2002 NFL season

Patriots

Bills

Dolphins

Jets

Bengals

Ravens

Steelers

Browns

Colts

Titans

Jaguars

Texans

Broncos

Chiefs

Raiders

Chargers

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AFC teams: West, North, South, East

Cowboys

Giants

Eagles

Redskins

Bears

Lions

Packers

Vikings

Falcons

Panthers

Saints

Buccaneers

Cardinals

Rams

Seahawks

49ers

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NFC teams: West, North, South, East

The 2002 NFL season was the 83rd

With the Houston Texans joining the NFL, the teams were realigned into eight divisions: four teams in each division and four divisions in each conference. The league tried to maintain historical rivalries from the old alignment while organizing the teams geographically. Legally, three teams from the AFC Central (Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh) were required to be in the same division as part of any realignment proposals; this was part of the NFL's settlement with the city of Cleveland in the wake of the 1995 Cleveland Browns relocation controversy.^[1]

The major changes were:^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

• The
  AFC Central, and expansion Houston Texans were placed into the newly formed AFC South. The owners of the Jaguars, Titans, and Texans tried to convince Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga
  for the Dolphins to take the 4th spot in the AFC South instead of the Colts but Huizenga ultimately decided for the Dolphins to remain with their longtime rivals in the new AFC East.
• The
  NFC Central were placed into the newly formed NFC South
  .
• The teams in the AFC Central and NFC Central were placed in the new AFC North and NFC North respectively, apart from the Titans, Jaguars, and Buccaneers.
• The Seattle Seahawks became the first team since 1977 to switch conferences, and the only team to do it twice, returning from the AFC West to the NFC West, where they had played in their first season, 1976.
• The Arizona Cardinals moved from the NFC East to the NFC West. Owner Bill Bidwill was publicly disappointed by the decision but said he would accept it.

Additionally, the arrival of the Texans meant that the league could return to its pre-1999 scheduling format in which no team received a bye during the first three weeks or last seven weeks of the season. From 1999 to 2001, at least one team sat out each week (including the preseason) because of an odd number of teams in the league (this also happened in 1960, 1966, and other years wherein the league had an odd number of teams). It nearly became problematic during the previous season due to the September 11 attacks, since the San Diego Chargers had their bye week during that week and the league considered cancelling that week's slate of games before ultimately rescheduling them after Week 17.

The league also introduced a new eight-year scheduling rotation designed so that all teams will play each other at least twice during those eight years, and play in every other team's stadium at least once. Under scheduling formulas in use from 1978 to 2001, there were several instances of two teams in different divisions going over 15 seasons without playing each other.

The 2002 NFL expansion draft was held on February 18, 2002. 155 players were left unprotected by their teams for the Houston Texans to select to fill their initial roster. With the first overall pick, the Texans selected offensive tackle Tony Boselli from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Major rule changes

• A player who touches a pylon remains in-bounds until any part of his body touches the ground out-of-bounds.
• Continuing-action fouls now become dead-ball fouls and will result in the loss of down and distance.
• Any dead-ball penalties by the offense after they have made the line to gain will result in a loss of 15 yards and a new first down. Previously, the 15 yard penalty was enforced but the down was replayed.

• The act of batting and stripping the ball from a player is officially legal.
• Chop-blocks are illegal on kicking plays.
• Hitting a quarterback helmet-to-helmet anytime after a change of possession is illegal.
• After a kickoff, the game clock will start when the ball is touched legally in the field of play. Previously, the clock started immediately when the ball was kicked.
• Inside the final two minutes of a half/overtime, the game clock will not stop when the player who originally takes the snap is tackled behind the line of scrimmage (i.e. sacked).

Also, with the opening of the NFL's first stadium with a

• The home team must determine whether their retractable roof is to be opened or closed 90 minutes before kickoff (regular season only; in the playoffs, the NFL determines whether the roof is open or closed).
• If it is closed at kickoff, it cannot be reopened during the game.
• If it is open at kickoff, it cannot be closed during the game unless the weather conditions become severe.

This rule was amended in 2015 to allow a roof to be opened or closed at halftime, at the home team's discretion.^[9]

2002 Deaths

• Johnny Unitas who died on September 11, 2002, from a heart attack. On Week 2 of the season, each game played held a moment of silence pre-game tribute to Unitas.
• Dick "Night Train" Lane
• Mike Webster
• Al Lerner, owner of the Cleveland Browns died during the 2002 season. The Browns wore a patch on their uniforms to commemorate Lerner.

