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1972 NFL season

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AFC Champions
  
Miami Dolphins

Champions
  
Miami Dolphins

Start date
  
1972

NFC Champions
  
Washington Redskins

Champion
  
Miami Dolphins

Duration
  
September 17 – December 17, 1972

Site
  
L.A. Coliseum,Los Angeles, California

Site
  
Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas

Similar
  
1970 NFL season, 1982 NFL season, 1974 NFL season, 1969 NFL season, 1984 NFL season

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.

Contents

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.

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). 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.
  • 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.

    Final standings

    W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

     x  – clinched wild card berth,  y  – clinched division title

    Note: Prior to 1972, the NFL did not include tie games when calculating a team's winning percentage in the official standings

    Playoffs

    Note: Prior to the 1975 season, the home teams in the playoffs were decided based on a yearly rotation.

    References

    1972 NFL season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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