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

The2003 NFL season was the 84thregular season of theNational Football League (NFL).

Regular-season play was held from September 4, 2003, to December 28, 2003. Due to damage caused by theCedar Fire,Qualcomm Stadium was used as an emergency shelter, and thus theMiami Dolphins–San Diego Chargers regular-season game on October 27 was instead played atSun Devil Stadium, the home field of theArizona Cardinals. This was the first season in NFL history where every team won at least 4 games.

Theplayoffs began on January 3, 2004. The NFL title was won by theNew England Patriots when they defeated theCarolina Panthers 32–29 inSuper Bowl XXXVIII atReliant Stadium inHouston, Texas, on February 1.

The2003 NFL draft was held from April 26 to 27, 2003, atNew York City'sTheater at Madison Square Garden. With the first pick, theCincinnati Bengals selected quarterbackCarson Palmer from theUniversity of Southern California.

Dick Hantak andBob McElwee retired in the 2003 off-season. Hantak joined the league as a back judge (the position title was changed to field judge in 1998) in 1978, and was assignedSuper Bowl XVII in that position. He was promoted to referee in 1986, workingSuper Bowl XXVII. McElwee joined the NFL in 1976 as a line judge, and became a referee in 1980. He was the referee for threeSuper Bowls:XXII,XXVIII, andXXXIV.Walt Anderson andPete Morelli were promoted to referee to replace Hantak and McElwee.

• If an onside kick inside the final five minutes of the game does not go 10 yards, goes out of bounds, or is touched illegally, the receiving team will have the option of accepting the penalty and getting the ball immediately. Previously, the kicking team was penalized, but had another chance to kick again from five yards back.
• League officials encouraged networks to immediately cut to a commercial break if aninstant replay challenge review was initiated. Previously networks were generally not permitted to utilize those game stoppages for their prescribed commercial periods.^[1]

• John Butler: A former General Manager with theBuffalo Bills, whose team qualified forSuper Bowl XXVIII and theSan Diego Chargers,^[2] he died of lymphoma on April 11, 2003.
• David Woodley: Having played for the Miami Dolphins inSuper Bowl XVII, Woodley died from complications due to kidney and liver failure on May 4, 2003.^[3] Twenty years after Super Bowl XVII, he became the youngest Super Bowl starting quarterback to die, until the death ofSuper Bowl XXXIV starterSteve McNair at age 36 in 2009. Woodley was buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in Shreveport, alongside his parents.

• Sid Gillman: A former head coach and general manager with the San Diego Chargers, Gillman died in his sleep on January 3, 2003, at the age of 91.^[4] He was interred in theHillside Memorial Park Cemetery inCulver City, California.

Within each conference, the four division winners and the top twonon-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners areseeded 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 thewild-card playoffs orwild-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 afirst-round bye. In the second round, thedivisional 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 theSuper 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.^[7]

*IndicatesOT victory

**Indicates2OT victory

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

Head coach

• Cincinnati Bengals –Marvin Lewis replacedDick LeBeau who was fired following the2002 season.
• Dallas Cowboys –Bill Parcells replacedDave Campo who was fired following the2002 season.
• Detroit Lions –Steve Mariucci replacedMarty Mornhinweg who was fired following the2002 season.
• Jacksonville Jaguars –Jack Del Rio replacedTom Coughlin who was fired following the2002 season.
• San Francisco 49ers –Dennis Erickson replacedSteve Mariucci who was fired following the2002 season.

Front office

• Arizona Cardinals –Rod Graves replacedBob Ferguson, who was fired following the2002 season.
• Jacksonville Jaguars –James "Shack" Harris replaced former head coachTom Coughlin, who was fired following the2002 season.
• Seattle Seahawks –Bob Ferguson replaced head coachMike Holmgren, who agreed to step down as general manager to focus on coaching the team.
• San Diego Chargers –A. J. Smith replacedJohn Butler, who died of lymphoma on April 11, 2003.

• Baltimore Ravens: Ravens Stadium was renamedM&T Bank Stadium afterM&T Bank acquired the naming rights
• Chicago Bears: The Bears moved back to a newly renovatedSoldier Field after temporarily playing in 2002 atMemorial Stadium inChampaign, Illinois
• Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles moved fromVeterans Stadium toLincoln Financial Field, withLincoln Financial Group acquiring the naming rights
• San Francisco 49ers: After the naming rights deal with3Com expired, the stadium was officially renamed San Francisco Stadium at Candlestick Point instead of its originalCandlestick Park name

In addition, new turf was installed for the following teams:

• Atlanta Falcons: NewFieldTurf surface
• Buffalo Bills: NewAstroPlay home turf
• New Orleans Saints: New AstroPlay home turf by mid-season
• New York Giants,New York Jets: New FieldTurf surface replacing natural grass.

• TheAtlanta Falcons unveiled a new uniform design featuring red trim down the sides of both the jerseys and pants. The pants were switched from gray to white, and black pants were also introduced for selected games. Black remained the primary jersey color while a red alternate jersey was also introduced. The falcons helmet logo was redesigned to be more aggressive and closely resemble a capital "F".
• TheCincinnati Bengals added new alternate black pants with their black jerseys for select home games.
• TheCleveland Browns added new alternate orange pants last worn during the 1970s-early 1980sKardiac Kids era of coachSam Rutigliano.
• TheDenver Broncos introduced blue pants with orange streaks to match with their blue jerseys.
• TheDetroit Lions introduced a new design that added black trim to their logo and jerseys, and changed their face masks from blue to black.
• TheHouston Texans added red third alternate uniforms.
• TheMiami Dolphins added orange third alternate uniforms.
• TheNew England Patriots added silver third alternate uniforms.
• TheNew Orleans Saints wore gold pants full time, discontinuing using black pants with their white jerseys.
• ThePhiladelphia Eagles added silver trim to the jersey numbers on uniforms, and black third alternate uniforms.
• TheSt. Louis Rams added alternate blue pants to their road uniforms.
• TheSan Diego Chargers wore white pants instead of blue with their white jerseys. They wore blue pants with their blue jerseys for the game vs. the Dolphins which had to be moved from San Diego to Arizona due to wildfires in southern California.
• TheTennessee Titans added powder blue third alternate uniforms.

This was the sixth year under the league's eight-year broadcast contracts withABC,CBS,Fox, andESPN to televiseMonday Night Football, the AFC package, the NFC package, andSunday Night Football, respectively.

At Fox,Tony Siragusa joinedDick Stockton andDaryl Johnston on the network's #2 broadcast team in a sideline analyst role instead of the traditional sideline reporter.

At CBS it wasGreg Gumbel’s final season as lead play by play commentator withPhil Simms, andArmen Keteyian. It would beBeasley Reece’s last season as color commentator for the first time since 1999, after serving as a sideline reporter from 2000-2002. This would also be The SEC football on CBS’sTim Brando andSpencer Tillman’s last season with the NFL on CBS after week 2 as they were no longer needed being replaced byBill Macatee. Also on The NFL today studio it wasJim Nantz’s final season as studio host as he and Greg Gumbel would trade places the following year.

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 2001– (Last accessed October 17, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)

• Football Outsiders 2003 Team Efficiency Ratings
• Pro Football Reference.com – 2003

• NFL seasons
• 2003 NFL season
• 2003 in American football

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• Use mdy dates from November 2013