The National Football League playoffs for the 1972 season began on December 23, 1972. The postseason tournament concluded with the Miami Dolphins defeating the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII, 14–7, on January 14, 1973, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, becoming the only NFL team to finish a championship season undefeated and untied.
Like the previous NFL seasons, the home teams in the playoffs were decided based on a yearly divisional rotation, excluding the wild card teams who would always play on the road and would not play against their own division champion in the playoffs unless they both made it to the Conference Championship; they would not be paired with each other in the first round.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule In the United States, CBS televised the NFC playoff games, while NBC broadcast the AFC games and Super Bowl VII.
Round Away team Score Home team Date Kickoff(ET / UTC−5) TV Divisional round Oakland Raiders 7–13 Pittsburgh Steelers December 23, 1972 1:00 p.m. NBC Dallas Cowboys 30–28 San Francisco 49ers December 23, 1972 4:00 p.m. CBS Green Bay Packers 3–16 Washington Redskins December 24, 1972 12:00 p.m. CBS Cleveland Browns 14–20 Miami Dolphins 3:00 p.m. NBC Conference championships Miami Dolphins 21–17 Pittsburgh Steelers December 31, 1972 12:00 p.m. NBC Dallas Cowboys 3–26 Washington Redskins 3:00 p.m. CBS Super Bowl VII Miami Dolphins 14–7 Washington Redskins January 14, 1973 3:30 p.m. NBC
Divisional round
Saturday, December 23, 1972
AFC: Pittsburgh Steelers 13, Oakland Raiders 7
Steelers fullback Franco Harris scored the winning touchdown on what became known as the Immaculate Reception. In a game that was mostly dominated by defense, the contest remained scoreless throughout the first half. On the opening drive of the second half, Pittsburgh drove 67 yards to take a 3–0 lead on Roy Gerela's 18-yard field goal. Following two Raiders drives that were shut down by Jack Ham's interception and a fumble recovery by Glen Edwards, Steelers safety Mike Wagner fell on a fumble by quarterback Ken Stabler (who had replaced injured starter Daryle Lamonica earlier in the game) at the Oakland 35. Five plays later, Gerela kicked a 29-yard field goal that gave Pittsburgh a 6–0 lead in the fourth quarter. Stabler responded by leading his team 80 yards to score on a 30-yard touchdown run with 1:13 left in the game.
Facing fourth and ten on their own 40-yard line with 22 seconds left, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw the ball toward running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua. But the pass bounced off Raiders safety Jack Tatum and was caught by Harris, who then ran the rest of the way downfield to score a 60-yard touchdown that helped give the Steelers a 13–7 lead with five seconds left in the game. The play was controversial, as Tatum insisted the ball had bounced off Fuqua, not himself, which would have made the reception illegal under the rules of the time. Replays showing the play are inconclusive as to which player touched the ball (or if both of them did)
Harris was the sole offensive star of the game, rushing for 64 yards and catching 4 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. The Raiders managed just 216 yards and started 8 of their 12 drives inside their own 22-yard line, mainly due to excellent punting from Pittsburgh's Bobby Walden, who averaged over 48 yards per punt on his 6 kicks and set AFC playoff records with punts of 62 and 59 yards.
This was the first postseason meeting between the Raiders and Steelers. Both teams would go on to build a heated rivalry, facing each other in the postseason five times in the 1970s alone.
NFC: Dallas Cowboys 30, San Francisco 49ers 28
Backup quarterback Roger Staubach replaced ineffective Craig Morton and led the Cowboys to score 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to overcome a 28–13 San Francisco lead and five turnovers. This was the third consecutive year Dallas eliminated San Francisco from the playoffs.
The 49ers jumped to a 7–0 early lead when Vic Washington returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Dallas cut the deficit to 7–3 with kicker Toni Fritsch's 37-yard field goal. In the second quarter, 49ers receiver Gene Washington's 52-yard reception moved the ball deep into Dallas territory, only to have Cowboys cornerback Charlie Waters end the drive with an interception on the 1-yard line. But shortly after the turnover, Dallas quarterback Craig Morton lost a fumble while being hit by Windlan Hall and Tommy Hart, which linebacker Ed Beard recovered on the Cowboys 15-yard line. This led to Larry Schreiber's 1-yard touchdown run, making the score 14–3. Later in the quarter, Morton was intercepted by linebacker Skip Vanderbundt on the Dallas 32, setting up Schreiber's second rushing touchdown that increased the lead to 21–3. But Morton rallied his team back with 10 unanswered points, Fritsch's 45-yard field goal and Lance Alworth's 28-yard touchdown reception, cutting the deficit to 21–13.
In the second half, the Niners blew a chance to increase their lead when Bruce Gossett missed a 40-yard field goal attempt, but then got the ball back on Vanderbundt's second interception. Dallas managed to force a punt, which Jim McCann sent out of bounds at the Cowboys 5-yard line. A few plays later, defensive tackle Charlie Krueger stripped the ball from running back Calvin Hill on the 1 and the 49ers recovered, leading to Schreiber's third 1-yard touchdown run giving his team a commanding 28–13 lead.
