1973 Detroit Lions season

1973 Detroit Lions season
Owner	William Clay Ford Sr.
Head coach	Don McCafferty
Home field	Tiger Stadium
Results
Record	6–7–1
Division place	2nd NFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

The 1973 Detroit Lions season was their 44th in the league. Don McCafferty, who served as an assistant under Don Shula during Shula's stint as head coach of the Baltimore Colts, and who as head coach himself coached the Colts to a Super Bowl V victory over the Dallas Cowboys, would replace Joe Schmidt as head coach. However, the team would still fail to improve and get better on their previous season's output of 8–5–1, finishing a mediocre 6–7–1. The football team had missed the playoffs for the third in a row straight season.

NFL draft

Main article: 1973 NFL draft

1973 Detroit Lions draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	17	Ernie Price	DE	Texas A&M	from Chicago
2	44	Leon Crosswhite	RB	Oklahoma
3	58	John Brady	TE	Washington	from Chicago
3	71	Jim Laslavic	LB	Penn State
3	75	Levi Johnson	CB	Texas A&I	from Los Angeles
4	81	Mike Hennigan	LB	Tennessee Tech
4	91	Dick Jauron *	S	Yale	from Atlanta
4	96	Jim Hooks	RB	Central State (OK)
7	175	John Andrews	DT	Morgan State
8	200	Prentice McCray	S	Arizona State
8	203	John Bledsoe	RB	Ohio State	from Cleveland
9	227	Ira Dean	DB	Baylor
10	252	Ray Bonner	DB	Middle Tennessee State
11	279	Scott Freeman	WR	Wyoming
12	304	Tom Scott	WR	Washington
13	331	John Moss	LB	Pittsburgh
14	356	Jay Corey	OT	Santa Clara
15	408	Larry Nickels	WR	Dayton
17	435	Earl Belgrave	OT	Ohio State
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Notes

• Detroit traded TE Craig Cotton and its first-round selection (19th) to Chicago in exchange for Chicago's first- and third-round selections (17th and 58th).
• Detroit traded DB Al Clark to Los Angeles in exchange for the Rams' third-round selection (75th).
• Detroit traded its second-round selection in 1972 to Atlanta in exchange for CB Rudy Redmond, RB Sonny Campbell and Atlanta's fourth-round selection (91st).
• Detroit traded its fifth-round selection (123rd) to Washington in exchange for TE John Hilton.
• Detroit traded its sixth-round selection (148th) to St. Louis in exchange for LB Rick Ogle.
• Detroit traded DT Jerry Rush to Cleveland in exchange for the Browns' eighth-round pick (203rd).

Roster

Detroit Lions roster
Quarterbacks 17 Bill Cappleman 11 Greg Landry 19 Bill Munson Running backs 35 Leon Crosswhite 24 Mel Farr 30 Jim Hooks FB 36 Steve Owens 42 Altie Taylor Wide receivers 86 Al Barnes 89 Ron Jessie 25 Earl McCullough 49 Larry Walton Tight ends 81 John Hilton 88 Charlie Sanders		Offensive linemen 60 Guy Dennis G 54 Ed Flanagan C 76 Rocky Freitas T 64 Gordon Jolley T 66 Bob Kowalkowski G 65 Dave Thompson T 63 Chuck Walton G 75 Jim Yarbrough T Defensive linemen 74 Larry Hand DT 83 Jim Mitchell DE 88 Herb Orvis DT 72 Ernie Price DE 82 Ken Sanders DE 66 John Small DT		Linebackers 58 Mike Hennigan 52 Jim Laslavic 53 Mike Lucci 50 Paul Naumoff 57 Jim Teal Defensive backs 20 Lem Barney CB 27 Miller Farr CB 26 Dick Jauron FS 23 Levi Johnson CB 21 Jim Thrower 46 Doug Wyatt Special teams 12 Errol Mann K 18 Herman Weaver P		Reserve lists 87 John Brady TE (IR) 46 Rudy Redmond CB (IR) rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 16	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 10–24	0–1	Three Rivers Stadium	48,913	Recap
2	September 23	at Green Bay Packers	T 13–13	0–1–1	Lambeau Field	55,495	Recap
3	October 1	Atlanta Falcons	W 31–6	1–1–1	Tiger Stadium	45,599	Recap
4	October 7	Minnesota Vikings	L 9–23	1–2–1	Tiger Stadium	49,549	Recap
5	October 14	at New Orleans Saints	L 13–20	1–3–1	Tulane Stadium	57,810	Recap
6	October 21	Baltimore Colts	L 27–29	1–4–1	Tiger Stadium	48,058	Recap
7	October 28	Green Bay Packers	W 34–0	2–4–1	Tiger Stadium	43,616	Recap
8	November 4	San Francisco 49ers	W 30–20	3–4–1	Tiger Stadium	49,531	Recap
9	November 11	at Minnesota Vikings	L 7–28	3–5–1	Metropolitan Stadium	47,911	Recap
10	November 18	at Chicago Bears	W 30–7	4–5–1	Soldier Field	48,625	Recap
11	November 22	Washington Redskins	L 0–20	4–6–1	Tiger Stadium	46,807	Recap
12	December 2	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 20–16	5–6–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	44,982	Recap
13	December 9	Chicago Bears	W 40–7	6–6–1	Tiger Stadium	41,729	Recap
14	December 15	at Miami Dolphins	L 7–34	6–7–1	Miami Orange Bowl	53,375	Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 1

