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	3	4	Total
Eagles	3	3	0	0	6
Cowboys	0	7	14	7	28

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 PHI – Tom Dempsey 30 yard field goal, Eagles 3–0 Second quarter PHI – Tom Dempsey 42 yard field goal, Eagles 6–0 DAL – Ron Sellers 37 yard pass from Craig Morton (Toni Fritsch kick), Cowboys 7–6 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 DAL – Robert Newhouse 1 yard run (Toni Fritsch kick), Cowboys 28–6 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	3	4	Total
Cowboys	7	3	3	10	23
Giants	0	7	0	7	14

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 14 Craig Morton 12 Roger Staubach Running Backs 32 Walt Garrison FB 35 Calvin Hill 23 Mike Montgomery WR 44 Robert Newhouse FB 30 Dan Reeves 27 Bill Thomas Wide Receivers 19 Lance Alworth 22 Bob Hayes 21 Billy Parks 88 Ron Sellers Tight Ends 89 Mike Ditka 84 Jean Fugett 87 Billy Truax		Offensive Linemen 62 John Fitzgerald C 51 Dave Manders C 73 Ralph Neely T 76 John Niland G 61 Blaine Nye G 71 Rodney Wallace T/G 70 Rayfield Wright T Defensive Linemen 66 George Andrie DE 63 Larry Cole DE 77 Bill Gregory DT 74 Bob Lilly DT 75 Jethro Pugh DT 85 Tody Smith DE 67 Pat Toomay DE		Linebackers 53 John Babinecz MLB 86 Ralph Coleman OLB 52 Dave Edwards OLB 54 Chuck Howley OLB 55 Lee Roy Jordan MLB 57 Mike Keller MLB 50 D. D. Lewis OLB Defensive Backs 26 Herb Adderley CB 31 Benny Barnes CB 34 Cornell Green SS 43 Cliff Harris FS/RS 20 Mel Renfro CB 46 Mark Washington CB 41 Charlie Waters FS/CB Special Teams 81 Marv Bateman P 15 Toni Fritsch K		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

• The Football Encyclopedia ISBN 0-312-11435-4
• Total Football ISBN 0-06-270170-3
• Cowboys Have Always Been My Heroes ISBN 0-446-51950-2

References

1. 1972 Dallas Cowboys

External links

• 1972 Dallas Cowboys
• Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Dallas Cowboys Official Site