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AFC teams: West, North, South, East

Cowboys

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Packers

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Various Locations
Saints

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NFC teams: West, North, South, East

The2005 NFL season was the 86thregular season of theNational Football League (NFL).

Regular season play was held from September 8, 2005, to January 1, 2006. The regular season also saw the first ever regular season game played outside the United States, as well asthe New Orleans Saints being forced to play elsewhere due to damage to theSuperdome and the entireNew Orleans area byHurricane Katrina.

Theplayoffs began on January 7. TheNew England Patriots' streak of 10 consecutive playoff wins and chance at a third straight Super Bowl title was ended in the Divisional Playoff Round by theDenver Broncos, and eventually the NFL title was won by thePittsburgh Steelers, who defeated theSeattle Seahawks 21–10 inSuper Bowl XL atFord Field inDetroit,Michigan on February 5 for their fifth Super Bowl win. This also marked the first time that a sixth-seeded team, who by the nature of their seeding would play every game on the road, would advance to and win the Super Bowl.

The season formally concluded with thePro Bowl, the league'sall-star game, atAloha Stadium inHonolulu, Hawaii on February 12.

This was also the final full season forPaul Tagliabue as commissioner.

The2005 NFL draft was held from April 23 to 24, 2005, atNew York City'sJacob K. Javits Convention Center. With the first pick, theSan Francisco 49ers selected quarterbackAlex Smith from theUniversity of Utah.

• The "horse-collar tackle", in which a defender grabs inside the back or side of an opponent's shoulder pads and pulls that player down, is prohibited.^[1] Named the "Roy Williams Rule" after theDallas Cowboyssafety whose horse collar tackles during the 2004 season caused serious injuries to several players.
• Peel-back blocks (in which an offensive player blocks a defender who is moving back toward the direction of his own end zone) below the waist and from the back are now illegal.
• Unnecessary roughness would be called for blocks away from the play on punters or kickers, similar to the same protection quarterbacks have after interceptions.
• When time is stopped by officials prior to the snap for any reason while time is in, the play clock resumes with the same amount of time that remained on it – with a minimum of 10 seconds. Previously, the play-clock would be reset to 25 seconds.
• During field goal and extra point attempts, the defensive team will be penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct if it calls consecutive timeouts in an attempt to "ice" the kicker. Previously, the second timeout request was only denied by officials, and thus could be used to distract the kickers.
• Players cannot run, dive into, cut, or throw their bodies against or on an opponent who is out of the play or should not have reasonably anticipated such contact.
• If the defensive team commits a dead ball foul following the end of the half, the offensive team may choose to extend the period for one more play. Previously, the half automatically ended without the defensive team being penalized.
• The prohibition on offensive players pushing other offensive players was removed, allowing plays such as the "Bush Push" (later renamed the "Tush Push" popularized by thePhiladelphia Eagles years later).
• During a punt, if the kicking team illegally touches the ball inside the 5-yard line, the receiving team has the option of either treating the result as a touchback or replaying the down with a 5-yard penalty against the kicking team. Previously, the receiving team's only options were either the latter or taking over possession at the spot of the foul. This change prevents an ineligible player from keeping a kick from entering the end zone and becoming a touchback.
• If the kicking team commits a penalty, the receiving team can have the option of adding the penalty yardage to the return or taking a penalty and forcing the kicking team to rekick the ball. Previously they could take the latter or decline the penalty.
• If a team calls for an instant replay challenge after it has used all its challenges or is out of timeouts, it will be assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The penalty will also be assessed if a team calls for a challenge inside of two minutes of either half or overtime, when only the replay assistant can initiate reviews. Previously, the request was only denied by the Referee. This change was made to prevent head coaches from constantly stopping the game for any reason, including to just argue with the Referee.
• Teams are only able to request an instant replay challenge by tossing their red flag to get the attention of officials. The league decided to do away with the electronicpager/vibrating alert system used by head coaches because practically all of them always used their red flags instead of their pagers anyway. (However, the replay assistant will still use the pagers to notify the officials of a replay request.)

• Steve Belichick former fullback and father of Patriots and Browns head coachBill Belichick
• Wellington Mara Owner of the New York Giants
• Bob Tisch Owner of the New York Giants
• Hank Stram former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs

The 2005 season also featured the first ever regular season game played outside the United States when theSan Francisco 49ers–Arizona Cardinals game was played atEstadio Azteca in Mexico City on October 2 (the Cardinals won 31–14). The game drew an NFL regular season record of 103,467 paid fans. It was a home game for the Cardinals, mostly because the team rarely sold out at their then-home field,Sun Devil Stadium inTempe, Arizona. This season was the last year that the Cardinals played at Sun Devil Stadium; the team then moved to their newCardinals Stadium in nearbyGlendale.

Due to the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina to theLouisiana Superdome and the greater New Orleans area, theNew Orleans Saints' entire 2005 home schedule was played at different venues while the Saints set up temporary operations inSan Antonio, Texas. The Saints' first home game scheduled for September 18 againstNew York Giants was moved to September 19 atGiants Stadium. The impromptu "Monday Night doubleheader" with the game already scheduled (Washington atDallas) was a success, and was made an annual part of the schedule from2006 through2020.