See also: 1973 Pittsburgh Steelers season

Detroit Lions (0–0) at Pittsburgh Steelers (0–0)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	0	0	10	0	10
Steelers	0	3	7	14	24

at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA

• Date: September 16
• Game time: 4:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 64 °F (18 °C); wind 11 mph (18 km/h)
• Game attendance: 48,913
• Referee: Fred Wyant
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information
Lions Greg Landry 11/27, 219 Yds, TD, 3 INT 8 Rush, 65 Yds Ron Jessie 3 Rec, 131 Yds, TD Steelers Terry Bradshaw 15/23, 124 Yds, 2 TD, INT John Fuqua 26 Rush, 100 Yds Barry Pearson 6 Rec, 58 Yds

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP DET PIT 2 Steelers 11-yard field goal by Roy Gerela 0 3 3 Steelers Bradshaw 1-yard touchdown run, Gerela kick good 0 10 3 Lions Jessie 84-yard touchdown reception from Landry, Mann kick good 7 10 3 Lions 40-yard field goal by Mann 10 10 4 Steelers McMakin 24-yard touchdown reception from Bradshaw, Gerela kick good 10 17 4 Steelers Shanklin 6-yard touchdown reception from Bradshaw, Gerela kick good 10 24 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 10 24

Week 14

See also: 1973 Miami Dolphins season

Week Fourteen: Detroit Lions (6–6–1) at Miami Dolphins (11–2)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	0	0	0	7	7
Dolphins	14	17	3	0	34

at Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida

• Date: Saturday, December 15
• Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Game weather: 69 °F (21 °C), wind 7 mph (11 km/h)
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First quarter MIA – Paul Warfield 21-yard pass from Bob Griese (Garo Yepremian kick) – Dolphins 7–0 MIA – Paul Warfield 7-yard pass from Bob Griese (Garo Yepremian kick) – Dolphins 14–0 Second quarter MIA – Garo Yepremian 27-yard field goal – Dolphins 17–0 MIA – Paul Warfield 16-yard pass from Bob Griese (Garo Yepremian kick) – Dolphins 24–0 MIA – Paul Warfield 4-yard pass from Bob Griese (Garo Yepremian kick) – Dolphins 31–0 Third quarter MIA – Garo Yepremian 28-yard field goal – Dolphins 34–0 Fourth quarter DET – Steve Owens 5-yard run (Errol Mann kick) – Dolphins 34–7 Lions Bill Munson 8/17, 73 Yds, INT Steve Owens 27 Rush, 113 Yds, TD 6 Rec, 56 Yds Dolphins Bob Griese 11/15, 141 Yds, 4 TD Larry Csonka 10 Rush, 51 Yds Paul Warfield 6 Rec, 103 Yds, 4 TD

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings	12	2	0	.857	6–0	10–1	296	168	W2
Detroit Lions	6	7	1	.464	3–2–1	6–4–1	271	247	L1
Green Bay Packers	5	7	2	.429	1–4–1	4–6–1	202	259	W1
Chicago Bears	3	11	0	.214	1–5	1–9	195	334	L6