1972 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season

1972 St. Louis Cardinals season
Owner	Bill Bidwill
Head coach	Bob Hollway
Home field	Busch Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	4–9–1
Division place	4th NFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	None

The 1972 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 53rd year with the National Football League and thirteenth in St. Louis. On September 2, Bill Bidwill purchased the stock of his brother Charles "Stormy" Bidwill to become sole owner of the Cardinals. The adopted sons of Charles and Violet Bidwill, the two had co-owned the team since their mother's death in January 1962.

After starting at 2–2, with wins over 1970 and 1971 playoff participants Baltimore and Minnesota, the Cardinals went 0–7–1, then won their final two games over the Rams and Eagles to finish at 4–9–1 for the second consecutive season and third time in the past four.

Second-year head coach Bob Hollway was fired on December 18, the day after the regular season finale, and succeeded a month later by San Diego State head coach Don Coryell.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1972 NFL draft

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	4	Bobby Moore (Ahmad Rashad)	Wide receiver	Oregon
5	110	Conrad Dobler	Guard	Wyoming

Roster

1972 St. Louis Cardinals roster
Quarterbacks 15 Gary Cuozzo 17 Jim Hart 16 Tim Van Galder Running backs 44 Donny Anderson P 48 Craig Baynham 38 Leon Burns FB 32 Leo Hayden 34 Don Heater 23 Johnny Roland 27 Roy Shivers Wide receivers 85 Mel Gray 84 Walker Gillette 88 Fred Hyatt 28 Ahmad Rashad 42 Bob Wicks Tight ends 83 Jim McFarland 30 Ara Person 81 Jackie Smith		Offensive linemen 54 Tom Banks C 55 Dave Bradley G 72 Dan Dierdorf T 60 Conrad Dobler G 65 Chuck Hutchison G 73 Ernie McMillan T 50 Wayne Mulligan C 62 Steve Wright T 64 Bob Young G Defensive linemen 89 Tom Beckman DE 62 Martin Imhof DE 76 Scott Palmer DT 71 John Richardson DT 75 Bob Rowe DT 78 Ron Yankowski DE		Linebackers 57 Mark Arneson 60 Jim Hargrove 59 Jeff Lyman 58 Terry Miller 67 Larry Stallings 53 Jamie Rivers Defensive backs 31 Chuck Beatty S 20 Miller Farr CB 49 Dale Hackbart FS 43 Norm Thompson CB 40 Eric Washington 22 Roger Wehrli SS 8 Larry Wilson S Special teams 25 Jim Bakken K		Reserve lists Practice squad rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 17	at Baltimore Colts	W 10–3	1–0	Memorial Stadium	53,652
2	September 24	at Washington Redskins	L 10–24	1–1	RFK Stadium	53,039
3	October 1	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 19–25	1–2	Busch Memorial Stadium	49,140
4	October 8	at Minnesota Vikings	W 19–17	2–2	Metropolitan Stadium	49,687
5	October 15	Washington Redskins	L 3–33	2–3	Busch Memorial Stadium	50,454
6	October 22	at New York Giants	L 21–27	2–4	Yankee Stadium	62,756
7	October 29	Chicago Bears	L 10–27	2–5	Busch Memorial Stadium	50,464
8	November 5	at Philadelphia Eagles	T 6–6	2–5–1	Veterans Stadium	65,720
9	November 12	at Dallas Cowboys	L 24–33	2–6–1	Texas Stadium	65,218
10	November 19	New York Giants	L 7–13	2–7–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	48,014
11	November 27	at Miami Dolphins	L 10–31	2–8–1	Miami Orange Bowl	80,010
12	December 3	Dallas Cowboys	L 6–27	2–9–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	49,787
13	December 10	Los Angeles Rams	W 24–14	3–9–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	36,873
14	December 17	Philadelphia Eagles	W 24–23	4–9–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	34,872
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Washington Redskins	11	3	0	.786	7–1	10–1	336	218	L2
Dallas Cowboys	10	4	0	.714	6–2	7–4	319	240	L1
New York Giants	8	6	0	.571	5–3	7–4	331	247	W1
St. Louis Cardinals	4	9	1	.321	1–6–1	3–7–1	193	303	W2
Philadelphia Eagles	2	11	1	.179	0–7–1	0–10–1	145	352	L5

References

• Cardinals on Pro Football Reference
• Cardinals on jt-sw.com