Jump to content

2006 NFL season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Pharos04 (talk | contribs) at 05:26, 15 December 2006 (→‎Standings: updated playoff standings for NFC). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The 2006 NFL season is the 87th season of the National Football League, the major professional American football league in the United States. The regular season began on Thursday, September 7 2006 with the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-17 win over the Miami Dolphins at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The season will conclude on New Year's Eve, December 31. Super Bowl XLI, the Super Bowl championship game for the 2006 season, will be held on February 4 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, and the post-season will conclude with the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

Schedule

This is the fifth year that the NFL regular season began with a Thursday night "kickoff" game (the Pittsburgh Steelers scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to win 28-17 over the Miami Dolphins).

The regular season week one continued on Sunday, September 10, concluded with the Indianapolis Colts at the New York Giants in what was the first NFL game with two brothers starting at quarterback: Peyton Manning of the Colts and his brother Eli of the Giants. Then on Monday Night, September 11, there was a doubleheader: the Minnesota Vikings defeating the Washington Redskins 19-16, which was followed by the San Diego Chargers shutting out the Oakland Raiders 27-0.

There were only seven Bye weeks in 2006 (weeks 3-9). Six teams had open dates in weeks 6 and 7, while four teams had open dates the remaining bye weeks. Previously, there were eight bye weeks (weeks 3-10), with four teams having an open date each week.

Three games will be played on Thanksgiving Day. In addition to the traditional annual Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys home games during that day (who will host the Miami Dolphins at 12:30 p.m. ET and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 4:15 p.m. ET, respectively), the Denver Broncos will travel to face the Kansas City Chiefs at 8 p.m. ET, exactly 35 years since their last meeting on Thanksgiving Day in the AFL.

Based on the NFL's scheduling formula, the intraconference and interconference matchups for 2006 will be:

Flexible-scheduling

2006 will be the first year that the NFL will use a "flexible-scheduling" system for the last seven weeks of the regular season. The system is designed so that the league has the flexibility in selecting games to air on Sunday night that will feature the current hottest, streaking teams. The system's primary purpose is to prevent games featuring losing teams from airing during primetime late in the season, while at the same time allowing surprise, playoff-potential teams a chance to play at night. During the previous season, a December 19 Monday Night game featured the 4-9 Baltimore Ravens versus the 3-10 Green Bay Packers, while hot, streaking teams such as the Cincinnati Bengals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Jacksonville Jaguars had few or no primetime games.

Because Christmas Eve (December 24) falls on a Sunday during the 2006 season, the flexible-scheduling will actually occur in seven of the last eight weeks. Instead of a Sunday night game on Christmas Eve, two games will be held on Monday, Christmas Day (December 25): The Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys at 5 p.m. ET, and the New York Jets at Miami Dolphins at 8:30 p.m. ET. Therefore, the first real test of the new flexible scheduling will come with the 2007 season, with the final seven weeks scheduled to begin on November 18 of that year. For the first use of the new scheduling, it was announced on October 24 that the game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants would air on NBC November 12 at 8:15 PM US EST, and FOX moved the New Orleans Saints-Pittsburgh Steelers game to 4:15 PM US EST from 1 PM.

Under the flexible-scheduling system, all Sunday games in the affected weeks will tentatively have the start time of 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, except those played in the Pacific or Mountain time zones who 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 will move one game to the primetime slot, and possibly move one or more 1 p.m. slotted games to the 4 p.m. slots. During the last week of the season, the league could re-schedule 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. Furthermore, both Fox and CBS will broadcast doubleheaders in that final week, except in the home markets.

Flaws and controversy

A flaw in the system became apparent during week 11 when Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb tore his ACL against the Tennessee Titans ruining week 12's Sunday night game against fellow all-pro Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, whom prior to the scheduling were undefeated at 9-0. The game would go on to be a one-sided blowout, with the Colts winning 45-21.

In week 13, the Denver Broncos made their fourth appearance in a Sunday night game this season against the Seattle Seahawks, and their third at home. The scheduling has been met with considerable controversy, seeming to favor the Broncos, while there were plenty of other "playoff caliber" games in each of those four nights.

