2001 NFL season

The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League (NFL). In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the NFL's week 2 games (September 16 and 17) were postponed and rescheduled to the weekend of January 6 and January 7 of 2002. In order to retain the full playoff format, all playoff games, including Super Bowl XXXVI, were rescheduled one week later. The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, defeating the St. Louis Rams 20–17 at the Louisiana Superdome.

2001 National Football League season
Regular season
DurationSeptember 9, 2001 – January 7, 2002
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, a number of games were re-scheduled.
Playoffs
Start dateJanuary 12, 2002
AFC ChampionsNew England Patriots
NFC ChampionsSt. Louis Rams
Super Bowl XXXVI
DateFebruary 3, 2002
SiteLouisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
ChampionsNew England Patriots
Pro Bowl
DateFebruary 9, 2002
SiteAloha Stadium

This is the most recent season with 31 teams as the Houston Texans were introduced as an expansion team the following season.

Draft

The 2001 NFL Draft was held from April 21 to 22, 2001 at New York City's Theater at Madison Square Garden. With the first pick, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Michael Vick from Virginia Tech.

Officiating changes

Mike Pereira became the league's Director of Officiating, succeeding Jerry Seeman, who had served the role since 1991.

Bill Leavy and Terry McAulay were promoted to referee. Phil Luckett returned to back judge, while another officiating crew was added in 2001 in preparation for the Houston Texans expansion team, the league's 32nd franchise, in 2002.

Due to labor dispute, the regular NFL officials were locked out prior to the final week of the preseason. Replacement officials who had worked in college football or the Arena Football League officiated NFL games during the last preseason week and the first week of the regular season. A deal was eventually reached before play resumed after the September 11 attacks.

Major rule changes
  • Fumble recoveries will be awarded at the spot of the recovery, not where the player’s momentum carries him. This change was passed in response to two regular season games in 2000, Atlanta Falcons–Carolina Panthers[1] and Oakland Raiders–Seattle Seahawks,[2] in which a safety was awarded when a defensive player’s momentum in recovering a fumble carried him into his own end zone.
  • Taunting rules and roughing the passer will be strictly enforced.

Regular season

Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day. With Super Bowls XXXVI-XXXVII already scheduled for fixed dates, the league initially decided to eliminate the Super Bowl bye weeks for 2001 and 2002 to adjust.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the games originally scheduled for September 16 and 17 were postponed and rescheduled to the weekend of January 6 and 7. In order to retain the full playoff format, all playoff games, including the Super Bowl, were rescheduled one week later. The season-ending Pro Bowl was also moved to one week later. This was the last season in which each conference had three divisions, as the conferences would be realigned to four divisions for the 2002 NFL season.

Canceling the games scheduled for September 16 and 17 was considered and rejected since it would have canceled a home game for about half the teams (15 of 31). It would have also resulted in an unequal number of games played: September 16 and 17 was to have been a bye for the San Diego Chargers, so that team would still have played 16 games that season and each of the other teams would have played only 15 games (the Chargers ultimately finished 5–11, making any competitive advantages to playing an extra game irrelevant).

New England at Carolina in week 17, January 6, 2002

As a result of rescheduling Week 2 as Week 17, the Pittsburgh Steelers ended up not playing a home game for the entire month of September (their only home game during that month was originally scheduled for September 16). The ESPN Sunday Night Football game for that week was also changed. It was originally scheduled to be Cleveland at Pittsburgh, but it was replaced with Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, which was seen as a more interesting matchup (it was the only night game the Browns had on the schedule, whereas the Steelers had a few others; so 2000 and 2001 marked the first back-to-back seasons for the Browns without a primetime game since 1974 to 1976; the Browns would finally play in Heinz Field at night in 2003). Ironically, the Eagles and Buccaneers would both rest their starters that night, and would meet one week later in the playoffs. In recognition of this, when NBC began airing Sunday Night Football in 2006, there would be no game initially scheduled for Weeks 11 to 17 – a game initially scheduled in the afternoon would be moved to the primetime slot, without stripping any teams of a primetime appearance. This way of “flexible scheduling” would not be utilized at all in 2007, and since 2008, it is only utilized in the final week.

The games that eventually made up Week 17 marked the latest regular season games to be played during what is traditionally defined as the "NFL season" (under the current format, the regular season cannot end later than January 3 in any given year).

Another scheduling change took place in October, when the Dallas Cowboys at Oakland Raiders game was moved from October 21 to 7 to accommodate a possible Oakland Athletics home playoff game on the October 21 (the start of Major League Baseball’s postseason was also delayed by the 9/11 attacks due to rescheduling of a week’s worth of games). The rescheduling ended up being unnecessary as the Athletics would not make it past the Division Series round.

Final regular season standings

Tiebreakers
  • New England finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on better division record (6–2 to Dolphins’ 5–3).
  • Cleveland finished ahead of Tennessee in the AFC Central based on better division record (5–5 to Titans’ 3–7).
  • Jacksonville finished ahead of Cincinnati in the AFC Central based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
  • N.Y. Giants finished ahead of Arizona in the NFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
  • New Orleans finished ahead of Atlanta in the NFC West based on better division record (4–4 to Falcons’ 3–5).
  • Baltimore was the second AFC Wild Card based on better record against common opponents (3–1 to Jets’ 2–2).
  • Green Bay was the first NFC Wild Card based on better conference record (9–3 to 49ers’ 8–4).

