All NFL game summaries for 12/09/1972:

A goal-line interception by LB Billy Andrews in the last half-minute prevented the Bengals from overtaking or tying the Browns and eliminated Cincinnati from playoff contention. Mike Phipps threw a pair of TD passes and Leroy Kelly scored on a five-yard run in a 12-for-42 effort which brought his lifetime rushing yardage total to 6,807 and gave him fourth place on the all-time NFL list behind Jim Brown, Jim Taylor and Joe Perry. Chip Myers caught eight passes and racked up 116 yards for the Bengals.

Team stats coming into this game (NFL ranks in parentheses):

Team		Rush Yds/Gm	Pass Yds/Gm	Tot Yds/Gm	Turnovers
Cleveland Browns	OFFENSE	124.2 (20)	134.8 (20)	259.0 (20)	23
Cleveland Browns	DEFENSE	163.1 (22)	131.0 (5)	294.1 (17)	22
Cincinnati Bengals	OFFENSE	137.4 (16)	165.9 (11)	303.3 (13)	24
Cincinnati Bengals	DEFENSE	131.2 (11)	118.6 (3)	249.8 (2)	22

Line: Bengals by 3½

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Cleveland Browns (9-4-0)	0	14	10	3	27
Cincinnati Bengals (7-6-0)	0	10	14	0	24

( 7- 0) CLE Frank Pitts 50 yard pass from Mike Phipps (Don Cockroft kick)
(14- 0) CLE Leroy Kelly 5 yard rush (Don Cockroft kick)
(14- 7) CIN Virgil Carter 8 yard rush (Horst Muhlmann kick)
(14-10) CIN Horst Muhlmann 31 yard field goal
(14-17) CIN Essex Johnson 9 yard rush (Horst Muhlmann kick)
(21-17) CLE Fair Hooker 20 yard pass from Mike Phipps (Don Cockroft kick)
(24-17) CLE Don Cockroft 27 yard field goal
(24-24) CIN Doug Dressler 1 yard rush (Horst Muhlmann kick)
(27-24) CLE Don Cockroft 27 yard field goal

                     CLE             CIN
First Downs:         15              25
Rushes-yards:        29-109          38-194
Yards/rush:          3.8             5.1
Comp-Att-Yd-INT:     11-26-165-2     13-26-154-2
Sacked-yards:        2-15            4-14
Net pass yards:      150             140
Net yards/pass:      5.4             4.7
Total net yards:     259             334
Total plays:         57 (50% run)    68 (55% run)  
Yards/play:          4.5             4.9
Fumbles-lost:        0-0             5-2
Turnovers:           2               4
Penalties-yards:     6-47            5-45

Attendance: 59,524

Passing:
CLE: Mike Phipps, 10 of 24 for 151 yards and 2 TDs (1 int); Bill Nelsen, 1 of 2 for 14 yards (1 int)
CIN: Virgil Carter, 7 of 16 for 95 yards (2 int); Ken Anderson, 6 of 10 for 59 yards

Rushing:
CLE: Bo Scott, 12 for 59 yards; Leroy Kelly, 12 for 42 yards and 1 TD; Mike Phipps, 4 for 10 yards; Bill Nelsen, 1 for -2 yards
CIN: Doug Dressler, 14 for 75 yards and 1 TD; Essex Johnson, 13 for 48 yards and 1 TD; Jess Phillips, 5 for 23 yards; Virgil Carter, 4 for 22 yards and 1 TD; Dave Lewis, 1 for 15 yards; Ken Anderson, 1 for 11 yards

Receiving:
CLE: Frank Pitts, 4 for 77 yards and 1 TD; Fair Hooker, 3 for 44 yards and 1 TD; Leroy Kelly, 3 for 25 yards; Bo Scott, 1 for 19 yards
CIN: Chip Myers, 8 for 116 yards; Doug Dressler, 2 for 11 yards; Charlie Joiner, 1 for 17 yards; Bruce Coslet, 1 for 8 yards; Essex Johnson, 1 for 2 yards

Kick returns:
CLE: Ken Brown, 3 for 57 yards; Billy Lefear, 1 for 21 yards
CIN: Bernard Jackson, 6 for 179 yards

Punt returns:
CIN: Lemar Parrish, 2 for 0 yards

Interceptions:
CLE: Thom Darden, 1 for 16 yards; Billy Andrews, 1 for 4 yards
CIN: Lemar Parrish, 1 for 0 yards; Ken Riley, 1 for 0 yards

Punting:
CLE: Don Cockroft, 5 for 208 yards
CIN: Dave Lewis, 4 for 161 yards

Field Goals:
CLE: Don Cockroft, 2/2
CIN: Horst Muhlmann, 1/1

The Cowboys scored three touchdowns before the Redskins got on the scoreboard and went on to a victory which clinched for Dallas the "wild card" spot in the NFC. It marked the seventh straight season that Dallas has been in the playoffs. Calvin Hill rushed for 111 yards and set a Cowboys season record for rushing, 1,010, making him Dallas' first 1,000-yard rusher. Walt Garrison had his best day ever, 121 yards on 10 carries. NFC rushing leader Larry Brown of Washington did not play because of a bruised right knee.

