1973 Philadelphia Eagles season

1973 Philadelphia Eagles season
Owner	Leonard Tose
Head coach	Mike McCormack
Home field	Veterans Stadium
Results
Record	5–8–1
Division place	3rd NFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1973 Philadelphia Eagles season was the team’s 41st in the National Football League. Although they improved upon their 2–11–1 record of the previous season, they failed to complete a winning record for the seventh consecutive season and failed to reach the playoffs for the thirteenth straight year.

Offseason

At the end of the 1972 season, Eagles head coach Ed Khayat was fired. Mike McCormack, who had been a Washington Redskins assistant coach from 1965–1972, was hired in his place

The Eagles move training camp from Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, to Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, a short distance from Veterans Stadium.

NFL Draft

Main article: 1973 NFL Draft

Player selections

The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler

= Hall of Famer

Rd	PICK	PLAYER	POS	SCHOOL
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

Roster

1973 Philadelphia Eagles roster

	Quarterbacks  5 Roman Gabriel  7 John Reaves Running backs 46 Lee Bouggess FB 36 Norm Bulaich 27 Po James 25 Tom Sullivan Wide receivers 17 Harold Carmichael 18 Ben Hawkins 80 Don Zimmerman Tight ends 87 Kent Kramer 86 Charle Young		Offensive linemen 59 Mike Evans C 72 Wade Key G 66 Roy Kirksey G 63 Tom Luken G 62 Guy Morriss C 68 Mark Nordquist G 76 Jerry Sisemore T 74 Steve Smith T 67 Vernon Winfield G Defensive linemen 61 Bill Dunstan DT 84 Richard Harris DT 83 Don Hultz DT 88 Gary Pettigrew DE 77 Gerry Philbin DE 75 Dennis Wirgowski DE 71 Will Wynn DE		Linebackers 95 John Bunting 56 Dean Halverson 85 Marlin McKeever 96 John Sodaski 89 Steve Zabel Defensive backs 39 Kermit Alexander SS 29 Bill Bradley FS 30 Joe Lavender CB 41 Randy Logan SS 26 Al Nelson CB 20 John Outlaw CB Special teams 19 Tom Dempsey K 12 Tom McNeil P		Reserve lists {{{reserve_lists}}} Practice squad {{{practice_squad}}} Rookies in italics

Regular season

• On September 23, the Eagles and the New York Giants played in the final Giants game at Yankee Stadium. The game resulted in a 23–23 tie.
• In 1973, Roman Gabriel led the NFL with 3,219 yards and 23 touchdown passes, for which he was awarded the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 16, 1973	St. Louis Cardinals	L 34–23	61,103
2	September 23, 1973	at New York Giants	T 23–23	62,289
3	September 30, 1973	Washington Redskins	L 28–7	64,147
4	October 7, 1973	at Buffalo Bills	L 27–26	72,364
5	October 14, 1973	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 27–24	44,400
6	October 21, 1973	at Minnesota Vikings	L 28–21	47,478
7	October 28, 1973	Dallas Cowboys	W 30–16	63,300
8	November 4, 1973	New England Patriots	W 24–23	65,070
9	November 11, 1973	Atlanta Falcons	L 44–27	63,114
10	November 18, 1973	at Dallas Cowboys	L 31–10	59,375
11	November 25, 1973	New York Giants	W 20–16	63,086
12	December 2, 1973	at San Francisco 49ers	L 38–28	51,155
13	December 9, 1973	New York Jets	W 24–23	34,621
14	December 16, 1973	at Washington Redskins	L 38–20	49,484

Game summaries

Week 5

1 2 3 4 Total • Eagles 0 7 3 17 27 Cardinals 0 3 14 7 24 Date: October 14 Location: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game attendance: 44,400 Game weather: 63°F, wind 8 mph

Scoring summary 2 PHI Harold Carmichael 1 yard pass from Roman Gabriel (Tom Dempsey kick) Eagles 7–0 2 STL Jim Bakken 39 yard field goal Eagles 7–3 3 STL Donny Anderson 21 yard run (Jim Bakken kick) Cardinals 10–7 3 PHI Tom Dempsey 32 yard field goal Tie 10 – 10 3 STL Ahmad Rashād 9 yard pass from Jim Hart (Jim Bakken kick) Cardinals 17–10 4 PHI Tom Dempsey 23 yard field goal Cardinals 17–13 4 STL Ahmad Rashād 65 yard pass from Jim Hart (Jim Bakken kick) Cardinals 24–13 4 PHI Harold Carmichael 27 yard pass from Roman Gabriel (Tom Dempsey kick) Cardinals 24–20 4 PHI Don Zimmerman 24 yard pass from Roman Gabriel (Tom Dempsey kick) Eagles 27–24

Week 8

1 2 3 4 Total Patriots 7 3 7 6 23 • Eagles 0 0 21 3 24 Date: November 4 Location: Veterans Stadium Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST

Scoring summary Q1 NE Stingley 16 yard pass from Plunkett (White kick) NE 7–0 Q2 NE White 33 yard field goal NE 10–0 Q3 NE Stingley 14 yard pass from Plunkett (White kick) NE 17–0 Q3 PHI Young 20 yard pass from Gabriel (Dempsey kick) NE 17–7 Q3 PHI Young 7 yard pass from Gabriel (Dempsey kick) NE 17–14 Q3 PHI Wynn 24 yard fumble return (Dempsey kick) PHI 21–17 Q4 NE Cunningham 4 yard run (kick failed) NE 23–21 Q4 PHI Dempsey 12 yard field goal PHI 24–23

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys	10	4	0	.714	6–2	8–3	382	203	W3
Washington Redskins	10	4	0	.714	6–2	8–3	325	198	W1
Philadelphia Eagles	5	8	1	.393	3–4–1	3–7–1	310	393	L1
St. Louis Cardinals	4	9	1	.321	3–5	4–7	286	365	L1
New York Giants	2	11	1	.179	1–6–1	1–9–1	226	362	L4

Awards and honors

• Roman Gabriel, quarterback, NFL Leader, 3,219 passing yards
• Roman Gabriel, NFL Leader, 23 touchdown passes
• Roman Gabriel, NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award

References

• Eagles on Pro Football Reference
• Eagles on jt-sw.com
• Eagles on Eagles.net