Standings

Standings as of December 10th (Week 14) - 7:20 PM ET

Current playoff seeding in parenthesis

w - clinched first round bye x - clinched playoff berth y - clinched division z - clinched homefield advantage

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

AFC East
Team W L T PCT PF PA  
(4) New England Patriots 9 4 0 .692 281 186 Details
New York Jets 7 6 0 .538 254 269 Details
Buffalo Bills 6 7 0 .462 243 262 Details
Miami Dolphins 6 7 0 .462 228 222 Details
AFC North
Team W L T PCT PF PA  
(3) Baltimore Ravens 10 3 0 .769 257 170 Details
(5) Cincinnati Bengals 8 5 0 .615 317 250 Details
Pittsburgh Steelers 6 7 0 .462 286 264 Details
Cleveland Browns 4 9 0 .308 208 293 Details
AFC South
Team W L T PCT PF PA  
(2) Indianapolis Colts 10 3 0 .769 342 295 Details
(6) Jacksonville Jaguars 8 5 0 .615 303 191 Details
Tennessee Titans 6 7 0 .462 247 314 Details
Houston Texans 4 9 0 .308 319 296 Details
AFC West
Team W L T PCT PF PA  
y - (1) San Diego Chargers 11 2 0 .846 425 257 Details
Kansas City Chiefs 7 6 0 .538 267 256 Details
Denver Broncos 7 6 0 .538 235 236 Details
Oakland Raiders 2 11 0 .154 156 269 Details
NFC East
Team W L T PCT PF PA  
(3) Dallas Cowboys 8 5 0 .667 332 218 Details
(5) New York Giants 7 6 0 .538 292 268 Details
(6) Philadelphia Eagles 7 6 0 .538 315 282 Details
Washington Redskins 4 9 0 .308 232 295 Details
NFC North
Team W L T PCT PF PA  
wy - (1) Chicago Bears 11 2 0 .846 360 177 Details
Minnesota Vikings 6 7 0 .462 241 251 Details
Green Bay Packers 5 8 0 .385 249 343 Details
Detroit Lions 2 11 0 .154 236 324 Details
NFC South
Team W L T PCT PF PA  
(2) New Orleans Saints 9 4 0 .667 310 251 Details
Atlanta Falcons 7 6 0 .538 244 256 Details
Carolina Panthers 6 7 0 .462 226 244 Details
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3 10 0 .231 151 289 Details
NFC West
Team W L T PCT PF PA  
(4) Seattle Seahawks 8 6 0 .571 295 314 Details
San Francisco 49ers 6 8 0 .429 252 363 Details
St. Louis Rams 5 8 0 .385 269 329 Details
Arizona Cardinals 4 9 0 .308 248 305 Details


Tiebreakers

Week 15 Playoff Scenarios

AFC

  • New England Patriots can clinch AFC East Division title with:
    • a win and NY Jets loss or tie OR
    • a tie and NY Jets loss
  • Baltimore Ravens can clinch AFC North Division title with:
    • a win and Cincinnati loss or tie OR
    • a tie and Cincinnati loss
  • Baltimore Ravens can clinch a playoff berth with:
    • a win or tie OR
    • Cincinnati loss or tie and Baltimore clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over NY Jets OR
    • Denver loss or tie and Baltimore clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over NY Jets OR
    • NY Jets loss or tie and Cincinnati loss or tie OR
    • NY Jets loss or tie and Denver loss or tie OR
    • New England loss and Cincinnati loss or tie and Jacksonville loss OR
    • New England loss and Denver loss or tie and Jacksonville loss
  • Indianapolis Colts can clinch AFC South Division title with:
    • a Jacksonville loss OR
    • a win or tie and Jacksonville tie
  • Indianapolis Colts can clinch a playoff berth with:
    • a win or tie OR
    • a Denver loss or tie
  • San Diego Chargers have clinched AFC West Division title
  • San Diego Chargers can clinch a 1st round bye with:
    • a win and Indianapolis loss

NFC

  • Dallas Cowboys can clinch playof berth with:
    • a win and Minnesota loss or tie and New Orleans win or tie OR
    • a win and Minnesota loss or tie and Carolina loss or tie
  • Chicago Bears have clinched NFC North Division title and 1st round bye
  • Chicago Bears can clinch home-field advantage with:
    • a win and New Orleans loss or tie OR
    • a tie and New Orleans loss
  • New Orleans Saints can clinch NFC South Division title with:
    • a win
    • a tie and Atlanta loss or tie
    • Atlanta loss and Carolina loss or tie
  • New Orleans Saints can clinch a first-round bye with:
    • a win and Dallas loss and NY Giants loss or tie and Seattle loss
  • New Orleans Saints can clinch a playoff berth with:
    • a tie
    • Minnesota loss or tie and Philadelphia loss OR
    • Minnesota loss or tie and Carolina loss or tie OR
    • Minnesota loss or tie and Dallas loss and Philadelphia/NY Giants ends in tie
  • Seattle Seahawks can clinch NFC West Division title with:
    • a win or tie

