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1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season

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1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season
OwnerArt Rooney
Head coachChuck Noll
Home fieldThree Rivers Stadium
Results
Record11–3
Division place1st AFC Central
Playoff finishWon Divisional Playoffs
(vs. Raiders) 13–7
Lost AFC Championship
(vs. Dolphins) 17–21
Pro Bowlers
AP All-Pros
4
Team MVPFranco Harris

The 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the team's 40th in the National Football League.

Pittsburgh finished with an 11–3 record in 1972, their first winning season in 9 years (1963), and won their first-ever AFC Central Division title. It was the Steelers' third-ever postseason appearance, first in ten seasons (the Playoff Bowl for third place in the league), and only its second playoff game since 1947. This season is famous for the Immaculate Reception, where the Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13–7 in the playoffs on a last second touchdown by rookie running back Franco Harris.

The rebuilding of the franchise that began in 1969 with the hiring of head coach Chuck Noll finally came to fruition in his fourth year. After winning only once in that first season, the Steelers then showed steady improvement. They broke through in 1972 and made the playoffs for the first time since 1947; their three losses were by a combined eleven points. The division title was the first in team history, as was the appearance in the AFC Championship game which they lost to the undefeated Miami Dolphins 21–17. It was the first of eight consecutive playoff appearances for the Steelers that led to four Super Bowl championships.

Offseason

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NFL draft

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1972 Pittsburgh Steelers draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 13 Franco Harris *   RB Penn State
2 38 Gordon Gravelle  OT BYU
3 63 John McMakin  TE Clemson
4 80 Lorenzo Brinkley  DB Missouri
4 88 Ed Bradley  LB Wake Forest
5 113 Steve Furness  DE Rhode Island
6 143 Dennis Meyer  DB Arkansas State
7 159 Joe Colquitt  DE Kansas State
7 168 Robert Kelly  DB Jackson State
8 193 Stahle Vincent  RB Rice
9 217 Don Kelley  DB Clemson
10 243 Bob Brown  DT Tampa
11 273 Joe Gilliam  QB Tennessee State
12 298 Ron Curl  OT Michigan State
13 323 Ernie Messmer  OT Villanova
14 348 Tommy Durrance  RB Florida
15 368 John Hulecki  OG UMass
15 373 Charles Harrington  OG Wichita State
16 403 Nate Hawkins  WR UNLV
17 428 Ron Linehan  LB Idaho
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

[1]

Roster

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1972 Pittsburgh Steelers final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Head coach
Assistant coaches

Rookies in italics

Source:[2]

Depth chart

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Staff

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•Lionel Taylor - Receiver Coach

•Charlie Sumner - Linebacker Coach

• - Quarterback Coach

•Dick Hoak – Defensive backfield coach

•Bud Carson – Defensive backfield coach

•Bob Fry – Offensive line coach

•Lou Riecke - Strength Coach

•George Perles – Defensive line coach

Regular season

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Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue
1 September 17 Oakland Raiders W 34–28 1–0 Three Rivers Stadium
2 September 24 at Cincinnati Bengals L 10–15 1–1 Riverfront Stadium
3 October 1 at St. Louis Cardinals W 25–19 2–1 Busch Memorial Stadium
4 October 8 at Dallas Cowboys L 13–17 2–2 Texas Stadium
5 October 15 Houston Oilers W 24–7 3–2 Three Rivers Stadium
6 October 22 New England Patriots W 33–3 4–2 Three Rivers Stadium
7 October 29 at Buffalo Bills W 38–21 5–2 War Memorial Stadium
8 November 5 Cincinnati Bengals W 40–17 6–2 Three Rivers Stadium
9 November 12 Kansas City Chiefs W 16–7 7–2 Three Rivers Stadium
10 November 19 at Cleveland Browns L 24–26 7–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium
11 November 26 Minnesota Vikings W 23–10 8–3 Three Rivers Stadium
12 December 3 Cleveland Browns W 30–0 9–3 Three Rivers Stadium
13 December 10 at Houston Oilers W 9–3 10–3 Astrodome
14 December 17 at San Diego Chargers W 24–2 11–3 San Diego Stadium
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

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Week 1: vs. Oakland Raiders

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1 234Total
Raiders 0 7021 28
Steelers 14 3107 34
  • References: [1]

The Steelers were able to start off against the Raiders at home scoring 17 unanswered points (2TDs/PATs and a FG) and eventually ended up defeating the team by 6 for a 34–28 victory and a 1–0 start.

