Regular season | |
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Duration | September 7 – December 31, 2006 |
Playoffs | |
Start date | January 6, 2007 |
AFC Champions | Indianapolis Colts |
NFC Champions | Chicago Bears |
Super Bowl XLI | |
Date | February 4, 2007 |
Site | Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida |
Champions | Indianapolis Colts |
Pro Bowl | |
Date | February 10, 2007 |
Site | Aloha Stadium |
The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League. Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006.
The season began with the reigning Super Bowl XL champion Pittsburgh defeating the Miami in the NFL Kickoff Game.
The NFL title was eventually won by Indianapolis, when they defeated Chicago in Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium at Miami Gardens, Florida on February 4, 2007.
On March 20, 2006, Paul Tagliabue announced his plans to retire as NFL commissioner. During an NFL meeting in Northbrook, Illinois, on August 8, league team owners selected Roger Goodell, the NFL's then-current chief operating officer, as the new commissioner. Tagliabue continued to serve as commissioner until Goodell officially replaced him on Friday September 1.
Tagliabue became NFL commissioner on October 26, 1989. During his tenure, the league added four new teams; saw four franchises move (including two franchises—the Rams and Raiders—from Los Angeles, the second-largest television market in the U.S.); the construction of seventeen new stadiums; began its own in-house television specialty cable network, the NFL Network; greatly increased television rights fees with its broadcasters, including the addition of the Fox network and its NFL programming; and maintained labor peace with the players' union.
The 2006 NFL Draft was held from April 29 to 30, 2006 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. With the first pick, the Houston Texans selected defensive end Mario Williams from North Carolina State University.
Bernie Kukar and Tom White retired. Jerome Boger and Gene Steratore were promoted to referee.
The 2006 season marked the debut of new officiating uniforms which are supposed to be more comfortable for officials to wear in extreme weather over the old polyester uniforms. The uniforms were designed by Reebok using a proprietary material technology to keep officials both warm and dry during the winter months of the season. On the shirt, the position and number are removed from the front pocket and the lettering and numbers on the back side were black-on-white and are smaller print and the sleeve shows the uniform number. Officials also wore full-length black pants with white stripe during the winter months to stay warm, which was criticized by media. Also, a black stripe was added to each side of the white knickers. This was the first major design overhaul since 1979, when the position name was added to the shirt, but later abbreviated in 1982.
For the first time since Super Bowl IV at the conclusion of the 1969 season, the official NFL game ball was known as "The Duke" in honor of Wellington Mara, whose family owns the New York Giants. Son John is the current CEO of the team. The NFL first used "The Duke" ball in honor of owner Tim Mara (Wellington's father) made a deal with Wilson Sporting Goods to become the league's official supplier of game balls, a relationship that continued into its sixty-fifth year in 2006. [2]
"The Duke" ball was discontinued after the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, and the merged league began using a different standardized ball made by Wilson. The only other time that "The Duke" ball name was used was during the two "Thanksgiving Classic" games in 2004.
One side of the new 2006 "Duke" football featured the NFL shield logo in gold, the words "The Duke", and the NFL commissioner's signature. The obverse side has a small NFL logo above the needle bladder hole, the conference names between the hole, and the words "National Football League" in gold. As per the custom, specially branded balls were used for the first week of the 2006 season (the "Opening Kickoff") as well as for the Thanksgiving Day, conference championships, Super Bowl XLI and Pro Bowl games.
Lamar Hunt died in Dallas, Texas on December 13 from complications from prostate cancer at the age of 74. He is credited with challenging the NFL with the formation of the American Football League, which led to the subsequent merger of the two leagues.
At 3 a.m. on January 1, 2007, Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was shot and killed in Denver, within hours after the last regular season game against the San Francisco 49ers. Less than two months after, on February 24, 2007, Broncos running back Damien Nash collapsed and died after a charity basketball game at a high school. Both players died at the age of 24.