Shortly before the end of the third quarter, coach Tom Landry replaced Morton with Roger Staubach, but it didn't seem to help. On his first drive, Staubach lost a fumble while being tackled by Bob Hoskins. San Francisco was in prime position to put the game away with another score, but they couldn't get the ball into the end zone and Gossett missed a 32-yard field goal attempt, causing a huge reversal of momentum. Now with the ball, Hill ripped off a 48-yard gain on a draw play to set up Fritsch's 27-yard field goal, trimming the lead to 28–16. Later in the quarter, a poor punt from McCann gave Dallas the ball at the 49ers 45-yard line. Staubach then led the team to the end zone, completing two passes to fullback Walt Garrison for 16 yards and two more to Billy Parks, the second a 20-yard touchdown completion to cut the score to 28–23 with less than two minutes left.
With time running out, Dallas had to attempt an onside kick. 49ers receiver Preston Riley briefly handled the ball, but couldn't hang on and it was recovered by Mel Renfro. On the first play after the recovery, Staubach gained 21 yards on a quarterback scramble. Then he connected for a 19-yard gain to Parks, who ran out of bounds at the San Francisco 10-yard line. On the next play, Staubach threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to receiver Ron Sellers, giving Dallas a 30–28 lead with just 52 seconds left. However, the 49ers were not quite out of the game. Needing only a field goal to win, Brodie completed three consecutive passes, but a 23-yard completion to Riley that would have put the 49ers in field goal range was eliminated by a holding penalty, and Brodie was intercepted by Waters on the next play.
This game would mark the end of the four-year battle for the starting quarterback position in Dallas between Morton and Staubach. With his outstanding performance of 12/20 completions for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns, with no interceptions and 23 rushing yards in just over one quarter of play, Staubach became the Cowboys' permanent starter and would not relinquish the position until the end of his career after the 1979 season, while Morton was traded to the New York Giants in 1974 and later became the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Morton and Staubach would later meet again and face off against each other in Super Bowl XII. The 49ers would not return to postseason play until 1981.
Dallas' comeback from an 18-point deficit was the second largest comeback in NFL postseason history at the time. The Cowboys outgained the 49ers in total yards 402–255, and first downs 22–13, although they lost five turnovers and their quarterbacks were sacked five times. Brodie was not sacked at all. Hill finished the game with a career postseason high 125 rushing yards, and one reception for six yards. Parks caught 7 passes for 136 yards. Vic Washington had 200 all-purpose yards (3 KR for 136 yards, 56 rushing yards, 1 rec for 8 yards) Defensive end Cedrick Hardman had 3.5 sacks.
This was the third overall postseason meeting, and third such meeting in as many years between the Cowboys and 49ers. Both previous meetings had been in the NFC Championship Game, and were both won by Dallas.
+Dallas leads 2–0 in all-time playoff games
Sunday, December 24, 1972
NFC: Washington Redskins 16, Green Bay Packers 3
Using a five-man defensive line, the Redskins limited the Packers to only a field goal and held Green Bay running back John Brockington (who rushed for 1,027 yards during the season) to just 9 yards on 13 carries. Meanwhile, Washington kicker Curt Knight scored 3 field goals, while running back 1972 NFL MVP Larry Brown, who had missed the last two games of the season with a knee injury, returned to rush for 101 yards, his 7th 100-yard game of the year.
The Packers scored first after a 23-yard completion from Scott Hunter to John Staggers set up Chester Marcol's 17-yard field goal in the second quarter, which ended up being only time in the entire game the Packers would cross Washington's 40-yard line. But then Redskins running back Herbert Mul-Key returned their kickoff 42 yards to Washington 40-yard line. The Redskins went on to drive 60 yards and score on Billy Kilmer's 32-yard touchdown pass to Roy Jefferson. With 33 seconds left in the first half, Knight kicked a 42-yard field goal to give Washington a 10–3 halftime lead. The Redskins then dominated the second half, with Knight adding two more field goals, the second one a 46-yard kick at the end of a 43-yard drive in which Brown rushed 6 times for 32 yards.
This was the second postseason meeting between the Packers and Redskins. Green Bay won the only prior meeting when the Redskins were based in Boston.
+Green Bay leads 1–0 in all-time playoff games
AFC: Miami Dolphins 20, Cleveland Browns 14
Despite being 13-point favorites, Miami found themselves trailing 14-13 midway through the 4th quarter due to a Browns touchdown drive. The Dolphins proved up to the challenge, as they responded by driving 80 yards to retake the lead on an 8-yard rushing touchdown by Jim Kiick with less than 5 minutes left in regulation to keep the Dolphins' hopes alive for an undefeated season.
After punting on their opening drive, Miami got an early scoring opportunity when linebacker Doug Swift intercepted a pass from Browns quarterback Mike Phipps, giving the Dolphins a first down on the Browns 40-yard line. But Miami could only gain 1 yard over the next three plays and failed to score when Garo Yepremian missed a 46-yard field goal attempt. Their first score would come later, when Charlie Babb blocked a Cleveland punt, picked it up, and returned it for a touchdown. Following another Cleveland punt, Miami increased their lead to 10-0 by driving 51 yards, featuring a 21-yard run by receiver Paul Warfield on an end around play, and scoring on Yepremian's 40-yard field goal. Cleveland responded with a pair of runs for 32 total yards by Bo Scott and a 25-yard scramble by Phipps, giving the team a first down on the Dolphins 25-yard line. But once again they failed to score as the drive ended with an interception by Dolphins cornerback Curtis Johnson, who returned the ball 33 yards.