1972 New Orleans Saints season

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.

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

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

Main article: 1972 NFL draft

1972 New Orleans Saints draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
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 28 James Ford 35 Bob Gresham 42 Jim Strong 24 Joe Williams Wide receivers (WR) 26 Margene Adkins 41 Bob Newland 86 Creston Whitaker Tight ends (TE) 36 Robert Brown 83 Dave Parks

Offensive linemen (OL) 51 John Didion C 78 Glen Ray Hines T 77 Carl Johnson G 50 Jake Kupp G 76 Don Morrison T 70 Craig Robinson T 61 Del Williams G Defensive linemen (DL) 75 Mike Crangle DE 89 Dave Long DE/DT 74 Doug Mooers DT 87 Richard Neal DE 72 Joe Owens DE 82 Bob Pollard DT

Linebackers (LB) 59 Wayne Colman OLB 58 Joe Federspiel MLB 56 Willie Hall OLB 53 Bill Hobbs MLB 52 Dick Palmer OLB 54 Tom Roussel OLB Defensive backs (DB) 29 Billie Hayes CB 18 Hugo Hollas FS 20 Delles Howell CB 30 Ernie Jackson CB 11 Bivian Lee CB 37 Tom Myers FS 23 Doug Wyatt SS Special teams (ST) 10 Julian Fagan P  9 Happy Feller K

Practice squad 46 Danny Abramowicz WR  7 Toni Linhart K 44 Frank McGuigan RB 47 Virgil Robinson RB 12 Bobby Scott QB 85 Cephus Weatherspoon WR 68 Wimpy Winther C Reserve 34 Carlos Bell TE (IR) 25 Al Dodd WR (IR) 45 Art Green RB (IR) -- Tom Harrington TE (IR) 64 Ray Hester LB (IR) 65 Bob Kuziel C (IR) 22 Dee Martin CB (IR) 66 Royce Smith G (IR) 55 Tom Stincic LB (IR) 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.