Eliminated

Current Playoff Scenario

Further information: [[:NFL playoffs, 2006-07]]

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.[1]

Playoff seeds
Seed AFC NFC
1 San Diego Chargers (West winner) Chicago Bears (North winner)
2 Indianapolis Colts (South winner) New Orleans Saints (South winner)
3 Baltimore Ravens (North winner) Seattle Seahawks (West winner)
4 New England Patriots (East winner) Dallas Cowboys (East winner)
5 Cincinnati Bengals (wild card) New York Giants (wild card)
6 Jacksonville Jaguars (wild card) Philadelphia Eagles (wild card)

AFC

NFC

Super Bowl


New NFL Commissioner

On March 20, 2006, Paul Tagliabue announced his plans to retire as NFL Commissioner. During an NFL meeting in Northbrook, Illinois, on August 8 2006, league team owners selected Roger Goodell, the NFL's then-current Chief Operating Officer, as the new commissioner. Tagliabue continued to serve as NFL Commissioner until Goodell officially replaced him on Friday September 1.

Tagliabue became NFL Commisioner on October 26th. 1989. During his tenure, the league has 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 USA); the construction of seventeen new stadiums; began its own in-house television specialty cable network, the NFL Network; has greatly increased television rights fees with its broadcasters, including the addition of the Fox network; and has maintained labor peace with the players' union.

Unprecedented sell-outs

Through week 11 of the season, all NFL games had been sold out, and for the 24th time, all blackout restrictions had been lifted. [2] The streak ended by the Jacksonville at Buffalo game in Week 12.[3]

Television

Further information: [[:NFL on Television]]

The 2006 season marks the first year of the league's new television contracts. CBS and FOX will continue to televise Sunday afternoon games with six-year agreements, as well as their respective conference playoffs. However, there are changes for the prime time games. CBS announced it would continue to air only 3 games per week in high definition during the season as well as eliminating sideline reporters claiming that they are useless. The moves have created some animosity towards CBS, along with accusations of the network being "cheap," recalling former news anchor Kathleen Sullivan's on-air remark about the "Cheap Broadcasting System".[citation needed]

ESPN

ESPN takes over Monday Night Football from ABC. The cable network's coverage (except for the first week doubleheader) begins at 3 p.m. ET with a new SportsCenter Monday Night Kickoff Edition, followed by Around the Horn and Pardon The Interruption. A new version of NFL PrimeTime, hosted by Stuart Scott with Ron Jaworski and Mike Ditka will follow. Scott also hosts the halftime show as well. Afterwards, the Monday Night Countdown 90-minute pre-game show, hosted by Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Michael Irvin, and Steve Young. The latter shows are done on site. The game will then begin at 8:30 p.m.. Mike Tirico will call the play-by-play, and Joe Theismann and Tony Kornheiser will serve as the color commentators. Michele Tafoya came over from ABC's version of MNF while Suzy Kolber arrived from ESPN Sunday Night Football to serve as sideline reporters.

NBC

Meanwhile, NBC has returned to the NFL for the first time since televising Super Bowl XXXII at the end of the 1997 season, will broadcast Sunday night games. The series has been rebranded as NBC Sunday Night Football and it also telecast the annual Thursday opening "kickoff" game. As the broadcaster of Sunday night games, NBC will be the network that takes full advantage of the flexible-scheduling system. The network will also televise the Christmas Day contest between Philadelphia and Dallas in lieu of a Christmas Eve night game.