Regular season standings

Division

Conference

Playoffs

Within each conference, the four division winners and the top two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1–4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5–6. 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 received a first-round bye. 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 met in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the championship round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference.^[10]

Bracket

* Indicates overtime victory

Milestones

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

Statistical leaders

Team

Individual

Awards

Coaching changes

• Carolina Panthers – John Fox; replaced George Seifert, who was fired following the 2001-02 season
• Houston Texans – Dom Capers became first head coach in Texans history.
• Indianapolis Colts – Tony Dungy; replaced Jim Mora, who was fired following the 2001-02 season
• Oakland Raiders – Bill Callahan; replaced Jon Gruden, who was traded to Tampa for two 1st round draft picks, two 2nd round draft picks and cash.
• San Diego Chargers – Marty Schottenheimer; replaced Mike Riley, who was fired following the 2001-02 season
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Jon Gruden; replaced Tony Dungy, who was fired following the 2001-02 season
• Washington Redskins – Steve Spurrier
  ; replaced Marty Schottenheimer, who was fired following the 2001-02 season

• Ravens Stadium after naming rights holder PSINet
  filed for bankruptcy
• Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, while Soldier Field
  underwent a major renovation
• Dallas Cowboys: Texas Stadium's AstroTurf was replaced with new RealGrass turf surface by week 5 of the season.
• Detroit Lions: The Lions moved from the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, to Ford Field in Downtown Detroit, with the Ford Motor Company acquiring the naming rights
• Reliant Stadium, the league's first stadium with a retractable roof, with Reliant Energy
  acquiring the naming rights
• CMGI
  acquiring the naming rights
• Edward Jones Dome after Edward Jones Investments
  acquired the naming rights
• Seahawks Stadium
• Tennessee Titans: Adelphia Coliseum reverted to The Coliseum after naming rights holder Adelphia Communications Corporation filed for bankruptcy

New uniforms

Reebok becomes official provider

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Although Reebok rescinded the idea of all NFL teams wearing new uniforms for the 2002 season, the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks did redesign their uniforms, with the Seahawks also unveiling an updated logo in honor of their move to Seahawks Stadium and the NFC.

• The Arizona Cardinals wore white pants with white jerseys for two games, and red pants with red jerseys for one game. It was the first time they wore all-white since 1989, and first time they ever wore all-red.
• The Buffalo Bills introduced new uniforms featuring, among others, a darker shade of blue, nickel gray as an accent color, and red side panels on both the home and away jerseys
• The Carolina Panthers added blue third alternate uniforms
• The Cleveland Browns added orange third alternate uniforms
• The Denver Broncos added orange third alternate uniforms
• The Houston Texans expansion team introduced dark blue helmets; dark blue and white jerseys, both with red trim; and white pants to be worn with the blue jerseys and blue pants with the white jerseys. The new helmet logo features a bull head colored and shaped in such a way to resemble the flag of Texas and the state of Texas.
• The
  Jacksonville Jaguars
  added black third alternate uniforms, and introduced new black pants with home uniforms for selected games.
• The New Orleans Saints returned to wearing gold pants with their black jerseys, and with their white jerseys for selected games. They introduced a gold alternate jersey but only wore it for one game (week 15 vs. Minnesota).
• The New York Jets began wearing green pants with either their green or white jerseys
• The San Diego Chargers switched back to navy pants with white jerseys, also brought back throwback powder blue uniforms for one game.
• The Seattle Seahawks introduced new uniforms featuring, among others, a lighter "Seahawks Blue", a darker "Seahawks Navy" and lime green piping. The helmet was changed from silver to the darker navy color. The helmet logo was also modified, re-colored accordingly to the new team colors, and the eyebrows and eyes redrawn to make it a more aggressive bird.
• The St. Louis Rams removed the side panels from their jerseys.
• The Washington Redskins introduced replicas of their 1960s design as a third alternate uniform.

Television

This was the fifth year under the league's eight-year broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, Fox, and ESPN to televise Monday Night Football, the AFC package, the NFC package, and Sunday Night Football, respectively.

This was the first season since 1980 without a Pat Summerall–John Madden lead broadcast team. Although Summerall had previously announced his retirement as a full-time NFL broadcaster after the 2001 season ended, he continued to call selected games for Fox in 2002. Meanwhile, ABC hired Madden from Fox to join Al Michaels in a two-man booth, dropping the network's experiment with Micheals, Dan Fouts, and comedian Dennis Miller on MNF.

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, and Cris Collinsworth replaced Summerall and Madden as Fox's new lead broadcast team. The network opted to leave Dick Stockton and Daryl Johnston as Fox's #2 team in a two-man booth, and not find a replacement for Aikman there. To replace Collinsworth on Fox NFL Sunday, the network initially used a rotating series of guest analysts before Jimmy Johnson took over the seat permanently midway through the season.

Boomer Esiason and Dan Marino joined The NFL Today as analysts, while Randy Cross went back to color commentating for CBS, Mike Ditka left the program, and Jerry Glanville was a reserve color commentator from 2002 to 2003.

Notes

References