Playoffs
Main article: 2001–02 NFL playoffs
Jan. 12 – Veterans Stadium Jan. 19 – Soldier Field
6 Tampa Bay 9
3 Philadelphia 33
3 Philadelphia 31 Jan. 27 – Edward Jones Dome
2 Chicago 19
NFC
Jan. 13 – Lambeau Field 3 Philadelphia 24
Jan. 20 – Edward Jones Dome
1 St. Louis 29
5 San Francisco 15 NFC Championship
4 Green Bay 17
4 Green Bay 25 Feb. 3 – Louisiana Superdome
1 St. Louis 45
Wild card playoffs
Divisional playoffs
Jan. 12 – Network Associates Coliseum N1 St. Louis 17
Jan. 19 – Foxboro Stadium
A2 New England 20
6 NY Jets 24 Super Bowl XXXVI
3 Oakland 13
3 Oakland 38 Jan. 27 – Heinz Field
2 New England 16*
AFC
Jan. 13 – Pro Player Stadium 2 New England 24
Jan. 20 – Heinz Field
1 Pittsburgh 17
5 Baltimore 20 AFC Championship
5 Baltimore 10
4 Miami 3
1 Pittsburgh 27


* Indicates overtime victory

Milestones

The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season:

Record Player/Team Previous Record Holder[3]
Most Sacks, Season* Michael Strahan, New York Giants (22.5) Mark Gastineau, New York Jets, 1984 (22.0)
Most Consecutive Games Lost, Season Carolina (15) Tied by 4 teams (14)

* – Sack statistics have only been compiled since 1982.

Statistical leaders

Team
Points scoredSt. Louis Rams (503)
Total yards gainedSt. Louis Rams (6,930)
Yards rushingPittsburgh Steelers (2,774)
Yards passingSt. Louis Rams (4,903)
Fewest points allowedChicago Bears (203)
Fewest total yards allowedPittsburgh Steelers (4,504)
Fewest rushing yards allowedPittsburgh Steelers (1,195)
Fewest passing yards allowedDallas Cowboys (3,019)

Individual
ScoringMarshall Faulk, St. Louis (128 points)
TouchdownsMarshall Faulk, St. Louis (21 TDs)
Most field goals madeJason Elam, Denver (31 FGs)
RushingPriest Holmes, Kansas City (1,555 yards)
PassingKurt Warner, St. Louis (101.4 rating)
Passing touchdownsKurt Warner, St. Louis (36 TDs)
Pass receivingRod Smith, Denver (113 catches)
Pass receiving yardsDavid Boston, Arizona (1,598)
Punt returnsTroy Brown, New England (14.2 average yards)
Kickoff returnsRonney Jenkins, San Diego (26.6 average yards)
InterceptionsRonde Barber, Tampa Bay and Anthony Henry, Cleveland (10)
PuntingTodd Sauerbrun, Carolina (47.5 average yards)
SacksMichael Strahan, New York Giants (22.5)

Awards
Most Valuable PlayerKurt Warner, Quarterback, St. Louis
Coach of the YearDick Jauron, Chicago
Offensive Player of the YearMarshall Faulk, Running back, St. Louis
Defensive Player of the YearMichael Strahan, Defensive End, New York Giants
Offensive Rookie of the YearAnthony Thomas, Running Back, Chicago
Defensive Rookie of the YearKendrell Bell, Linebacker, Pittsburgh
NFL Comeback Player of the YearGarrison Hearst, Running Back, San Francisco
Walter Payton NFL Man of the YearJerome Bettis, Running Back, Pittsburgh
Super Bowl Most Valuable PlayerTom Brady, Quarterback, New England

Coaching changes

Stadium changes

In addition, the turf at Veterans Stadium was replaced with NexTurf after a preseason game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens is cancelled. Ravens coach Brian Billick told officials of the NFL that he refused to have his team play on a slippery and bouncy turf field which he deemed unsafe.

Uniform changes
  • New Orleans Saints – Replaced their gold pants with black pants.
  • San Diego Chargers – White pants instead of blue with their white jerseys.
  • St. Louis Rams – New font for uniform numbers.
  • Chicago Bears – White pants instead of blue with their white jerseys.

Following 9/11, every jersey had a patch to remember those who died on that day, while the New York Jets and New York Giants wore a patch to remember the firefighters who died.

gollark: iOS bad.
gollark: it isANDROID
gollark: No, the screen isn't (very) cracked, it just won't take input (except rarely when it does a bit).
gollark: If I could unlock it to get ADB to work I could do that, but the touchscreen basically never responds to input so I can't.
gollark: Does anyone know a way I can BACKUP™ my PHONE™ without actually being able to interact with the touchscreen at all in any way?

References
  1. "Panthers' Seifert confused by call". September 18, 2000. Archived from the original on October 17, 2000. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  2. Bush, David (December 17, 2000). "Bizarre Play Stuns Raiders". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
  3. "Records". 2005 NFL Record and Fact Book. NFL. 2005. ISBN 978-1-932994-36-0.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.