1971 New England Patriots season

The 1971 New England Patriots season was the franchise's 2nd season in the National Football League and 12th overall. The 1971 season was the first that the team played as the New England Patriots, changing their name from the Boston Patriots, briefly to the Bay State Patriots before changing it again to the New England Patriots, in an effort to regionalize the franchise's equal distance from Boston and Providence.^[1]

1971 New England Patriots season
Owner	Billy Sullivan
General manager	Upton Bell
Head coach	John Mazur
Home stadium	Schaefer Stadium
Results
Record	6–8
Division place	T-3rd AFC East
Playoffs	Did not qualify
All-Pros	None
Pro Bowlers	None
Uniform
← 1970 (Boston) Patriots seasons 1972 →

The Patriots finished with six wins and eight losses, third place in the AFC East Division. It was the first season the Patriots played in the new Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts,^[2][3] after playing in three different stadiums the previous three seasons in Boston.

During training camp, the Dallas Cowboys traded disgruntled running back Duane Thomas to the Patriots for Carl Garrett and Halvor Hagen on July 31.^[4] Thomas became embroiled in a conflict with head coach John Mazur,^[5] prompting Patriots general manager Upton Bell to request that Commissioner Pete Rozelle void the trade three days after it had been made. Rozelle granted Bell's request, and the traded players returned to where they had been prior to the deal.^[6]

Offseason

NFL draft

See also: 1971 NFL draft

1971 New England Patriots draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	1	Jim Plunkett	QB	Stanford
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Staff

1971 New England Patriots staff

Front office President – Billy Sullivan General Manager – Upton Bell Assistant General Manager – Peter Hadhazy Director of Player Personnel – Bucko Kilroy Director of Pro Scouting – Rommie Loudd Head coaches Head Coach – John Mazur Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator/Backs – Sam Rutigliano Receivers – Jerry Stoltz Offensive Line – Bruce Beatty

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator/Line – Dick Evans Linebackers – John Meyer Defensive Backfield – Tom Fletcher

Roster

1971 New England Patriots roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 16 Jim Plunkett 17 Mike Taliaferro Running backs (RB) 30 Carl Garrett 24 Bob Gladieux 40 Jack Maitland 35 Jim Nance Wide receivers (WR) 45 Hubie Bryant 10 Eric Crabtree 33 Reggie Rucker 34 Ron Sellers 18 Randy Vataha Tight ends (TE) 82 Tom Beer 86 Roland Moss

Offensive linemen (OL) 62 Halvor Hagen G 76 Mike Haggerty T 67 Bill Lenkaitis C/G 64 Mike Montler T 56 Jon Morris C 77 Tom Neville T 60 Len St. Jean G Defensive linemen (DL) 85 Julius Adams DT 73 Bill Atessis DE 88 Ron Berger DT/DE 87 Ike Lassiter DE 71 Art May DE 76 Dave Rowe DT

Linebackers (LB) 50 Jim Cheyunski MLB 51 Randy Edmunds OLB 52 Ed Philpott OLB 54 Kenny Price MLB 60 Steve Kiner OLB 66 Ed Weisacosky OLB Defensive backs (DB) 27 Randy Beverly CB 41 Larry Carwell CB 25 Rickie Harris SS 21 Tom Janik P/FS 38 Perry Pruett CB 44 John Outlaw CB 42 Don Webb FS Special teams (ST)  7 Charlie Gogolak K

Practice squad 61 Sam Adams G 14 Brian Dowling QB 37 Ron Gardin CB 29 Honor Jackson CB 74 Layne McDowell T Reserve 65 Houston Antwine DT (IR) 78 Hank Barton DE (IR) 53 Dennis Coleman LB (IR) 83 Dave Hardt DE (IR) 23 Daryl Johnson CB (IR) 32 Odell Lawson RB (IR) -- Rich Moore DT (IR) 28 Art McMahon S (IR) 47 Jerry Murtaugh LB (IR) 81 Ara Person TE (Ret.) 26 Clarence Scott S (IR) 13 Alfred Sykes WR (IR) 70 Dennis Wirgowski DE (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Recap
1	September 19	Oakland Raiders	W 20–6	1–0	Schaefer Stadium	Recap
2	September 26	Detroit Lions	L 7–34	1–1	Schaefer Stadium	Recap
3	October 3	Baltimore Colts	L 3–23	1–2	Schaefer Stadium	Recap
4	October 10	New York Jets	W 20–0	2–2	Schaefer Stadium	Reacp
5	October 17	at Miami Dolphins	L 3–41	2–3	Miami Orange Bowl	Recap
6	October 24	at Dallas Cowboys	L 21–44	2–4	Texas Stadium	Recap
7	October 31	at San Francisco 49ers	L 10–27	2–5	Candlestick Park	Recap
8	November 7	Houston Oilers	W 28–20	3–5	Schaefer Stadium	Recap
9	November 14	Buffalo Bills	W 38–33	4–5	Schaefer Stadium	Recap
10	November 21	at Cleveland Browns	L 7–27	4–6	Cleveland Stadium	Recap
11	November 28	at Buffalo Bills	L 20–27	4–7	War Memorial Stadium	Recap
12	December 5	Miami Dolphins	W 34–13	5–7	Schaefer Stadium	Recap
13	December 12	at New York Jets	L 6–13	5–8	Shea Stadium	Recap
14	December 19	at Baltimore Colts	W 21–17	6–8	Memorial Stadium	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

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.

^[7]