This was the first season that the NFL used a "flexible-scheduling" for the last few weeks of the season, allowing the league flexibility in selecting games to air on Sunday night, in order to feature the current hottest, streaking teams. This was implemented to prevent games featuring losing teams from airing during primetime late in the season, while at the same time allowing NBC to rake in more money off of the higher ratings from surprise, playoff-potential teams that more fans would enjoy watching.
Under the flexible-scheduling system, all Sunday games in the affected weeks tentatively had the start times of 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, except those played in the Pacific or Mountain time zones, which will have a tentative start time of 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT (or 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT if it is a doubleheader weekend). On the Tuesday 12 days before the games, the league moved one game to the primetime slot, and possibly one or more 1 p.m. slotted games to the 4 p.m. slots. During the last week of the season, the league could reschedule games as late as six days before the contests so that all of the television networks will be able to broadcast a game that has playoff implications.
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Within each conference, the four division winners and the two wild card teams (the top two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system, and there are no restrictions regarding teams from the same division matching up in any round. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the third-seeded division winner hosts the sixth seed wild card, and the fourth seed hosts the fifth. The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference then receive a bye in the first round. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosts the worst surviving seed from the first round (seed 4, 5, or 6), while the number 2 seed will play the other team (seed 3, 4, or 5). The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the fourth and final round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference.
Playoff seeds | ||
Seed | AFC | NFC |
---|---|---|
1 | San Diego Chargers (West winner) | Chicago Bears (North winner) |
2 | Baltimore Ravens (North winner) | New Orleans Saints (South winner) |
3 | Indianapolis Colts (South winner) | Philadelphia Eagles (East winner) |
4 | New England Patriots (East winner) | Seattle Seahawks (West winner) |
5 | New York Jets (wild card) | Dallas Cowboys (wild card) |
6 | Kansas City Chiefs (wild card) | New York Giants (wild card) |
Jan 7 – Gillette Stadium | Jan 14 – Qualcomm Stadium | |||||||||||||||||
5 | NY Jets | 16 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | New England | 24 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | New England | 37 | Jan 21 – RCA Dome | |||||||||||||||
1 | San Diego | 21 | ||||||||||||||||
AFC | ||||||||||||||||||
Jan 6 – RCA Dome | 4 | New England | 34 | |||||||||||||||
Jan 13 – M&T Bank Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
3 | Indianapolis | 38 | ||||||||||||||||
6 | Kansas City | 8 | AFC Championship | |||||||||||||||
3 | Indianapolis | 15 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Indianapolis | 23 | Feb 4 – Dolphin Stadium | |||||||||||||||
2 | Baltimore | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
Wild Card playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||
Divisional playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||
Jan 7 – Lincoln Financial Field | A3 | Indianapolis | 29 | |||||||||||||||
Jan 13 – Louisiana Superdome | ||||||||||||||||||
N1 | Chicago | 17 | ||||||||||||||||
6 | NY Giants | 20 | Super Bowl XLI | |||||||||||||||
3 | Philadelphia | 24 | ||||||||||||||||
3 | Philadelphia | 23 | Jan 21 – Soldier Field | |||||||||||||||
2 | New Orleans | 27 | ||||||||||||||||
NFC | ||||||||||||||||||
Jan 6 – Qwest Field | 2 | New Orleans | 14 | |||||||||||||||
Jan 14 – Soldier Field | ||||||||||||||||||
1 | Chicago | 39 | ||||||||||||||||
5 | Dallas | 20 | NFC Championship | |||||||||||||||
4 | Seattle | 24 | ||||||||||||||||
4 | Seattle | 21 | ||||||||||||||||
1 | Chicago | 27* | ||||||||||||||||
The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the regular season:
Record | Player/team | Date/opponent | Previous record holder [3] |
---|---|---|---|
