1973 New England Patriots: 5-9-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 3-4-0 (128 points scored, 134 allowed) Road record: 2-5-0 (130 points scored, 166 allowed) Head Coach: Chuck Fairbanks 258 points scored (16th of 26 teams), 300 points allowed (16th) NFL Averages: 19.5 points/game (272.3 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 195 380 2,231 (10) 5.35 13 17 454 1,612 (23) 3.6 15 3,843 (17) 42 Defense: 134 240 1,338 ( 2) 4.92 11 13 560 2,850 (26) 5.1 16 4,188 (18) 31
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 2 Jeff White K 11 5'11 170 25 1 Texas-El Paso 3 Bruce Barnes P 14 5'11 205 22 R UCLA 8 Bill Bell K 3 6'1 192 25 3 Kansas 11 Dick Shiner QB 3 6'0 195 31 9 Maryland 14 Brian Dowling QB 11 6'2 200 26 2 Yale 16 Jim Plunkett QB 14 6'3 220 25 3 Stanford 18 Randy Vataha WR 14 5'10 175 24 3 Stanford 22 Sandy Durko DB 14 6'1 185 25 3 Southern California 23 George Hoey DB 13 5'10 170 26 3 Michigan 24 Bob McCall RB 8 6'0 205 23 R Arizona 27 Ron Bolton DB 14 6'2 180 23 2 Norfolk State 28 Dave Mason DB 7 6'0 200 23 R Nebraska 29 Greg Boyd DB 2 6'2 200 22 R Arizona 29 Honor Jackson DB 4 6'1 195 24 2 Pacific 31 Josh Ashton RB 12 6'1 205 24 2 Tulsa 33 Reggie Rucker WR 14 6'2 190 26 4 Boston University 36 John Tarver RB 9 6'3 227 24 2 Colorado 38 Don Martin DB 14 5'11 187 24 1 Yale 39 Sam Cunningham RB 14 6'3 215 23 R Southern California 42 Mack Herron RB 14 5'5 170 25 1 Kansas State 43 Claxton Welch RB 2 5'11 203 26 4 Oregon 46 Paul Gipson RB 5 6'0 210 27 4 Houston 49 Ralph Anderson DB 13 6'2 180 24 3 West Texas State 50 Edgar Chandler LB 12 6'3 225 27 6 Georgia 51 Ron Acks LB 14 6'2 220 29 4 Illinois 52 Steve King LB 7 6'4 255 22 R Tulsa 53 John Tanner LB 13 6'4 235 28 2 Tennessee Tech 55 Will Foster LB 9 6'2 230 25 1 Eastern Michigan 56 Jon Morris C 2 6'4 254 31 10 Holy Cross 57 Steve Kiner LB 14 6'0 218 26 3 Tennessee 58 Doug Dumler C 14 6'3 242 22 R Nebraska 59 Brian Stenger LB 10 6'4 230 26 5 Notre Dame 59 Bob Geddes LB 2 6'2 240 27 2 UCLA 60 Len St. Jean OG 14 6'1 250 32 10 Northern Michigan 61 Sam Adams OG 12 6'3 252 25 2 Prairie View A&M 62 Kevin Hunt OT 1 6'5 260 24 2 Doane 63 Rick Cash DT 14 6'5 260 28 5 Northeast Missouri State 65 Donnell Smith DE 12 6'4 245 24 2 Southern 66 Nate Dorsey DE 2 6'4 240 22 R Mississippi Valley State 67 Bill Lenkaitis OG 12 6'3 260 27 6 Penn State 70 Leon Gray OT 9 6'3 256 21 R Jackson State 71 Ray Hamilton DE 14 6'1 232 22 R Oklahoma 72 Mel Lunsford DT 4 6'3 250 23 1 Central State 73 John Hannah OG 13 6'2 265 22 R Alabama 74 Bob Reynolds OT 4 6'6 265 34 11 Bowling Green 75 Art Moore DT 13 6'5 253 22 R Tulsa 76 Dave Rowe DT 14 6'6 280 28 7 Penn State 77 Tom Neville OT 8 6'4 255 30 9 Mississippi State 78 Willie Banks OG 13 6'2 250 27 4 Alcorn State 80 Bob Adams TE 12 6'2 225 27 4 Pacific 84 Darryl Stingley WR 14 6'0 190 22 R Purdue 85 Julius Adams DE 14 6'3 257 25 3 Texas Southern 86 Bob Windsor TE 13 6'4 226 30 7 Kentucky
