Colts

Patriots

Bills

Dolphins

Jets

Bengals

Browns

Oilers

Steelers

Broncos

Chiefs

Raiders

Chargers

Buccaneers

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AFC teams: West, Central, East

Cowboys

Giants

Eagles

Cardinals

Redskins

Bears

Lions

Packers

Vikings

Falcons

Rams

Saints

49ers

Seahawks

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NFC teams: West, Central, East

The1976 NFL season was the 57thregular season of theNational Football League. The league expanded to 28 teams with the addition of theSeattle Seahawks andTampa Bay Buccaneers. This fulfilled one of the conditions agreed to in1966 for the 1970AFL–NFL merger, which called for the league to expand to 28 teams by 1970 or soon thereafter.

For this season only, the Seahawks played in theNFC West while the Buccaneers played in theAFC West. The Seahawks would return to theNFC West with the realignment prior tothe 2002 season, on the other hand, the Buccaneers did not return to the AFC in 2002. The Buccaneers became the first NFL team to finish a season 0–14. The Buccaneers lost their first 26 games as they also lost their first 12 games in1977.

The season ended withSuper Bowl XI when theOakland Raiders defeated theMinnesota Vikings 32–14 at theRose Bowl. The Raiders were the first original AFL team to win a Super Bowl in the post-merger era.

The1976 NFL expansion draft was held from March 30 to 31, 1976, with theSeattle Seahawks and theTampa Bay Buccaneers each selecting 39 players from the other 26 NFL teams.

The1976 NFL draft was held from April 8 to 9, 1976, atNew York City'sRoosevelt Hotel. With the first pick, theTampa Bay Buccaneers selected defensive endLee Roy Selmon from theUniversity of Oklahoma.

Due to expansion, the NFL needed a new crew to help handle the weekly workload of 14 games. The most notable new official wasJerry Markbreit, hired as a line judge on the crew of refereeTommy Bell. Bell retired after working the 1976 AFC championship game, and Markbreit was promoted to referee for 1977, where he later became the first (and as of 2021, only) man to serve as the referee for four Super Bowls (XVII,XXI,XXVI andXXIX).

Another distinguished new official wasBob McElwee, who was promoted to referee in 1980. McElwee was the referee inSuper Bowl XXII,Super Bowl XXVIII andSuper Bowl XXXIV.

Norm Schachter retired after officiatingSuper Bowl X, his third after previously serving as crew chief forSuper Bowl I andSuper Bowl V.Red Cashion andDon Wedge were promoted after each had worked four seasons in the league.

• A play clock is placed at each end of the stadium, visible to both players and fans to note the official time between the ready-for-play signal and the snap of the ball.^[1]
• If the defensive team commits a foul during a failed extra point attempt, the try is replayed and the offensive team has the option to either have the distance penalty assessed on the next try or the ensuing kickoff.
• If the defensive team commits a foul during a successful extra point attempt, the penalty will be assessed on the ensuing kickoff.
• Players cannot grasp the facemask of an opponent. The penalty for an incidental grasp of the facemask is 5 yards (this penalty was repealed in2008). The penalty for twisting, turning, or pulling the facemask is 15 yards. A player risks immediate disqualification if the foul is judged to be vicious and/or flagrant.
• A defender is prohibited from running or diving into, or throwing his body against or on a ballcarrier who falls or slips to the ground untouched and makes no attempt to advance, before or after the ball is dead. This is sometimes called as the "Ben Davidson Rule" after the Raiders defender who almost seriously injured quarterbackLen Dawson after the Chiefs passer fell to the ground and made no attempt to advance during a1970 game.
• The official coin toss was moved to three minutes before kickoff. From1947 through1975, the official coin toss was held thirty minutes prior to kickoff,^[1] and a simulated coin toss was held at midfield three minutes prior to kickoff to inform the fans and media of the outcome of the toss.

The two expansion clubs,Tampa Bay andSeattle, were "swing" teams that did not participate in regular conference play. Every other NFL team played a home-and-away series against the other members in its division, two or three interconference games, and the remainder of their 14-game schedule against other conference teams. As a member of the AFC in 1976, Tampa Bay played the other 13 members of the conference, while Seattle did the same in the NFC. The 14th game, played inWeek Six, was Seattle's 13–10 win at Tampa.