Most Points, career | Morten Andersen, Atlanta | December 16 vs. Dallas | Gary Anderson, 1982–2004 (2,434) |
Most field goals, career | Morten Andersen, Atlanta | December 24 vs. Carolina | Gary Anderson, 1982–2004 (538) |
Most passes completed, career | Brett Favre, Green Bay | December 17 vs. Detroit | Dan Marino, 1983–1999 (4,967) |
Most touchdowns, season | LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego (31) | December 10 vs. Denver | Shaun Alexander, Seattle, 2005 (28) |
Most rushing touchdowns, season | LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego (28) | December 10 vs. Denver | Shaun Alexander, 2005 Priest Holmes, 2003 (27) |
Most Points, season | LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego (186) | December 17 vs. Kansas City | Paul Hornung, 1960 (176) |
Most rushing attempts, season | Larry Johnson, Kansas City (416) | December 31 vs. Jacksonville | Jamal Anderson, Atlanta, 1998 (410) |
Most kick returns for a touchdown, season | Devin Hester, Chicago (5; 3 punts and 2 kickoffs) | December 11 at St. Louis | Tied by 9 players (4) |
Points scored | San Diego Chargers (492) |
Total yards gained | New Orleans Saints (6,264) |
Yards rushing | Atlanta Falcons (2,939) |
Yards passing | New Orleans Saints (4,503) |
Fewest points allowed | Baltimore Ravens (201) |
Fewest total yards allowed | Baltimore Ravens (4,225) |
Fewest rushing yards allowed | Minnesota Vikings (985) |
Fewest passing yards allowed | Oakland Raiders (2,413) |
Scoring | LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego (186 points) |
Touchdowns | LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego (31 TDs) |
Most field goals made | Robbie Gould, Chicago and Jeff Wilkins, St. Louis (32 FGs) |
Rushing | LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego (1,815 yards) |
Passer rating | Peyton Manning, Indianapolis (101.0 rating) |
Passing touchdowns | Peyton Manning, Indianapolis (31 TDs) |
Passing yards | Drew Brees, New Orleans (4,418 yards) |
Pass receptions | Andre Johnson, Houston (103 catches) |
Pass receiving yards | Chad Johnson, Cincinnati (1,369 yards) |
Punt returns | Adam "Pacman" Jones, Tennessee (12.9 average yards) |
Kickoff returns | Justin Miller, New York Jets (28.3 average yards) |
Interceptions | Asante Samuel, New England and Champ Bailey, Denver (10) |
Punting | Mat McBriar, Dallas (48.2 average yards) |
Sacks | Shawne Merriman, San Diego (17) |
Most Valuable Player | LaDainian Tomlinson, running back, San Diego Chargers | |
Coach of the Year | Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints | |
Offensive Player of the Year | LaDainian Tomlinson, running back, San Diego Chargers | |
Defensive Player of the Year | Jason Taylor, defensive end, Miami Dolphins | |
Offensive Rookie of the Year | Vince Young, quarterback, Tennessee Titans | |
Defensive Rookie of the Year | DeMeco Ryans, linebacker, Houston Texans | |
NFL Comeback Player of the Year | Chad Pennington, quarterback, New York Jets | |
Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year | LaDainian Tomlinson, running back, San Diego Chargers and | Drew Brees, quarterback, New Orleans Saints |
Super Bowl Most Valuable Player | Peyton Manning, quarterback, Indianapolis Colts |
Offense | |
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Quarterback | Drew Brees, New Orleans |
Running back | LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Larry Johnson, Kansas City |
Fullback | Lorenzo Neal, San Diego |
Wide receiver | Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Chad Johnson, Cincinnati |
Tight end | Antonio Gates, San Diego |
Offensive tackle | Willie Anderson, Cincinnati Jammal Brown, New Orleans |
Offensive guard | Alan Faneca, Pittsburgh Shawn Andrews, Philadelphia |
Center | Olin Kreutz, Chicago |
Defense | |
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Defensive end | Jason Taylor, Miami Julius Peppers, Carolina |
Defensive tackle | Jamal Williams, San Diego Kevin Williams, Minnesota |
Outside linebacker | Shawne Merriman, San Diego Adalius Thomas, Baltimore |
Inside linebacker | Brian Urlacher, Chicago Zach Thomas, Miami |
Cornerback | Champ Bailey, Denver Rashean Mathis, Jacksonville |
Safety | Brian Dawkins, Philadelphia Ed Reed, Baltimore |
Special teams | |||||
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Kicker | Robbie Gould, Chicago | ||||
Punter | Brian Moorman, Buffalo | ||||
Kick returner | Devin Hester, Chicago |
