 14th pick in each of the 17 rounds. They chose 17 players in this year's draft.

The number 1 overall pick went to the Buffalo Bills, who chose Walt Patulski, a defensive end out of the University of Notre Dame. In the 2nd round with the 40th pick, the Atlanta Falcons took 1971 Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan, a quarterback out of Auburn University

Player selections

The table shows the Eagles' selections and which picks they had that were traded away and the teams that ended up with those picks. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler

= Hall of Famer

Rd	Pick	Player	Position	School
1	14	John Reaves	Quarterback	Florida
2	37	Dan Yochum Acquired Pick via Trade	Tackle	Syracuse
2	40	Pick taken by Atlanta Falcons
3	66	Pick taken by New York Jets
3	68	Tom Luken Acquired Pick via Trade	Guard	Purdue
3	76	Bobby Majors	Defensive back	Tennessee
4	92	Po James	Running back	New Mexico State
5	118	Pick taken by Denver Broncos
6	144	Vernon Winfield	Guard	Minnesota
7	170	Will Foster	Linebacker	Eastern Michigan
8	196	Larry Ratcliff	Running back	Eastern Michigan
9	222	Pat Gibbs	Defensive back	Lamar University
10	246	John Bunting	Linebacker	North Carolina
11	274	Dennis Sweeney	Defensive end	Western Michigan
12	300	Don Zimmerman	Wide receiver	N.E. Louisiana
13	326	Preston Carpenter	Defensive end	Mississippi
14	352	Bill Overmeyer	Linebacker	Ashland
15	378	Tom Sullivan	Running back	Miami (FL)
16	404	Steve Bielenberg	Linebacker	Oregon State
17	430	Tom Nash	Tackle	Georgia

Roster

1972 Philadelphia Eagles roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 11 Rick Arrington 14 Pete Liske 6 John Reaves Running backs (RB) 38 Tony Baker 31 Tom Bailey 46 Lee Bouggess FB 27 Po James 25 Tom Sullivan 34 Larry Watkins FB Wide receivers (WR) 17 Harold Carmichael 18 Ben Hawkins 29 Harold Jackson 16 Don Zimmerman Tight ends (TE) 85 Gary Ballman 80 Clark Hoss 89 Kent Kramer

Offensive linemen (OL) 61 Hank Allison G 59 Mike Evans C 72 Wade Key T 63 Tom Luken G 68 Mark Nordquist G 70 Jim Skaggs G 74 Steve Smith T 67 Vernon Winfield G Defensive linemen (DL) 75 Houston Antwine DE 81 Larry Estes DE 84 Richard Harris DT 83 Don Hultz DT 88 Gary Pettigrew DE 99 Mel Tom DE

Linebackers (LB) 54 Chuck Allen 95 John Bunting 66 Bill Cody 58 Bob Creech 56 Bill Overmyer 50 Ron Porter 35 Adrian Young 89 Steve Zabel Defensive backs (DB) 28 Bill Bradley FS 8 Al Coleman S 20 Leroy Keyes SS 26 Al Nelson CB 24 Nate Ramsey S 49 Jim Thrower Special teams 19 Tom Dempsey K 36 Tom McNeil P

Rookies in italics

Regular season

On November 12, Tom Dempsey kicked six field goals in one game.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 17, 1972	at Dallas Cowboys	L 28–6	55,850
2	September 24, 1972	Cleveland Browns	L 27–17	65,720
3	October 2, 1972	New York Giants	L 27–12	65,720
4	October 8, 1972	at Washington Redskins	L 14–0	53,039
5	October 15, 1972	Los Angeles Rams	L 34–3	65,720
6	October 22, 1972	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 21–20	78,389
7	October 29, 1972	at New Orleans Saints	L 21–3	65,664
8	November 5, 1972	St. Louis Cardinals	T 6–6	65,720
9	November 12, 1972	at Houston Oilers	W 18–17	34,175
10	November 19, 1972	Dallas Cowboys	L 28–7	65,720
11	November 26, 1972	at New York Giants	L 62–10	62,586
12	December 3, 1972	Washington Redskins	L 23–7	65,720
13	December 10, 1972	Chicago Bears	L 21–12	65,720
14	December 17, 1972	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 24–23	34,872

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game recaps

A recap of the scoring plays and the game scores by quarters during the year. The record after the team's name reflects this game's outcome also.

Week 9

Sunday, November 12, 1972

Played at Houston Astrodome on AstroTurf in 72 °F or 22.2 °C indoors.

	1	2	3	4	Total
Philadelphia Eagles (2–6–1)	6	9	0	3	18
Houston Oilers (1–8–0)	0	3	7	7	17

		SCORING PLAYS	PHI	HOU
1st	Eagles	Tom Dempsey 33-yard field goal	3	0
	Eagles	Tom Dempsey 52-yard field goal	6	0
2nd	Oilers	Skip Butler 38-yard field goal	6	3
	Eagles	Tom Dempsey 22-yard field goal	9	3
	Eagles	Tom Dempsey 12-yard field goal	12	3
	Eagles	Tom Dempsey 38-yard field goal	15	3
3rd	Oilers	Dan Pastorini 1-yard rush (Skip Butler kick)	15	10
4th	Eagles	Tom Dempsey 20-yard field goal	18	10
	Oilers	Paul Robinson 30-yard rush (Skip Butler kick)	18	17

Week 11

Sunday, November 26, 1972

Played at Yankee Stadium on grass in 50 °F or 10 °C weather with a wind of 15 miles per hour or 24 kilometres per hour or 13 knots

NOTE: The game was not televised by CBS after striking International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers members cut the transmission cables in The Bronx.

	1Q	2Q	3Q	4Q	Total
Philadelphia Eagles (2–8–1)	3	7	0	0	10
New York Giants (7–4–0)	14	24	10	14	62

		SCORING PLAYS	PHI	NYG
1st	Giants	Bob Tucker 15-yard pass from Norm Snead (Pete Gogolak kick)	0	7
	Giants	Ron A. Johnson 35-yard rush (Pete Gogolak kick)	0	14
	Eagles	Tom Dempsey 13-yard field goal	3	14
2nd	Giants	Joe Orduna 5-yard pass from Norm Snead (Pete Gogolak kick)	3	21
	Giants	Pete Gogolak 25-yard field goal	3	24
	Giants	Bob Tucker 29-yard pass from Norm Snead (Pete Gogolak kick)	3	31
	Eagles	Harold Jackson 77-yard pass from John Reaves (Tom Dempsey kick)	10	31
	Giants	Ron A. Johnson 1-yard rush (Pete Gogolak kick)	10	38
3rd	Giants	Pete Gogolak 29-yard field goal	10	41
	Giants	Don Herrmann 32-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Pete Gogolak kick)	10	48
4th	Giants	Don Herrmann 63-yard pass from Randy Johnson (Pete Gogolak kick)	10	55
	Giants	Randy Johnson 2-yard rush (Pete Gogolak kick)	10	62

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

Postseason

At the end of 1972 season, head coach Ed Khayat was fired. Mike McCormack, a Washington Redskins assistant coach from 1965 to 1972, was hired in his place. Khayat was never an NFL head coach again, although he would be the head coach of the New Orleans Night of the Arena Football League in 1991.