1971 New England Patriots season

1971 New England Patriots season
Head coach John Mazur
General manager Upton Bell
Owner Billy Sullivan
Home field Schaefer Stadium
Results
Record 6–8
Division place T-3rd AFC East
Playoff finish did not qualify
Pro Bowlers none
AP All-Pros none
Uniform

The 1971 New England Patriots season was the team's twelfth, and second in the National Football League. The 1971 season was the first that the team played as the New England Patriots, changing their name from the Boston Patriots, briefly to the Bay State Patriots before changing it again to the New England Patriots, in an effort to regionalize the franchise's equal distance from Boston and Providence.[1]

The Patriots finished the season with a record of six wins and eight losses, and finished third in the AFC East Division. It was the first season the Patriots played in Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts after playing in three different stadiums the previous three seasons in Boston.

During training camp, the Dallas Cowboys traded disgruntled running back Duane Thomas to the Patriots for Carl Garrett and Halvor Hagen. Thomas became embroiled in a conflict with coach John Mazur, prompting Patriots general manager Upton Bell to request that Commissioner Pete Rozelle void the trade three days after it had been made. Rozelle granted Bell's request, and the traded players returned to where they had been prior to the deal.

Offseason

NFL Draft

1971 New England Patriots draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 1 Jim Plunkett  QB Stanford
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Staff

New England Patriots 1971 staff
Front Office

Head Coaches

Offensive Coaches

  • Offensive Backs/Receivers – Sam Rutigliano
  • Receivers – Jerry Stoltz
  • Offensive Line – Bruce Beatty
  

Defensive Coaches

Roster

1971 New England Patriots roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists

{{{reserve_lists}}}


Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Game site Record Attendance
PF PA Rst
1September 19 Oakland Raiders 206W Schaeffer Stadium 1–055,405
2September 26 Detroit Lions 734L Schaeffer Stadium 1–161,057
3October 3 Baltimore Colts 323L Schaeffer Stadium 1–261,232
4October 10 New York Jets 200W Schaeffer Stadium 2–261,357
5October 17 at Miami Dolphins 341L Miami Orange Bowl 2–358,822
6October 24 at Dallas Cowboys 2144L Texas Stadium 2–465,708
7October 31 at San Francisco 49ers 1027L Candlestick Park 2–545,092
8November 7 Houston Oilers 2820W Schaeffer Stadium 3–553,155
9November 14 Buffalo Bills 3833W Schaeffer Stadium 4–557,446
10November 21 at Cleveland Browns 727L Cleveland Municipal Stadium 4–665,238
11November 28 at Buffalo Bills 2027L War Memorial Stadium 4–727,166
12December 5 Miami Dolphins 3413W Schaeffer Stadium 5–761,457
13December 12 at New York Jets 613L Shea Stadium 5–863,175
14December 19 at Baltimore Colts 2117W Memorial Stadium 6–857,942

Standings

AFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Miami Dolphins 10 3 1 .769 5–3 7–3–1 315 174 W1
Baltimore Colts 10 4 0 .714 6–2 8–3 313 140 L1
New England Patriots 6 8 0 .429 4–4 6–5 238 325 W1
New York Jets 6 8 0 .429 4–4 6–5 212 299 W2
Buffalo Bills 1 13 0 .071 1–7 1–10 184 394 L3

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972. [2]

References

  1. ↑ New England Is Their Third Name
  2. ↑ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 297


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.