Team stats coming into this game (NFL ranks in parentheses):

Team		Rush Yds/Gm	Pass Yds/Gm	Tot Yds/Gm	Turnovers
Washington Redskins	OFFENSE	150.5 (9)	173.8 (7)	324.3 (5)	19
Washington Redskins	DEFENSE	108.6 (3)	143.4 (7)	252.0 (3)	29
Dallas Cowboys	OFFENSE	152.6 (8)	183.0 (5)	335.6 (3)	32
Dallas Cowboys	DEFENSE	99.8 (1)	158.0 (16)	257.8 (5)	28

Line: Cowboys by 7½

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Washington Redskins (11-2-0)	0	3	7	14	24
Dallas Cowboys (10-3-0)	14	14	3	3	34

( 0- 7) DAL Calvin Hill 10 yard rush (Toni Fritsch kick)
( 0-14) DAL Calvin Hill 26 yard pass from Craig Morton (Toni Fritsch kick)
( 0-21) DAL Walt Garrison 25 yard rush (Toni Fritsch kick)
( 3-21) WAS Curt Knight 16 yard field goal
( 3-28) DAL Craig Morton 12 yard rush (Toni Fritsch kick)
(10-28) WAS Charley Taylor 10 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick)
(10-31) DAL Toni Fritsch 36 yard field goal
(17-31) WAS Roy Jefferson 10 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick)
(24-31) WAS Charley Taylor 6 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick)
(24-34) DAL Toni Fritsch 26 yard field goal

                     WAS             DAL
First Downs:         19              14
Rushes-yards:        39-143          36-246
Yards/rush:          3.7             6.8
Comp-Att-Yd-INT:     14-29-178-2     7-17-61-0
Sacked-yards:        1-9             0-0
Net pass yards:      169             61
Net yards/pass:      5.6             3.6
Total net yards:     312             307
Total plays:         69 (56% run)    53 (67% run)  
Yards/play:          4.5             5.8
Fumbles-lost:        4-2             1-1
Turnovers:           4               1
Penalties-yards:     5-55            6-66

Attendance: 65,136

Passing:
WAS: Billy Kilmer, 14 of 29 for 178 yards and 3 TDs (2 int)
DAL: Craig Morton, 7 of 17 for 61 yards and 1 TD

Rushing:
WAS: Bob Brunet, 19 for 57 yards; Charlie Harraway, 12 for 26 yards; Herb Mul-Key, 8 for 60 yards
DAL: Calvin Hill, 24 for 111 yards and 1 TD; Walt Garrison, 10 for 121 yards and 1 TD; Craig Morton, 1 for 12 yards and 1 TD; Lance Alworth, 1 for 2 yards

Receiving:
WAS: Charley Taylor, 5 for 50 yards and 2 TDs; Roy Jefferson, 3 for 38 yards and 1 TD; Herb Mul-Key, 2 for 38 yards; Jerry Smith, 2 for 35 yards; Charlie Harraway, 1 for 9 yards; Bob Brunet, 1 for 8 yards
DAL: Calvin Hill, 5 for 39 yards and 1 TD; Lance Alworth, 1 for 14 yards; Walt Garrison, 1 for 8 yards

Kick returns:
WAS: Herb Mul-Key, 6 for 173 yards; Mike Fanucci, 1 for 15 yards
DAL: Cliff Harris, 4 for 86 yards; Bill Thomas, 1 for 20 yards

Punt returns:
WAS: Ted Vactor, 3 for 4 yards
DAL: Charlie Waters, 1 for 6 yards; Cliff Harris, 1 for 3 yards

Interceptions:
DAL: Charlie Waters, 1 for 10 yards; Cornell Green, 1 for 1 yard

Punting:
WAS: Mike Bragg, 4 for 145 yards
DAL: Marv Bateman, 4 for 164 yards

Field Goals:
WAS: Curt Knight, 1/1
DAL: Toni Fritsch, 2/3