1973 San Diego Chargers: 2-11-1
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 2-5-0 (109 points scored, 170 allowed) Road record: 0-6-1 (79 points scored, 216 allowed) Head Coaches: Harland Svare (1-6-1), Charlie Waller (1-5-0) 188 points scored (25th of 26 teams), 386 points allowed (24th) 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: 161 363 1,808 (18) 4.52 9 30 431 1,814 (18) 4.2 9 3,622 (19) 51 Defense: 177 341 2,254 (21) 6.14 18 16 559 2,264 (21) 4.1 23 4,518 (22) 34
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 13 Wayne Clark QB 11 6'2 205 26 3 U.S. International 14 Dan Fouts QB 10 6'3 193 22 R Oregon 15 Ray Wersching K 14 5'11 210 23 R California 19 Johnny Unitas QB 5 6'1 196 40 18 Louisville 21 Mike Garrett RB 10 5'8 200 29 8 Southern California 24 Bob Howard DB 13 6'1 177 28 7 San Diego State 25 Jerry LeVias WR 14 5'10 178 27 5 Southern Methodist 26 Clint Jones RB 2 6'0 205 28 7 Michigan State 27 Gary Garrison WR 7 6'1 193 29 8 San Diego State 28 Willie McGee DB 11 5'11 175 23 R Alcorn State 29 Dennis Partee P 14 6'2 230 27 6 Southern Methodist 30 Bryant Salter DB 13 6'4 196 23 3 Pittsburgh 35 Bob Thomas RB 14 5'10 200 25 3 Arizona State 37 Cid Edwards RB 13 6'2 230 30 6 Tennessee State 38 Robert Holmes RB 13 5'9 220 28 6 Southern 39 Lenny Dunlap DB 14 6'1 195 24 3 North Texas State 40 Joe Beauchamp DB 9 6'0 188 29 8 Iowa State 44 Chris Fletcher DB 9 5'11 185 24 4 Temple 45 Reggie Berry DB 8 6'0 190 23 2 Long Beach State 48 Ron Smith DB 14 6'1 195 30 9 Wisconsin 51 Pete Lazetich DE 12 6'3 225 23 2 Stanford 52 Jay Douglas C 14 6'6 242 23 R Memphis 53 Mel Rogers LB 10 6'2 230 26 2 Florida A&M 54 Carl Gersbach LB 14 6'1 230 26 4 West Chester 55 Carl Mauck C 14 6'3 243 26 5 Southern Illinois 57 Floyd Rice LB 5 6'3 223 24 3 Alcorn State 58 Mike Stratton LB 14 6'3 240 32 12 Tennessee 61 Al Dennis OG 7 6'4 250 22 R Grambling 62 Ralph Wenzel OG 14 6'3 250 30 7 San Diego State 63 Doug Wilkerson OG 14 6'2 256 26 4 North Carolina Central 64 Dave Costa DT 14 6'2 260 32 11 Utah 66 Rick Redman LB 11 5'11 222 30 9 Washington 68 Greg Wojcik DT 10 6'4 243 27 3 Southern California 69 Ira Gordon OT 6 6'3 268 26 4 Kansas State 70 Russ Washington OT 14 6'6 290 26 6 Missouri 71 Cal Snowden DE 4 6'4 253 26 5 Indiana 75 Deacon Jones DE 12 6'5 250 34 13 Mississippi Valley State 76 Terry Owens OT 14 6'6 268 29 8 Jacksonville State 77 Ron East DT 13 6'4 240 30 7 Montana State 78 Walt Sweeney OG 14 6'3 256 32 11 Syracuse 79 Coy Bacon DE 12 6'4 270 31 6 Jackson State 80 Gary Parris TE 9 6'2 226 23 R Florida State 81 Ron Holliday WR 11 5'9 168 25 1 Pittsburgh 82 Tim Rossovich LB 13 6'4 240 27 6 Southern California 84 Dave Williams WR 6 6'2 200 28 7 Washington 86 Jim Thaxton TE 10 6'2 240 24 R Tennessee State 87 Lionel Aldridge DE 10 6'4 245 32 11 Utah State 88 Pettis Norman TE 14 6'3 220 34 12 Johnson C. Smith
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Dan Fouts 194 87 44.8 1,126 5.80 12.9 6 3.1 13 6.7 14 129 46.0 Wayne Clark 90 40 44.4 532 5.91 13.3 0 0.0 9 10.0 9 96 24.2 Johnny Unitas 76 34 44.7 471 6.20 13.9 3 3.9 7 9.2 14 96 40.0 Ron Holliday 2 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 1 50.0 0 0 0.0 Mike Garrett 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Jerry LeVias 30 536 17.9 3 Cid Edwards 25 164 6.6 0 Robert Holmes 19 151 7.9 0 Mike Garrett 15 124 8.3 1 Gary Garrison 14 292 20.9 2 Ron Holliday 14 182 13.0 0 Pettis Norman 13 200 15.4 0 Clint Jones 7 125 17.9 0 Jim Thaxton 7 119 17.0 2 Dave Williams 7 118 16.9 0 Bob Thomas 7 51 7.3 1 Willie McGee 3 67 22.3 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Cid Edwards 133 609 4.6 1 Mike Garrett 114 467 4.1 0 Robert Holmes 78 289 3.7 7 Clint Jones 55 170 3.1 1 Wayne Clark 13 86 6.6 0 Ron Holliday 6 70 11.7 0 Bob Thomas 22 48 2.2 0 Jerry LeVias 2 33 16.5 0 Dan Fouts 7 32 4.6 0 Pettis Norman 1 10 10.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Ron Smith 36 947 26.3 0 Willie McGee 20 423 21.1 0 Clint Jones 10 217 21.7 0 Ron East 1 8 8.0 0 Mel Rogers 1 4 4.0 0 Jay Douglas 1 0 0.0 0 Ralph Wenzel 1 0 0.0 0 Ron Holliday 0 -2 -? 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Ron Smith 27 352 13.0 5 2 Willie McGee 6 56 9.3 4 0 |