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Jim Plunkett 376 193 51.3 2,550 6.78 13.2 13 3.5 17 4.5 37 350 65.8 Dick Shiner 4 2 50.0 31 7.75 15.5 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 76.0
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Reggie Rucker 53 743 14.0 3 Bob Windsor 23 348 15.1 4 Darryl Stingley 23 339 14.7 2 Randy Vataha 20 341 17.1 2 Mack Herron 18 265 14.7 1 Sam Cunningham 15 144 9.6 1 Bob Adams 14 197 14.1 0 Josh Ashton 11 113 10.3 0 John Tarver 9 51 5.7 0 Claxton Welch 6 22 3.7 0 Bob McCall 3 18 6.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Sam Cunningham 155 516 3.3 4 John Tarver 72 321 4.5 4 Josh Ashton 93 305 3.3 0 Jim Plunkett 44 209 4.8 5 Mack Herron 61 200 3.3 2 Darryl Stingley 6 64 10.7 0 Bob McCall 10 15 1.5 0 Bob Adams 2 7 3.5 0 Reggie Rucker 2 -1 -0.5 0 Paul Gipson 5 -1 -0.2 0 Claxton Welch 1 -2 -2.0 0 Bob Windsor 1 -6 -6.0 0 Randy Vataha 2 -15 -7.5 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Mack Herron 41 1,092 26.6 1 Darryl Stingley 6 143 23.8 0 Reggie Rucker 5 103 20.6 0 Bob McCall 2 17 8.5 0 John Tarver 1 17 17.0 0 John Hannah 1 0 0.0 0 Bob Windsor 1 0 0.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Mack Herron 27 282 10.4 8 0 Sandy Durko 3 21 7.0 2 0 Darryl Stingley 3 21 7.0 2 0 |
1973 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 4 OG John Hannah 183 Alabama 1 11 RB Sam Cunningham 107 USC [pick acquired from LA] 1 19 WR Darryl Stingley 60 Purdue [pick acquired from KC via CHI] 3 56 DB Brad Dusek 114 Texas A&M 3 73 RB Charles Davis Alcorn A&M [pick acquired from DAL] 4 82 OT Allen Gallagher 14 USC 5 108 C Doug Dumler 70 Nebraska 8 186 RB Isaac Brown Western Kentucky 9 212 OT David Callaway Texas A&M 10 238 DB Dan Ruster Oklahoma 11 264 TE Homer May Texas A&M 12 290 P Bruce Barnes 23 UCLA 13 316 DB Alan Lowry Texas 14 342 LB Ray Hamilton 132 Oklahoma 15 368 RB Condie Pugh Norfolk State 16 394 DE Mike Kutter Concordia 17 420 QB Eddie McAshan Georgia Tech
Traded draft picks: #2 to CLE via NYG (Greg Pruitt), #6 to NO (Marty Shuford), #7 to MIA (Kevin Reilly)
Transactions:
| 01-30-1973 | traded Carl Garrett to Bears for Detroit's #1 pick in the 1973 draft |
| 04-19-1973 | traded Jim Cheyunski, Halvor Hagen and Mike Montler to Bills for Edgar Chandler, Jeff Lyman and Wayne Patrick |
| 05-16-1973 | traded New England's #7 pick in the 1974 draft to Steelers for Bob Adams |
| 05-29-1973 | Colts claimed Stan Cherry on waivers |
| 05-29-1973 | Oilers claimed Art McMahon on waivers |
| 05-29-1973 | Oilers claimed Hubie Bryant on waivers |
| 07-03-1973 | traded a #10 pick in the 1974 draft to Cowboys for Herb Adderley |
| 07-03-1973 | traded a #8 pick in the 1974 draft to Broncos for Lloyd Voss |
| 07-06-1973 | traded Ron Berger to Bills for Ken Lee |
