1971 Philadelphia Eagles season

1971 Philadelphia Eagles season
Owner	Leonard Tose
Head coach	Jerry Williams Ed Khayat
Home field	Veterans Stadium
Results
Record	6–7–1
Division place	3rd NFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1971 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 39th in the National Football League. They improved on their previous output of 3–10–1, winning six games. Despite the improvement, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the eleventh consecutive season. This was the team's inaugural season in Veterans Stadium.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1971 NFL Draft

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.	College
1	5	Richard Harris	Defensive End	Grambling
2	30	Pick Taken By Detroit Lions
2	50	Hank Allison Acquired Minn Vikings Pick	Guard	San Diego State
3	55	Pick Taken By San Francisco 49ers
4	83	Happy Feller	Kicker	Texas
5	108	Tom Shellabarger	Tackle	San Diego State
6	133	Jack Smith	Defensive back	Troy State
7	161	Harold Carmichael	Wide receiver	Southern
8	186	Leonard Gotschalk	Center	Humboldt State
9	211	Len Pettigrew	Linebacker	Ashland
10	239	Pick Taken By New Orleans Saints
10	256	Tom Bailey	Running back	Florida State
11	264	Albert Davis	Running back	Tennessee State
12	289	Rich Saathoff	Defensive end	Northern Arizona
13	317	Danny Lester	Defensive back	Texas
14	342	Robert Creech	Linebacker	Texas Christian
15	367	Ed Fisher	Guard	Prairie View A&M
16	395	Bruce James	Linebacker	Arkansas
17	420	John Sage	Linebacker	Louisiana State

Roster

1971 Philadelphia Eagles roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 11 Rick Arrington 14 Pete Liske Running backs (RB) 38 Tony Baker 46 Lee Bouggess FB 47 Ronnie Bull 34 Larry Watkins FB 37 Tom Woodeshick Wide receivers (WR) 17 Harold Carmichael 18 Ben Hawkins 86 Fred Hill 29 Harold Jackson Tight ends (TE) 85 Gary Ballman

Offensive linemen (OL) 61 Hank Allison G 59 Mike Evans C 72 Wade Key G 68 Mark Nordquist G 70 Jim Skaggs G 74 Steve Smith 72 Wade Key T Defensive linemen (DL) 84 Richard Harris DT 73 Don Hultz DT 88 Gary Pettigrew DE 99 Mel Tom DE

Linebackers (LB) 56 Bill Hobbs 50 Ron Porter 82 Tim Rossovich 53 Fred Whittingham 35 Adrian Young 89 Steve Zabel Defensive backs (DB) {{{defensive_back}}} Special teams 5 Happy Feller K 36 Tom McNeil P

Rookies in italics

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 19, 1971	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 37–14	55,880
2	September 26, 1971	Dallas Cowboys	L 42–7	65,358
3	October 3, 1971	San Francisco 49ers	L 31–3	65,358
4	October 10, 1971	Minnesota Vikings	L 13–0	65,358
5	October 17, 1971	at Oakland Raiders	L 34–10	54,615
6	October 24, 1971	New York Giants	W 23–7	65,358
7	October 31, 1971	Denver Broncos	W 17–16	65,358
8	November 7, 1971	at Washington Redskins	T 7–7	53,041
9	November 14, 1971	at Dallas Cowboys	L 20–7	60,178
10	November 21, 1971	St. Louis Cardinals	W 37–20	48,658
11	November 28, 1971	Washington Redskins	L 20–13	65,358
12	December 5, 1971	at Detroit Lions	W 23–20	54,418
13	December 12, 1971	St. Louis Cardinals	W 19–7	65,358
14	December 19, 1971	at New York Giants	W 41–28	62,774

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.

Awards and honors

Records Breakers

• Al Nelson 102 yard missed field goal return, Eagles vs Dallas on September 26, 1971

Pro Bowl

• Bill Bradley named Pro Bowl starter

League Leaders

• Bill Bradley leads league with 11 interceptions.

External links

• 1971 Philadelphia Eagles at Pro-Football-Reference.com
• VIDEO: 1971 Week 1, Eagles at Cincinnati Bengals by NFL Films at YouTube
• VIDEO: 1971 Week 4, Minnesota Vikings at Eagles by NFL Films at YouTube