Bob Costas hosts the pregame show called Football Night in America, with Cris Collinsworth as his co-host. Currently, they serve as co-hosts of HBO's Inside the NFL, and continue to serve in their present posts. In addition, NBC announced on February 19 that the recently retired Jerome "The Bus" Bettis will join Costas and Collinsworth in the studio. [1] Sterling Sharpe also appears on the program, after serving as a studio commontator on ESPN and then NFL Network. Play-by-play announcer Al Michaels and color commentator John Madden were signed to call the games from ABC Monday Night Football, while Andrea Kremer comes from ESPN to serve as the sideline reporter, and will also contribute to the studio show. [2] The pregame program will air at 7 p.m. ET and the game coverage will follow at 8:15 p.m.. Pink sings the show's theme, a remake of the Joan Jett song "I Hate Myself For Loving You" retitled "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night." Composer John Williams has also contributed instrumental music for the pre-game show and the game telecast. The exceptions were on October 22 due to Game Two of the 2006 World Series, and on December 24 (Christmas Eve), when no Sunday night games are being telecast. On those nights, Football Night in America was a one hour stand-alone telecast.

NFL Network

The NFL Network specialty channel are broadcasting eight primetime games from Thanksgiving to the end of the regular season on Thursday and Saturday nights. [3] Bryant Gumbel is scheduled to be the play-by-play and Cris Collinsworth will serve as the color commentator on Thursdays.[4] Dick Vermeil will join Bryant Gumbel for the scheduled Saturday games. The NFL Network's first regular season game was Kansas City's 19-10 win at home over Denver on November 23, 2006. The game capped off a new "Thanksgiving Tripleheader" tradition. This was not pleasing news to many, as very few people have the NFL Network, since it is part of a digital cable and satellite TV package.

Major rule changes and other items of interest

  • End zone celebrations are more restricted. Players cannot celebrate by using any type of prop, or do any act in which they are on the ground. Players may still spike, spin the ball, or dunk it over the goal posts. Dancing in the end zone is also permitted as long as it is not a prolonged or group celebration. Also, the Lambeau Leap is still legal. [5]
  • Defenders are prohibited from hitting a passer in the knee or below unless they are blocked into him. This rule was enacted in response to the previous season's injuries to Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Brian Griese.
  • Down-by-contact calls can now be reviewed by instant replay to determine if a player fumbled the ball before he was down, and who recovered it. Previously, these plays could not be reversed once officials blew the whistle.
  • The "horse-collar tackle" rule enacted during the previous 2005 season is expanded. Players are now prohibited from tackling a ball carrier from the rear by tugging inside his jersey. Previously, it was only illegal if the tackler's hand got inside the player's shoulder pads.
  • To reduce injuries, defensive players cannot line up directly over the long snapper during field goal and extra point attempts.

Officials' uniform makeover

File:New NFL Officials Uni.jpg
New uniform worn by NFL officials as demonstrated on NFL Network's Total Access.

The 2006 season marks 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. On the shirt, the position and number are removed from the front pocket and the lettering and numbers on the back side are black-on-white and are smaller print. Officials will also wear full length black pants during the winter months to stay warm. This was the first major design overhaul since 1979, when the position name was added to the shirt.

Return of "The Duke" football

For the first time since Super Bowl IV at the conclusion of the 1969 season, the official NFL game ball is known as "The Duke" in honor of the late Wellington Mara, whose family owns of the New York Giants. (Son John is the current CEO of the team.) The NFL first used "The Duke" ball in honor of Mara in 1941 after then-Chicago Bears owner George Halas and then-Giants 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 continues into its' sixty-fifth year in 2006. [6] "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 features 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 will be used for the first week of the 2006 season ("Opening Kickoff"), Thanksgiving Classic, playoff, Super Bowl XLI and Pro Bowl games.

Game highlights on iTunes

Starting September 18, fans have been able to download highlights of their teams' games through Apple Computer's iTunes Store online service. Each video costs US$1.99 each but fans have the chance of buying a "Follow Your Team season ticket" which brings every game of that team to the fan for $24.99. [7]

Also available will be NFL GameDay, the NFL Network's comprehensive Sunday night review which features post-game reactions and game analysis, all for $1.99 a show or $19.99 for the full season.

Milestones

Officials

Bye weeks

References

  1. ^ "NFL Playoff Procedures and Tiebreakers". Yahoo! Sports. December 31, 2006. Archived from the original on January 1, 2010.
  2. ^ All games sold out for 11th consecutive week, NFL.com, 17 November 2006.
  3. ^ "In depth: Frustration in Buffalo shows how NFL's television policies irking fan base". USA Today. 2006-11-26. Retrieved 2006-11-27.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2006_NFL_season&oldid=94453739"