1971 Washington Redskins season

1971 Washington Redskins season
Head coach	George Allen
Home field	RFK Stadium
Results
Record	9–4–1
Division place	2nd NFC East
Playoff finish	Lost Divisional Playoffs (49ers) 24–20

George Allen and members of the 1971 team with President Richard Nixon, two days before Thanksgiving.

The 1971 Washington Redskins was the team's 40th in the National Football League, and their 35th in Washington, D.C.. The 1971 was the first with the Redskins for coach George Allen, who had been the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams for the previous five seasons.

Coming into the 1971 season, the team had not made it to the post-season for 26 seasons. The Redskins had had only four winning seasons since their last playoff berth in 1945, the most recent a 7-5-2 campaign in 1969 under Vince Lombardi, who died of colon cancer in September 1970.

Allen was Washington's fourth coach in as many seasons. Lombardi succeeded Otto Graham, and Bill Austin took over when Lombardi fell mortally ill.

Despite a broken left ankle suffered by leading receiver Charley Taylor in their week six loss to the Kansas City Chiefs which forced him to miss the remainder of the season, the Redskins went 9–4–1, good for second place in the NFC East, and a wild card berth, where they would ultimately fall to San Francisco, 24–20.

Off-season

NFL Draft

Main article: 1971 NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
2	38	Cotton Speyrer	Wide Receiver	Texas
6	141	Conway Hayman	Guard	Delaware
7	166	Willie Germany	Defensive Back	Morgan State
9	219	Mike Fanucci	Defensive End	Arizona State
10	244	Jesse Taylor	Running Back	Cincinnati
11	272	George Starke	Tackle	Columbia
12	297	Jeff Severson	Defensive Back	Cal-Long Beach
13	322	Dan Ryczek	Center	Virginia
14	349	Bill Bynum	Quarterback	West New Mexico
15	375	Anthony Christnovich	Guard	La Crosse (Wis.)
16	400	Glenn Tucker	Linebacker	North Texas

Roster

1971 Washington Redskins roster

	Quarterbacks 9 Sonny Jurgensen 17 Billy Kilmer 18 Sam Wyche Running backs 43 Larry Brown 26 Bob Brunet 31 Charlie Harraway FB 25 Mike Hull 20 Tommy Mason Wide receivers 86 Boyd Dowler 80 Roy Jefferson 24 Bill Malinchak 85 Clifton McNeil 42 Charley Taylor Tight ends 81 Mack Alston 87 Jerry Smith		Offensive linemen 58 George Burman C 56 Len Hauss C 75 Terry Hermeling T 73 Paul Laaveg G 76 Walt Rock T 62 Ray Schoenke G 74 Jim Snowden T 77 Mike Taylor T 60 John Wilbur G Defensive linemen 89 Verlon Biggs DE 77 Bill Brundige DT 79 Ron McDole DE 64 Manny Sistrunk DT 72 Diron Talbert DT		Linebackers 55 Chris Hanburger 53 Harold McLinton 32 Jack Pardee 66 Myron Pottios 67 Rusty Tillman Defensive backs 41 Mike Bass CB 45 Speedy Duncan CB 37 Pat Fischer CB 23 Brig Owens S 16 Richie Petitbon SS 29 Ted Vactor Special teams 4 Mike Bragg P 5 Curt Knight K		Reserve lists {{{reserve_lists}}} Practice squad {{{practice_squad}}} Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 19, 1971	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 24–17	46,805
2	September 26, 1971	at New York Giants	W 30–3	62,795
3	October 3, 1971	at Dallas Cowboys	W 20–16	61,554
4	October 10, 1971	Houston Oilers	W 22–13	53,041
5	October 17, 1971	St. Louis Cardinals	W 20–0	53,041
6	October 24, 1971	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 27–20	51,989
7	October 31, 1971	New Orleans Saints	W 24–14	53,041
8	November 7, 1971	Philadelphia Eagles	T 7–7	53,041
9	November 14, 1971	at Chicago Bears	L 16–15	55,049
10	November 21, 1971	Dallas Cowboys	L 13–0	53,041
11	November 28, 1971	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 20–13	65,358
12	December 5, 1971	New York Giants	W 23–7	53,041
13	December 13, 1971	at Los Angeles Rams	W 38–24	80,402
14	December 19, 1971	Cleveland Browns	L 20–13	53,041

Game summaries

Week 3

Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys

1 2 3 4 Total • Redskins 7 7 3 3 20 Cowboys 0 9 0 7 16 Date: Sunday, October 3 Location: Cotton Bowl Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST Game weather: 70°F, wind 10 mph Referee: Jack Reader TV announcers (CBS): Ray Scott, Pat Summerall Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Scoring summary 1 Redskins Charlie Harraway 57 yard run (Curtis Knight kick) Redskins 7–0 2 Cowboys Mike Clark 22 yard field goal Redskins 7–3 2 Redskins Roy Jefferson 50 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curtis Knight kick) Redskins 14–3 2 Cowboys Mike Clark 9 yard field goal Redskins 14–6 2 Cowboys Mike Clark 27 yard field goal Redskins 14–9 3 Redskins Curtis Knight 25 yard field goal Redskins 17–9 4 Redskins Curtis Knight 32 yard field goal Redskins 20–9 4 Cowboys Calvin Hill 1 yard run (Mike Clark kick) Redskins 20–16

Week 8

1 2 3 4 Total Eagles 0 0 7 0 7 Redskins 0 0 0 7 7 Date: November 7 Location: RFK Stadium Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST Game weather: 47°F • Wind 17 Referee: Fred Silva

Scoring summary 3 PHI Ronnie Bull 12 yard pass from Pete Liske (Happy Feller kick) Eagles 7–0 4 WSH Clifton McNeil 32 yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Curt Knight kick) Tie 7–7

Playoffs

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
Divisional	December 26, 1971	at San Francisco 49ers	L 24–20	45,327

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys	11	3	0	.786	7–1	8–3	406	222	W7
Washington Redskins	9	4	1	.692	6–1–1	8–2–1	276	190	L1
Philadelphia Eagles	6	7	1	.462	4–3–1	5–5–1	221	302	W3
St. Louis Cardinals	4	9	1	.308	1–7	2–8–1	231	279	L2
New York Giants	4	10	0	.286	1–7	3–8	228	362	L5

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Richard Nixon Play

Rumor has it 37th President Richard Nixon called a key play which caused the Redskins to lose to the 49ers. This was just a rumor, although Nixon was friends with George Allen and attended a practice game once where he tried the same play to much better results.