1972 Oakland Raiders season

1972 Oakland Raiders season
Owner	Al Davis
General manager	Al Davis
Head coach	John Madden
Home field	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
Results
Record	10–3–1
Division place	1st AFC West
Playoff finish	Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Steelers) 7–13

The 1972 Oakland Raiders season was the team's 13th season. The Raiders won the AFC West for the second time in three seasons. They lost in the AFC Division Round to the Pittsburgh Steelers 13–7 when Franco Harris scored the game-winning touchdown on the Immaculate Reception. The Raiders still dispute that this was an illegal touchdown.

This was the only season that the Raiders made the playoffs between 1967 and 1977 that the Raiders failed to advance to the AFL or AFC Championship Game.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1972 NFL Draft

1972 Oakland Raiders draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	21	Mike Siani	Wide receiver	Villanova
2	33	Kelvin Korver	Offensive tackle	Northwestern (Iowa)
2	43	John Vella	Offensive tackle	Southern California
3	72	Mel Lunsford	Defensive tackle	Central State (Ohio)
4	98	Cliff Branch * †	Wide receiver	Colorado
4	100	Dave Dalby *	Center	UCLA
6	131	Dan Medlin	Defensive tackle	North Carolina State
7	173	Ray Jamieson	Running back	Memphis
7	176	Skip Thomas	Defensive back	Southern California
7	178	Dennis Pete	Defensive back	San Francisco State
8	202	Jackie Brown	Running back	Stanford
9	228	Dave Bigler	Running back	Morningside
10	254	Phillip Price	Defensive back	Idaho State
11	277	Joe Carroll	Linebacker	Pittsburgh
12	306	Kent Gaydos	Tight end	Florida State
13	333	Ted Covington	Wide receiver	San Fernando Valley
14	358	Dennis Cambal	Running back	William & Mary
15	365	Charles Hester	Running back	Central State (Ohio)
15	384	Dave Snesrud	Linebacker	Hamline
16	410	Willie Wright	Tight end	North Carolina A&T State
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Roster

1972 Oakland Raiders roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 3 Daryle Lamonica 15 Don Milan 12 Ken Stabler Running backs (RB) 40 Pete Banaszak 28 Clarence Davis 32 Don Highsmith 44 Marv Hubbard 23 Charlie Smith Wide receivers (WR) 25 Fred Biletnikoff 21 Cliff Branch 49 Mike Siani Tight ends (TE) 87 Raymond Chester 88 Bob Moore

Offensive linemen (OL) 76 Bob Brown T 64 George Buehler G 50 Dave Dalby C 00 Jim Otto C 65 Paul Seiler G 78 Art Shell T 63 Gene Upshaw G Defensive linemen (DL) 84 Tony Cline DE 82 Horace Jones DE 74 Tom Keating DT 71 Kelvin Korver DT 60 Otis Sistrunk DE 80 Art Thoms DT

Linebackers (LB) 55 Dan Conners 51 Joe Carroll 86 Gerald Irons 54 Terry Mendenhall 34 Gus Otto 45 Greg Slough 41 Phil Villapiano Defensive backs (DB) 43 George Atkinson FS 24 Willie Brown CB 42 Tommy Maxwell CB 31 Jack Tatum FS 26 Skip Thomas CB 48 Nemiah Wilson CB Special teams 16 George Blanda K 4 Jerry DePoyster P

Practice squad -- Kent Gaydos TE 79 Dan Medlin G Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 17	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 28–34	0–1	Three Rivers Stadium	50,141
2	September 24	at Green Bay Packers	W 20–14	1–1	Lambeau Field	56,263
3	October 1	San Diego Chargers	T 17–17	1–1–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	53,455
4	October 9	at Houston Oilers	W 34–0	2–1–1	Houston Astrodome	51,378
5	October 15	Buffalo Bills	W 28–16	3–1–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	53,501
6	October 22	Denver Broncos	L 23–30	3–2–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	53,551
7	October 29	Los Angeles Rams	W 45–17	4–2–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,660
8	November 5	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 14–27	4–3–1	Arrowhead Stadium	82,094
9	November 12	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 20–14	5–3–1	Riverfront Stadium	59,485
10	November 19	at Denver Broncos	W 37–20	6–3–1	Mile High Stadium	51,656
11	November 26	Kansas City Chiefs	W 26–3	7–3–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,801
12	December 3	at San Diego Chargers	W 21–19	8–3–1	San Diego Stadium	54,611
13	December 11	New York Jets	W 24–16	9–3–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,843
14	December 17	Chicago Bears	W 28–21	10–3–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,711
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1

