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.1972 New Orleans Saints The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

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

Personnel

Staff

Roster

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 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

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.

References