Through week 11 of the season, all NFL games had been sold out, and for the 24th time, all blackout restrictions had been lifted. [6] The streak was ended by the Jacksonville at Buffalo game in Week 12. [7]
This was the first season that NBC held the rights to televise Sunday Night Football , becoming the beneficiaries by negotiating the new flexible-scheduling system (it also marked the network's return to carrying NFL games since the end of the 1997 season). [8] ESPN became the new home of Monday Night Football , replacing sister network ABC, who chose to opt out of broadcasting league games. [8] Meanwhile, CBS and Fox renewed their television contracts to the AFC and the NFC packages, respectively. [9] ESPN's new deal was for eight seasons through 2013, while the new agreements with NBC, CBS, and Fox were initially for six seasons through 2011. [8] [9]
Initially, NBC was able to hire color commentator John Madden, MNF lead producer Fred Gaudelli, and MNF director Drew Esocoff from ABC. However, play-by-play announcer Al Michaels remained under contract with ABC/ESPN, and plans were originally for him to be teamed with Joe Theismann, who would be coming over from ESPN Sunday Night Football. [10] In February 2006, the two networks' parent companies, The Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal, agreed to a multi-asset trade that, among others, allowed Michaels to sign with NBC, while Disney took ownership of the intellectual property of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (a cartoon character developed by Walt Disney himself in the 1920s) from NBCUniversal. [11] ESPN then opted to go with Mike Tirico on play-by-play, and Theismann and Tony Kornheiser as analysts. [12]
For its new pregame show Football Night in America , NBC gained the exclusive rights from ESPN's NFL Primetime to show extensive highlights of Sunday afternoon games prior to Sunday Night Football. ESPN responded by moving its show to Mondays. Bob Costas became the host of Football Night in America, while Cris Collinsworth, Jerome Bettis, and Sterling Sharpe became its studio analysts.
The league-owned NFL Network was given an eight-game package, consisting of five Thursday Night Football games and three Saturday game that began airing from Thanksgiving to the end of the regular season. The NFL Network hired HBO Sports' Bryant Gumbel as play-by-play announcer, NBC's Collinsworth as the color commentator for the Thursday telecasts, and Dick Vermeil replacing Collinsworth for Saturday telecasts.
James Brown moved from Fox to CBS, replacing Greg Gumbel as host of The NFL Today . Gumbel then replaced Dick Enberg as the network's #2 play-by-play announcer, and Enberg was demoted to #3.
Fox announced that Joe Buck would replace Brown as lead host on Fox NFL Sunday . Because Buck was already serving as Fox's lead play-by-play announcer, the pregame show was primarily broadcast from the site where Buck was calling the game, and Curt Menefee hosted the halftime and postgame segments. Menefee substituted for Buck as the full-time host when Buck was calling the Major League Baseball playoffs.
Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national champion.
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Currently, seven teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs. A tie-breaking procedure exists if required. The tournament culminates in the Super Bowl: the league's championship game in which two teams, one from each conference, play each other to become champion of the NFL.
The 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League.
The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League.
The 2002 NFL season was the 83rd regular season of the National Football League.
The 2003 NFL season was the 84th regular season of the National Football League (NFL).
The 1988 NFL season was the 69th regular season of the National Football League. The Cardinals relocated from St. Louis, Missouri to the Phoenix, Arizona area becoming the Phoenix Cardinals but remained in the NFC East division. The playoff races came down to the regular season's final week, with the Seattle Seahawks winning the AFC West by one game, and the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers winning their respective divisions in a five-way tie, with the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants losing the NFC Wild Card berth to the Los Angeles Rams on tiebreakers.
