1972 NFL season
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1972 National Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 17 – December 17, 1972
Playoffs
Start date December 23, 1972
AFC Champions Miami Dolphins
NFC Champions Washington Redskins
Super Bowl VII
Date January 14, 1973
Site L.A. Coliseum,
Los Angeles, California
Champions Miami Dolphins
Pro Bowl
Date January 21, 1973
Site Texas Stadium, Irving, Te… Morexas
← 1971 NFL seasons 1973 →
The 1972 NFL season was the 53rd regular season of the National Football League. The Miami Dolphins became the first (and to date the only) NFL team to finish a championship season undefeated and untied when they beat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

The Kansas City Chiefs moved their home games to Arrowhead Stadium at the Truman Sports Complex and became the twelfth team (of 26) to play its home games on artificial turf.

Contents
1 Major rule changes
2 Division races
2.1 National Football Conference
2.2 American Football Conference
3 Final standings
4 Playoffs
5 Awards
6 Draft
7 Coaches
7.1 American Football Conference
7.2 National Football Conference
8 References
9 External links
Major rule changes
The inbounds lines or hashmarks were moved 10¾ feet closer to the center of the field, to 23 yards, 1 foot, 9 inches from the sidelines. Since the 1945 season, they had been 20 yards from the sideline (40 feet apart).[1] The hashmarks are now 18½ feet apart (the same width as the goalposts), cutting down on severe angles for short field goal attempts, and nearly eliminating the short-side fields for the offense.
With the hashmarks now the same width as the goalposts, a team punting from inside its 15-yard line could snap the ball from a spot even with the marked field numbers instead of the hashmarks to avoid the punt hitting the goalpost.
If a legal receiver goes out of bounds, either accidentally or forced out, and returns to touch or catch the pass in bounds, the penalty is a loss of down (but no penalty yardage will be assessed).
If a punt or missed field goal crosses the receivers' goal line, a member of the receiving team may advance the ball into the field of play. Previously, the ball was dead when a scrimmage kick crossed the goal line and the receivers were awarded an automatic touchback.
All fouls committed by the offensive team behind the line of scrimmage will be assessed from the previous spot.
Tie games, previously ignored in computing of winning percentage, were made equal to a half-game win and a half-game loss.
Division races
Starting in 1970, and until 2002, there were three divisions (Eastern, Central and Western) in each conference. The winners of each division, and a fourth "wild card" team based on the best non-division winner, qualified for the playoffs. The tiebreaker rules were changed to start with head-to-head competition, followed by division records, common opponents records, and conference play.

National Football Conference
Week Eastern Central Western Wild Card
1 Dallas, St. Louis, Washington 1–0–0 Detroit, Green Bay 1–0–0 Atlanta, San Francisco, Los Angeles 1–0–0 St.L, Wash., Atl., San Fran., Green Bay 1–0–0
2 Dallas, Washington 2–0–0 Minnesota 1–1–0 Los Angeles 1–0–1 Dallas, Washington 2–0–0
3 Washington 2–1–0 Detroit, Green Bay 2–1–0 Atlanta, San Francisco 2–1–0 3 teams 2–1–0
4 Washington 3–1–0 Detroit* 3–1–0 Los Angeles 2–1–1 2 teams 3–1–0
5 Washington 4–1–0 Green Bay 4–1–0 Los Angeles 3–1–1 Dallas 4–1–0
6 Washington 5–1–0 Green Bay* 4–2–0 Los Angeles 4–1–1 4 teams 4–2–0
7 Washington 6–1–0 Green Bay* 4–3–0 Los Angeles 4–2–1 Dallas 5–2–0
8 Washington 7–1–0 Green Bay* 5–3–0 Los Angeles 5–2–1 Dallas 6–2–0
9 Washington 8–1–0 Green Bay 6–3–0 Los Angeles 5–3–1 Dallas 7–2–0
10 Washington 9–1–0 Green Bay 7–3–0 Los Angeles* 5–4–1 Dallas 8–2–0
11 Washington 10–1–0 Green Bay* 7–4–0 San Francisco 6–4–1 Dallas 8–3–0
12 Washington 11–1–0 Green Bay 8–4–0 Atlanta 7–5–0 Dallas 9–3–0
13 Washington 11–2–0 Green Bay 9–4–0 San Francisco 7–5–1 Dallas 10–3–0
14 Washington 11–3–0 Green Bay 10–4–0 San Francisco 8–5–1 Dallas 10–4–0 Less