1971 Baltimore Colts season

1971 Baltimore Colts season
Head coach Don McCafferty
Owner Carroll Rosenbloom
Home field Memorial Stadium
Results
Record 10–4
Division place 2nd AFC East
Playoff finish Won Divisional Playoffs (Browns) 20–3
Lost Conference Championship (Dolphins) 21–0

The 1971 Baltimore Colts season was the 19th season for the team in the National Football League. The Colts appeared to be on the verge of winning the AFC East again after beating the Miami Dolphins 14-3 in the next-to-last game of the season. However, the Colts would drop the final game of the season to the New England Patriots, forcing them to settle for the Wild Card with a 10-4 record. They lost to the Dolphins in the AFC Championship game. The Baltimore defense gave up a total of 140 points for 14 regular season (10 PPG) & in their four defeats, they lost by 15 points total.

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Game Site Attendance
1 September 19, 1971 New York Jets W 22–0 1–0 Memorial Stadium
56,458
2 September 26, 1971 Cleveland Browns L 13–14 1–1 Memorial Stadium
56,837
3 October 3, 1971 at New England Patriots W 23–3 2–1 Schaeffer Stadium
61,232
4 October 10, 1971 at Buffalo Bills W 43–0 3–1 War Memorial Stadium
46,206
5 October 17, 1971 at New York Giants W 31–7 4–1 Yankee Stadium
62,860
6 October 25, 1971 at Minnesota Vikings L 3–10 4–2 Metropolitan Stadium
49,784
7 October 31, 1971 Pittsburgh Steelers W 34–21 5–2 Memorial Stadium
60,238
8 November 8, 1971 Los Angeles Rams W 24–17 6–2 Memorial Stadium
57,722
9 November 14, 1971 at New York Jets W 14–13 7–2 Shea Stadium
63,947
10 November 21, 1971 at Miami Dolphins L 14–17 7–3 Miami Orange Bowl
75,312
11 November 28, 1971 at Oakland Raiders W 37–14 8–3 Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
54,689
12 December 5, 1971 Buffalo Bills W 24–0 9–3 Memorial Stadium
58,476
13 December 11, 1971 Miami Dolphins W 14–3 10–3 Memorial Stadium
60,238
14 December 19, 1971 New England Patriots L 17–21 10–4 Memorial Stadium
57,942

Game summaries

Week 1

1 234Total
Jets 0 000 0
Colts 10 903 22
  • Date: September 19
  • Location: Memorial Stadium
  • Game start: 4:00 p.m. EST
  • Game attendance: 56,458
  • Game weather: 72°F; wind 8

[1]

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]

Playoffs

The team made it to the playoffs as a No. 4 seed and traveled to Cleveland to play the Cleveland Browns in the divisional round. The Colts led 14–0 at the half and would cruise to a 20–3 win. They then traveled south to play the Miami Dolphins and tried to make it to their second consecutive Super Bowl. Colts QB Johnny Unitas was intercepted 3 times as they were shut out by the Dolphins 21–0.

Playoff Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Game Site Attendance
Divisional December 26, 1971 at Cleveland Browns (4) W 20–3 1–0 Cleveland Municipal Stadium
70,734
Conference Championship January 2, 1972 at Miami Dolphins (1) L 0–21 1–1 Miami Orange Bowl
76,622

See also


References

  1. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-Aug-14.
  2. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 297
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