Week 2: at Cincinnati Bengals

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1 234Total
Steelers 0 1000 10
Bengals 3 066 15
  • References: [2]

Week 3: at St. Louis Cardinals

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1 234Total
Steelers 3 12010 25
Cardinals 0 667 19
  • References: [3]

Week 4: at Dallas Cowboys

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1 234Total
Steelers 6 700 13
Cowboys 3 770 17
  • References: [4]

Week 5: vs. Houston Oilers

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1 234Total
Oilers 7 000 7
Steelers 0 1077 24

Week 6: vs. New England Patriots

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1 234Total
Patriots 0 030 3
Steelers 10 7133 33
  • References: [6]

Week 7: at Buffalo Bills

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1 234Total
Steelers 0 17714 38
Bills 0 0714 21
  • References: [7]

Week 8: vs. Cincinnati Bengals

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1 234Total
Bengals 0 0143 17
Steelers 10 1677 40
  • References: [8]

Week 9: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

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1 234Total
Chiefs 0 700 7
• Steelers 0 0313 16
  • References: [9]

Scoring drives:

  • Kansas City – Kearney 65 interception return (Stenerud kick) – Chiefs 7–0
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 25 – Chiefs 7–3
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 10 – Chiefs 7–6
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 49 – Steelers 9–7
  • Pittsburgh – Harris 7 run (Gerela kick) – Steelers 16–7

Week 10: Cleveland Browns

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1 234Total
Steelers 3 777 24
• Browns 10 1033 26

Scoring drives:

Week 11: vs. Minnesota Vikings

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Minnesota Vikings (6–4) at Pittsburgh Steelers (7–3)
Period 1 2 34Total
Vikings 3 0 0710
Steelers 7 0 31323

at Three Rivers StadiumPittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Game information

Week 12: vs. Cleveland Browns

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1 234Total
Browns 0 000 0
• Steelers 3 7713 30
  • Date: Sunday, December 3
  • Location: Three Rivers Stadium
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. local
  • Game attendance: 50,350
  • Game weather: 44 F, wind 14 mph
  • Referee: Tommy Bell

Franco Harris breaks Jim Brown's record for consecutive 100 yd games.

Scoring drives:

  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 19 – Steelers 3–0
  • Pittsburgh – Harris 1 run (Gerela kick) – Steelers 10–0
  • Pittsburgh – Harris 11 run (Gerela kick) – Steelers 17–0
  • Pittsburgh – McMakin 78 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick) – Steelers 24–0
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 44 – Steelers 27–0
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 37 – Steelers 30–0

Week 13: at Houston Oilers

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1 234Total
• Steelers 3 060 9
Oilers 0 300 3
  • Date: Sunday, December 10
  • Location: Houston Astrodome
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. local
  • Game attendance: 36,528
  • Referee: John McDonough

Scoring drives:

  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 24 – Steelers 3–0
  • Houston – FG Butler 34 – Tie 3–3
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 39 – Steelers 6–3
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 13 – Steelers 9–3

Steelers clinch their 1st playoff berth.

Week 14: San Diego Chargers

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1 234Total
• Steelers 7 737 24
Chargers 2 000 2

The Pittsburgh Steelers clinched their first AFC Central Division title. The day before the game Frank Sinatra is inducted into Franco's Italian Army.

Scoring drives:

  • Pittsburgh – Harris 7 yd run (Gerela kick) Steelers 7-0
  • San Diego – Safety, Costa tackled Bradshaw in end zone – Steelers 7-2
  • Pittsburgh – Fuqua 2 run (Gerela kick) – Steelers 14–2
  • Pittsburgh – FG Gerela 24 – Steelers 17–2
  • Pittsburgh – Shanklin 17 pass from Bradshaw (Gerela kick) – Steelers 24–2

Standings

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AFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Pittsburgh Steelers 11 3 0 .786 4–2 9–2 343 175 W4
Cleveland Browns 10 4 0 .714 5–1 9–2 268 249 W2
Cincinnati Bengals 8 6 0 .571 3–3 6–5 299 229 W1
Houston Oilers 1 13 0 .071 0–6 1–10 164 380 L11

Postseason

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Game summaries

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AFC Divisional: vs. Oakland Raiders

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1 234Total
Raiders 0 007 7
Steelers 0 0310 13

AFC Championship: vs. Miami Dolphins

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1 234Total
• Dolphins 0 777 21
Steelers 7 037 17

References

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  1. ^ Football Database – 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers Draft. Retrieved 2014-Feb-10.
  2. ^ "Steelers numbers". Pittsburgh Press. October 22, 1972. p. D9.
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