The 1986 NFL season was the 67th regular season of the National Football League. Defending Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears shared the league’s best record with the Giants at 14–2, with the Giants claiming the spot in the NFC by tiebreakers. In the AFC, the Cleveland Browns earned home-field advantage with a record of 12–4, and they hosted the New York Jets in round one of the AFC playoffs. The Jets had started the season at 10–1 before losing their final five contests. The game went to double OT, with the Browns finally prevailing 23–20. The following Sunday, John Elway and the Denver Broncos defeated the Browns by an identical score in a game known for The Drive, where Elway drove his team 98 yards to send the game to overtime to win. The Giants would defeat their rival Washington Redskins in the NFC title game, blanking them 17–0 to advance to their first Super Bowl. The season ended with Super Bowl XXI when the New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos 39–20 at the Rose Bowl to win their first league title in 30 years.
The 1982 NFL season was the 63rd regular season of the National Football League. A 57-day-long players' strike reduced the 1982 season from a 16-game schedule per team to an abbreviated nine game schedule. Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament; division standings were ignored for seeding. Eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records. Two teams qualified for the playoffs despite losing records. The season ended with Super Bowl XVII when the Washington Redskins defeated the Miami Dolphins 27–17 at the Rose Bowl stadium.
The 1978 NFL season was the 59th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded the regular season from a 14-game schedule to 16 games, which it remained in place until 2021 when it was increased to 17 games. Furthermore, the playoff format was expanded from 8 teams to 10 teams by adding another wild card from each conference. The wild card teams played each other, with the winner advancing to the playoff round of eight teams.
The 1975 NFL season was the 56th regular season of the National Football League. It was the first NFL season without a tie game. The league made two significant changes to increase the appeal of the game:
The 1973 NFL season was the 54th regular season of the National Football League. The season was highlighted by O. J. Simpson becoming the first player to rush for 2,000 yards in one season.
The 1972 NFL season was the 53rd regular season of the National Football League. The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to finish a championship season undefeated and untied when they beat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. The Dolphins not only led the NFL in points scored, while their defense led the league in fewest points allowed, the roster also featured two running backs who gained 1,000 rushing yards in the same season.
The 1970 NFL season was the 51st regular season of the National Football League, and the first one after the consummation of the AFL–NFL merger. The merged league realigned into two conferences: all 10 of the former AFL teams joined the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers to form the American Football Conference; while the other 13 NFL clubs formed the National Football Conference. The season concluded with Super Bowl V when the Baltimore Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys 16–13 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. The Pro Bowl took place on January 24, 1971, where the NFC beat the AFC 27–6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The 2007 NFL season was the 88th regular season of the National Football League.
The 2010 NFL season was the 91st regular season of the National Football League and the 45th of the Super Bowl era.
The 2008 NFL season was the 89th regular season of the National Football League, themed with the slogan "Believe in Now."
The 2009 NFL season was the 90th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL). The 50th anniversary of the original eight charter members of the American Football League was celebrated during this season.
The 2012 NFL season was the 93rd season of the National Football League and the 47th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, with the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants falling to the Dallas Cowboys in the 2012 NFL Kickoff game at MetLife Stadium, and ended with Super Bowl XLVII, the league's championship game, on Sunday, February 3, 2013, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, with the Jim Harbaugh-coached San Francisco 49ers facing the John Harbaugh-coached Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens won the game, which marked the first time two brothers were head coaches for opposing teams in the championship game.
The 1975 AFC Championship Game was the sixth title game of the American Football Conference. Played on January 4, 1976, the game was hosted by the AFC Central champion and defending AFC and Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers who, in a rematch of the 1974 title game, played the AFC West champion Oakland Raiders at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Along with the 1975 NFC Championship Game played on the same day, this game constituted the penultimate round of the 1975-76 NFL playoffs which had followed the 1975 regular season of the National Football League.
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