Starting in 1970, and until 2002, there were three divisions (East, Central and West) in each conference. The winners of each division, and a fourth "wild card" team based on the best non-division winner, qualified for the playoffs. The tiebreaker rules were changed to start with head-to-head competition, followed by division records, records versus common opponents, and records in conference play.

• Baltimore finished ahead of New England in the AFC East based on better division record (7–1 to Patriots' 6–2).
• Pittsburgh finished ahead of Cincinnati in the AFC Central based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
• Washington finished ahead of St. Louis 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 point-differential in head-to-head competition (27 points).

• Cincinnati Bengals:Paul Brown retired after over 40 years of coaching.Bill Johnson was named as Brown's replacement.
• New Orleans Saints:Hank Stram became the team's new head coach.John North was fired after a 1-5 start to the 1975 season, andErnie Hefferle then served as interim.
• New York Jets:Lou Holtz was named as head coach of the Jets.Charley Winner was fired nine games into the 1975 season after only posting two wins. Offensive coordinatorKen Shipp served as interim for the last five games.
• Philadelphia Eagles:Mike McCormack was replaced byDick Vermeil.
• San Francisco 49ers:Monte Clark replacedDick Nolan.
• Seattle Seahawks:Jack Patera became the expansion team's first head coach.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers:John McKay became the expansion team's first head coach.

• Atlanta Falcons:Marion Campbell was fired after a 1-4 start to the season. General managerPat Peppler served as interim for the rest of the season.
• Buffalo Bills:Lou Saban resigned after the fifth game of the season. Offensive line coachJim Ringo took over as interim.
• Detroit Lions:Rick Forzano left after the team lost three of its first four games. Coordinator of personnel and scoutingTommy Hudspeth took over for the last 10 games.
• New York Giants:Bill Arnsparger was fired after the team lost its first seven games. Assistant coachJohn McVay was promoted to head coach.
• New York Jets:Lou Holtz resigned prior to the last game of the season, returning to college as coach of theArkansas Razorbacks.Mike Holovak served as interim for the team's final game, as the team finished at 3–11.

• TheNew York Giants finally opened their newGiants Stadium inEast Rutherford, New Jersey, after spending two seasons at theYale Bowl and one season temporarily sharingShea Stadium with theNew York Jets
• TheTampa Bay Buccaneers began play atTampa Stadium
• TheSeattle Seahawks began play at theKingdome
• After 6 years of using the Poly-Turf artificial turf surface, theMiami Dolphins' stadium, theOrange Bowl reverted to using natural grass; which would be used for the rest of the stadium's existence.

• TheAtlanta Falcons switched from gray face masks to white.
• TheDallas Cowboys replaced the blue stripe on right side of their helmets with a red stripe to honor the United States' Bicentennial for this season only.
• TheNew Orleans Saints began wearing black pants with their white jerseys, and facemasks changed from gray to black.
• TheNew York Giants replaced the striped uppercase "NY" helmet logo worn during the previous season only with an italicized and underlined "GIANTS".
• The inauguralSeattle Seahawks uniforms featured silver helmets and pants; blue jerseys with white numbers, and white and green sleeve stripes; and white jerseys with blue numbers, and blue and green sleeve stripes. The new helmet logo featured anosprey's head based onKwakwakaʼwakw art masks.
• The inauguralTampa Bay Buccaneers uniforms featured white helmets and pants, red trim, white jerseys with orange numbers, and orange jerseys with white numbers (which got the nickname "Creamsicle" uniforms). The nicknamed "Bucco Bruce" helmet logo featured a mustached pirate donning a plumed slouch hat and clutching a dagger in his teeth.

This was the third year under the league's four-year broadcast contracts withABC,CBS, andNBC to televiseMonday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively.Lee Leonard replacedJack Buck, joiningBryant Gumbel on NBC's pregame showGrandStand.Al DeRogatis also left the network, leavingCurt Gowdy andDon Meredith as NBC's lead broadcast team in a two-man booth."Jimmy the Greek" Snyder joinedThe NFL Today to predict the results of NFL games.^[2]

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1971–1980 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)

• 1976 NFL season
• NFL seasons

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• Use mdy dates from November 2013