The NFL designated its second weekend, September 18 and 19, as "Hurricane Relief Weekend', with fund raising collections at all of the league's games. The Saints' remaining home games were split between theAlamodome in San Antonio and Louisiana State University'sTiger Stadium inBaton Rouge, Louisiana. Being forced to travel to 13 of their 16 games (only three of their games were actually played in the same city where they practiced) and practice in substandard facilities and conditions in San Antonio, the Saints finished 3–13, their worst season since1999.

The Last time an NFL franchise had to play at an alternate site was in2002, when theChicago Bears played home games inChampaign, Illinois, 120 miles (200 km) away, due to the reconstruction ofSoldier Field.^[2] The last NFL team to abandon their home city during a season was the 1952Dallas Texans, whose franchise was returned to the league after drawing several poor crowds at theCotton Bowl. They played their final "home" game inAkron, Ohio.^[3]

The October 23 game between theKansas City Chiefs andMiami Dolphins atDolphins Stadium was rescheduled to Friday, October 21 at 7:00 pmEDT to beatHurricane Wilma's arrival to theMiami, Florida area.^[4] The Chiefs won the game, 30–20, and became the first visiting team to travel and play on the same day.^{[citation needed]} Since the game was planned for Sunday afternoon, it is one of the few times in history that the Dolphins wore their white jerseys in a home game played at night.

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.^[6]

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

• Most points scored:Seattle, 452
• Fewest points scored:Cleveland, 232
• Most total offensive yards:Kansas City, 6,192
• Fewest total offensive yards:San Francisco, 3,587
• Most total passing yards:Arizona, 4,437
• Fewest total passing yards: San Francisco, 1,898
• Most rushing yards:Atlanta, 2,546
• Fewest rushing yards: Arizona, 1,138

^[8]

• Fewest points allowed:Chicago, 202
• Most points allowed:Houston, 431
• Fewest total yards allowed:Tampa Bay, 4,444
• Most total yards allowed:San Francisco, 6,259
• Fewest passing yards allowed:Green Bay, 2,680
• Most passing yards allowed: San Francisco, 4,427
• Fewest rushing yards allowed:San Diego, 1,349
• Most rushing yards allowed: Houston, 2,303

^[9]

All-Pro Team

Head coach

Front office

The New Orleans Saints played inBaton Rouge'sTiger Stadium for four games and in San Antonio'sAlamodome for three games due to Louisiana Superdome damaged byHurricane Katrina. Tiger Stadium's goalposts did not conform to NFL standards due to (a) two supports instead of one and (b) white paint instead of gold. The NFL granted the Saints dispensation to keep LSU's goalposts in place for their games.

In addition, with theRCA andEdward Jones domes both removing theirAstroTurf surfaces in favor of the newer next-generationFieldTurf surface, the old first-generation AstroTurf surface ceased to be used in the NFL.

Pro Player Stadium was renamedDolphins Stadium. Pro Player's parentFruit of the Loom had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in 1999, and the Pro Player label was discontinued, but that stadium name was kept for several more years.

• TheArizona Cardinals unveiled a new uniform design featuring trim lines to the outside shoulders, sleeves, and sides of the jerseys and pants. The cardinal helmet logo was also redesigned to be more aggressive.
• TheBuffalo Bills added a third alternative uniform: their 1960s throwbacks with the white helmets and red standing bison logo.
• TheDetroit Lions added black third alternate uniforms at the urging of presidentMatt Millen, a formerRaider.
• TheNew York Giants changed their white jerseys to mimic the team's design used in the 1950s. When they last made major changes in 2000, the Giants only modified their blue jerseys to the 1950s look while keeping many of the 1980s elements on their white jerseys, such as the 1980s blue collars instead of the 1950s white collars and red shoulder stripe design.
• TheSt. Louis Rams began wearing navy pants with their white jerseys for selected games.

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

While CBS and Fox renewed their television contracts to the AFC and the NFC packages, respectively,^[10] 2005 marked the final season that ABC held the exclusive rights to televiseMonday Night Football. When the television contracts were renewed, the rights to broadcastMNF were awarded toDisney-owned corporate sibling ESPN.NBC then won the rights to televiseSunday Night Football, marking the first time that NBC broadcast NFL games sinceSuper Bowl XXXII in 1998.^[11] While the NFL had indicated that it wantedSNF to become the new night for its marquee game, ABC declined to renew, citing that it had lost millions of dollars on theMNF despite generating high ratings, and ABC wanted to continue airing the television seriesDesperate Housewives on Sunday nights.^[12][13] ABC would not air an NFL game again until they began simulcasting ESPN's Wild Card playoff game in January 2016.

Cris Collinsworth left Fox to sit out the 2005 season before joining NBC as a studio analyst the following year, leaving Fox's lead broadcasting team ofJoe Buck andTroy Aikman in a two-man booth.^[14]

• NFL Record and Fact Book. Time Home Entertainment, Incorporated. July 26, 2005.ISBN 1-932994-36-X.
• "NFL turns down proposal on 'down by contact'".NFL.com. May 24, 2005. Archived fromthe original on February 15, 2006. RetrievedMarch 29, 2006.
• 2006 NFL Record and Fact Book. Time Home Entertainment, Incorporated. July 25, 2006. p. 421.ISBN 1-933405-32-5.

• Football Outsiders 2005 DVOA Ratings

• 2005 NFL season
• NFL seasons
• 2005 in American football

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