1973 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 25 WR Johnny Rodgers 17 Nebraska [pick acquired from WAS via BAL] 3 64 QB Dan Fouts 181 Oregon [pick acquired from ATL via OAK] 4 84 TE Jim Thaxton 54 Tennessee State [pick acquired from STL via CHI] 4 97 LB Bill Singletary 3 Temple [pick acquired from SF via WAS] 5 123 WR Willie McGee 56 Alcorn A&M [pick acquired from DET via WAS] 5 125 LB Jon Knoble Weber State [pick acquired from CLE] 6 135 C Marvin Roberts Michigan State 9 214 LB Tab Bennett Illinois 10 239 DE Cliff Burnett Montana 11 268 C Jay Douglas 28 Memphis 12 293 OT Lynn Ahrens Eastern Montana 13 318 RB Alfred Reese Tennessee State 14 343 QB Tony Adams 53 Utah State 15 372 TE Gary Parris 91 Florida State 16 397 DB Joe Petty Arizona State 17 422 OT Barry Darrow 71 Montana
Traded draft picks: #1 to PHI (Charle Young), #2 to LA (Cullen Bryant), #3 to LA (Tim Stokes), #4 to BAL (Ollie Smith), #5 to BUF (Wallace Francis), #7 to MIA via NE (Benny Shepherd), #8 to BAL (Ray Oldham)
Transactions:
| 01-22-1973 | traded future considerations ($150,000 cash) to Colts for Johnny Unitas |
| 01-25-1973 | traded San Diego's #8 pick in the 1973 draft to Colts for Tom Matte |
| 01-25-1973 | traded John Hadl to Rams for Coy Bacon and Bob Thomas |
| 04-10-1973 | traded Chuck Detwiler, Lee Thomas and a player to be named to Bills for Buffalo's #2 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 04-22-1973 | traded San Diego's #3 pick in the 1974 draft to Bears for Ron Smith |
| 07-12-1973 | Cardinals signed Pete Barnes as a free agent |
| 07-12-1973 | received St. Louis' #3 pick in the 1974 draft from Cardinals as compensation for free agent Pete Barnes |
| 07-19-1973 | traded Duane Thomas to Redskins for Washington's #1 pick in the 1975 draft and #2 pick in the 1976 draft |
| 08-01-1973 | traded Ray Jones to Broncos for cash |
| 08-07-1973 | traded Bill McClard to Rams for a #5 pick in the 1974 draft |
| 08-27-1973 | received Washington's #15 pick in the 1974 draft and #8 pick in the 1975 draft from Redskins as compensation for Bill Malinchak |
| 08-30-1973 | claimed Otis Cooper on waivers from 49ers |
| 08-30-1973 | Colts claimed John Sykes on waivers |
| 08-30-1973 | traded San Diego's #8 pick in the 1974 draft to Falcons for Lou Ross |
| 09-03-1973 | traded San Diego's #5 pick in the 1974 draft to Bills for Mike Stratton |
| 09-05-1973 | traded Bob Babich and San Diego's #4 pick in the 1975 draft to Browns for Cleveland's #1 pick in the 1974 draft and #2 pick in the 1975 draft |
| 09-05-1973 | traded San Diego's #2 pick and Green Bay's #3 pick in the 1974 draft to Vikings for Carl Gersbach and Clint Jones |
1973 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/16/73 at Washington Redskins L 0-38 0-1-0 09/23/73 vs Buffalo Bills W 34-7 1-1-0 09/30/73 vs Cincinnati Bengals L 13-20 1-2-0 10/07/73 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 21-38 1-3-0 10/14/73 vs Oakland Raiders L 17-27 1-4-0 10/21/73 vs Atlanta Falcons L 0-41 1-5-0 10/28/73 at Cleveland Browns T 16-16 1-5-1 11/04/73 vs Kansas City Chiefs L 0-19 1-6-1 11/11/73 at Denver Broncos L 19-30 1-7-1 11/18/73 vs New Orleans Saints W 17-14 2-7-1 11/25/73 at Oakland Raiders L 3-31 2-8-1 12/02/73 at New England Patriots L 14-30 2-9-1 12/09/73 vs Denver Broncos L 28-42 2-10-1 12/16/73 at Kansas City Chiefs L 6-33 2-11-1