1 2 3 4 Total Raiders 0 7 0 21 28 • Steelers 14 3 10 7 34 Date: September 17 Location: Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 72 °F (22 °C), wind 13 mph (21 km/h)

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total • Raiders 10 0 10 0 20 Packers 7 7 0 0 14 Date: September 24 Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin Game start: 1:00 p.m. CDT Game weather: 61 °F (16 °C), wind 10 mph (16 km/h) Referee: Norm Schachter Television network: NBC

Week 3

1 2 3 4 Total Chargers 0 7 0 10 17 Raiders 14 0 0 3 17 Date: October 1 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 61 °F (16 °C), wind 10 mph (16 km/h)

Week 4

1 2 3 4 Total • Raiders 3 7 3 21 34 Oilers 0 0 0 0 0 Date: October 9 Location: Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas Game start: 8:00 p.m. Game weather: indoors (dome) TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith

Week 5

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 3 10 0 3 16 • Raiders 0 0 7 21 28 Date: October 15 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C), wind 13 mph (21 km/h)

Week 6

1 2 3 4 Total • Broncos 7 17 0 6 30 Raiders 0 3 10 10 23 Date: October 22 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 60 °F (16 °C), wind 5 mph (8.0 km/h)

Week 7

1 2 3 4 Total Rams 0 3 7 7 17 • Raiders 28 7 0 10 45 Date: October 29 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 55 °F (13 °C), wind 13 mph (21 km/h)

Week 8

1 2 3 4 Total Raiders 0 0 7 7 14 • Chiefs 0 17 3 7 27 Date: November 5 Location: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri Game start: 3:00 p.m. Game weather: 53 °F (12 °C), wind 12 mph (19 km/h)

Week 9

1 2 3 4 Total • Raiders 0 3 7 10 20 Bengals 0 7 0 7 14 Date: November 12 Location: Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 44 °F (7 °C), wind 6 mph (9.7 km/h)

Week 10

1 2 3 4 Total • Raiders 7 13 3 14 37 Broncos 10 3 0 7 20 Date: November 19 Location: Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado Game start: 12:00 p.m. Game weather: 30 °F (−1 °C), wind 9 mph (14 km/h)

Week 11

1 2 3 4 Total Chiefs 0 3 0 0 3 • Raiders 10 13 0 3 26 Date: November 26 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 50 °F (10 °C), wind 8 mph (13 km/h)

Week 12

1 2 3 4 Total • Raiders 7 7 0 7 21 Chargers 0 10 6 3 19 Date: December 3 Location: San Diego Stadium, San Diego, California Game start: 1:00 p.m.

Week 13

1 2 3 4 Total Jets 7 6 0 3 16 • Raiders 3 7 7 7 24 Date: December 11 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game start: 6:00 p.m. Game weather: 34 °F (1 °C), wind 9 mph (14 km/h) TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith

Week 14

1 2 3 4 Total Bears 7 0 7 7 21 • Raiders 7 0 7 14 28 Date: December 17 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 44 °F (7 °C), wind 11 mph (18 km/h)

Scoring summary 1 CHI Ron Smith 94-yard kickoff return (Mac Percival kick) CHI 7–0 1 OAK Charlie Smith 14-yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Tie 7–7 3 OAK Charlie Smith 19-yard pass from Ken Stabler (George Blanda kick) OAK 14–7 3 CHI Ross Brupbacher recovered fumble in end zone (Mac Percival kick) Tie 14–14 4 OAK Pete Banaszak 1 yard run (George Blanda kick) OAK 21–14 4 OAK Clarence Davis 45-yard run (George Blanda kick) OAK 28–14 4 CHI Don Shy 1 yard run (Mac Percival kick) OAK 28–21

Standings

AFC West
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Oakland Raiders	10	3	1	.750	3–2–1	7–3–1	365	248	W6
Kansas City Chiefs	8	6	0	.571	4–2	6–5	287	254	W3
Denver Broncos	5	9	0	.357	2–4	4–6	325	350	W2
San Diego Chargers	4	9	1	.321	2–3–1	4–6–1	264	344	L3

Playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
Divisional	December 23	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 7–13	0–1	Three Rivers Stadium	50,350

Game summaries

1 2 3 4 Total Raiders 0 0 0 7 7 • Steelers 0 0 3 10 13 Date: December 23 Location: Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 42 °F (6 °C), wind 6 mph (9.7 km/h) TV announcers (NBC): Curt Gowdy

References

• Raiders on Pro Football Reference
• Raiders on Database Football