The 1972 New England Patriots season was the franchise's third season in the National Football League and 13th overall. The Patriots ended the season with a record of three wins and eleven losses and finished last in the AFC East Division.

The Patriots continued their period of futility as they slumped to another horrendous record, and missed the playoffs for the ninth straight season. After being embarrassed 31–7 in their home opener against Cincinnati, the Patriots would win their next two games against Atlanta and eventual NFC champion Washington. However, the Patriots would continue their mid-season misery, losing nine consecutive games to slide to 2–10 before winning their first (and only) road game against the New Orleans Saints, who went 2–11–1.

New England went winless against AFC opponents. Out of their 11 losses, only two were by one possession, a 24–17 loss to Baltimore in the Patriots' first Monday Night Football appearance and a 27–24 loss to Buffalo. The worst of these losses was a 52–0 thrashing by the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Miami Dolphins, who would go on to achieve the only undefeated season in NFL history. That Dolphins loss remains the worst loss and most points ever allowed in a game in Patriots history.

Although they won three games, the 1972 Patriots had the second-worst point differential (minus-254) of any team in a 14-game NFL season, ahead of only the expansion 1976 Buccaneers. The 1972 Patriots had the franchise's worst point differential until the 1990 team was outscored by 265 points (181–446) in a 1–15 season.All NFL teams sorted by point differential from 1961 to 1977 They lost eight of their fourteen games by three touchdowns or more, and their first two wins were by a single point. Jim Plunkett and reserve quarterbacks combined for only 10 touchdown passes with 28 interceptions, and were sacked 44 times. The defense allowed 5,250 total yards and ranked last in the league. Pro Football Reference argues that the 1970 and 1972 Patriots were, owing to the more difficult schedule faced by the 1990 team, the weakest Patriot teams ever,Pro Football Reference; Boston/New England Patriots Team Encyclopedia and rivalled only by the 1991 Colts and 2009 RamsPro Football Reference; Rams Franchise Encyclopedia as the weakest team by an established franchise since the NFL–AFL merger. The team drafted John Hannah before the next season to bolster the offensive line.

Draft

Staff

Roster

Regular season Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 17 Cincinnati Bengals L 7–31 0–1 Schaefer Stadium 60,999 2 September 24 Atlanta Falcons W 21–20 1—1 Schaefer Stadium 60,999 3 October 1 Washington Redskins W 24–23 2–1 Schaefer Stadium 60,999 4 October 8 at Buffalo Bills L 14–38 2—2 War Memorial Stadium 41,749 5 October 15 New York Jets L 13–41 2–3 Schaefer Stadium 60,999 6 October 22 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 3–33 2–4 Three Rivers Stadium 46,081 7 October 29 at New York Jets L 10–34 2–5 Shea Stadium 62,867 8 Baltimore Colts L 17–24 2–6 Schaefer Stadium 60,999 9 November 12 at Miami Dolphins L 0–52 2–7 Miami Orange Bowl 80,010 10 November 19 Buffalo Bills L 24–27 2–8 Schaefer Stadium 60,999 11 November 26 at Baltimore Colts L 0–31 2–9 Memorial Stadium 54,907 12 December 3 Miami Dolphins L 21–37 2–10 Schaefer Stadium 60,999 13 December 10 at New Orleans Saints W 17–10 3–10 Tulane Stadium 64,889 14 December 17 at Denver Broncos L 21–45 3–11 Mile High Stadium 51,656 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries Week 1 vs Bengals

Week 3 vs Redskins

Standings

References