| 07-25-1973 | traded Herb Adderley and Jeff Lyman to Rams for Bill Dulac and a #7 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 07-26-1973 | traded a #5 pick in the 1974 draft to Redskins for Mel Lunsford |
| 08-07-1973 | traded John Smith to Steelers for a #10 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 08-08-1973 | placed Wayne Patrick on injured reserve |
| 08-08-1973 | placed Willie Banks on injured reserve |
| 08-09-1973 | traded Bill Dulac to Packers for Kevin Hunt |
| 08-09-1973 | claimed Larry Stevenson on waivers from Redskins |
| 08-09-1973 | claimed Mack Herron on waivers from the CFL |
| 08-10-1973 | claimed Max Anderson on waivers from Chiefs |
| 08-13-1973 | Max Anderson retired |
| 08-16-1973 | traded Tommy Reynolds, Ken Lee and New England's #8 pick in the 1974 draft to Bears for Chicago's #2 and #4 picks in the 1974 draft |
| 08-22-1973 | traded New England's #4 pick in the 1974 draft to Bengals for Bill Peterson |
| 08-29-1973 | traded New England's #9 pick in the 1974 draft to Redskins for Charlie Richards |
| 08-29-1973 | traded a #11 pick in the 1974 draft to Raiders for Jerry List |
| 08-29-1973 | traded Henry Matthews to Saints for Washington's #5 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 09-03-1973 | traded Chicago's #4 pick in the 1974 draft to Steelers for Ralph Anderson |
| 09-06-1973 | traded Brad Dusek and New England's #3 pick in the 1974 draft to Redskins for Donnell Smith and Washington's #7 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 09-10-1973 | traded Dennis Wirgowski to Eagles for Philadelphia's #6 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 09-10-1973 | traded New England's #10 pick in the 1974 draft to Steelers for Brian Stenger |
| 09-11-1973 | claimed Arthur Moore on waivers from ? |
| 09-11-1973 | claimed Leon Gray on waivers from Dolphins |
| 09-11-1973 | claimed Paul Hyatt on waivers from ? |
| 09-11-1973 | claimed Steve Kiner on waivers from Redskins |
| 09-11-1973 | claimed Fred DeBernardi on waivers from Colts |
| 10-24-1973 | claimed Claxton Welch on waivers from Chiefs |
| 10-26-1973 | placed Bob Reynolds on injured reserve |
| 10-26-1973 | placed Nate Dorsey on injured reserve |
| 11-09-1973 | Oilers claimed Kevin Hunt on waivers |
| 11-21-1973 | placed Will Foster on injured reserve |
| 12-05-1973 | placed Claxton Welch on injured reserve |
1973 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/16/73 vs Buffalo Bills L 13-31 0-1-0 09/23/73 vs Kansas City Chiefs L 7-10 0-2-0 09/30/73 at Miami Dolphins L 23-44 0-3-0 10/07/73 vs Baltimore Colts W 24-16 1-3-0 10/14/73 vs New York Jets L 7-9 1-4-0 10/21/73 at Chicago Bears W 13-10 2-4-0 10/28/73 vs Miami Dolphins L 14-30 2-5-0 11/04/73 at Philadelphia Eagles L 23-24 2-6-0 11/11/73 at New York Jets L 13-33 2-7-0 11/18/73 vs Green Bay Packers W 33-24 3-7-0 11/25/73 at Houston Oilers W 32-0 4-7-0 12/02/73 vs San Diego Chargers W 30-14 5-7-0 12/09/73 at Buffalo Bills L 13-37 5-8-0 12/16/73 at Baltimore Colts L 13-18 5-9-0