Colts

Patriots

Bills

Dolphins

Jets

Bengals

Browns

Oilers

Steelers

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Raiders

Chargers

Seahawks

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AFC teams: West, Central, East

Cowboys

Giants

Eagles

Cardinals

Redskins

Bears

Lions

Packers

Vikings

Buccaneers

Falcons

Rams

Saints

49ers

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NFC teams: West, Central, East

The1982 NFL season was the 63rdregular season of theNational Football League. A 57-day-longplayers' strike reduced the 1982 season from a 16-game schedule per team toan abbreviated nine game schedule. Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament; division standings were ignored for seeding (although each division sent at least two teams, except the NFC West which had only one). Eight teams from each conference were seeded 1–8 based on their regular season records. Two teams qualified for the playoffs despite losing records (theCleveland Browns and theDetroit Lions). The season ended withSuper Bowl XVII when theWashington Redskins defeated theMiami Dolphins 27–17 at theRose Bowl.

Before the season, a verdict was handed down against the league in the trial brought by theOakland Raiders and theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum back in 1980. The jury ruled that the NFL violated antitrust laws when it declined to approve the proposed move by the team fromOakland toLos Angeles. Thus, the league was forced to let the officially renamed "Los Angeles Raiders" play in the second largest city in the United States, returning football to the Los Angeles area proper following a two-year absence (theLos Angeles Rams left the Coliseum forAnaheim Stadium inOrange County in 1980).

For the start of the 1982 season, theMinnesota Vikings moved fromMetropolitan Stadium to theHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

• August 25, 1982: QuarterbackKen Stabler, winner ofSuper Bowl XI with theOakland Raiders, signed with the New Orleans Saints.^[1]

September 18, 1982: The New Orleans Saints traded longtime starterArchie Manning to the Houston Oilers for offensive tackleLeon Gray.^[2]

• February 10, 1982: Four-time Super Bowl champion Mean Joe Greene announces his retirement.^[3]

The1982 NFL draft was held from April 27 to 28, 1982, atNew York City'sSheraton Hotel. With the first pick, theNew England Patriots selected defensive endKenneth Sims from theUniversity of Texas. And with the second pick, theBaltimore Colts selectedJohnie Cooks fromMississippi State.

• The penalty for incidental grabbing of a facemask that is committed by the defensive team changed from five yards and an automatic first down to only five yards with no automatic first down. The incidental facemask penalty was eliminated for the2008 season.
• The penalties for illegally kicking, batting, or punching the ball changed from 15 yards to 10 yards.
• This was the first season that the NFL recorded quarterback sacks as an official statistic.

For the first time all Sunday afternoon games began in one of two windows: 1:00 p.m.ET/noonCT for early games, or 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m.PT for late games. From 1970 to 1981, most games began at 1 p.m. local time regardless of the home team (except inDenver, where theBroncos kick off at 2 p.m.MT). An exception to this rule was made for theBaltimore Colts, who were forced to begin Sunday home games no earlier than 2 p.m. Eastern due to aBaltimore ordinance, since repealed, which prohibited Sunday sporting events from beginning prior to that hour. That ordinance was cited by ownerRobert Irsay as a burden and a factor in moving the franchise toIndianapolis in March 1984.

Players began a 57-day strike following the completion of week 2 of the regular season. As a result of the impasse, games were simply cancelled until a settlement was reached (ultimately, Weeks 3 to 10).

During the players strike, the NFLPA put on two exhibition games. One game was played at RFK Stadium in Washington DC and the other was at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Low attendance and court rulings forced the NFLPA to cancel any further games.

Upon reaching that settlement, the NFL announced that Weeks 11 to 16 would be played as scheduled, and the games originally scheduled for week 3 of the season would be played following the completion of the resumed regular season as a new week 17, with the playoffs pushed back one week. Later, the NFL decided to use the final week 17 to hold various intra-division games from cancelled Weeks 3 to 10 instead of merely playing the week-3 games. This was done to increase attendance and to allow some teams to balance out home and away games, to the extent possible (either five home and four away, or four home and five away). Because the 1982 shortened season would include only nine regular season contests for each team, the NFL announced that the three divisions in each of the two conferences would be eliminated for the purpose of determining playoff qualifications, and the regular season would be followed by an expansion of the playoffs from 10 to 16 teams. With this, each conference had 14 teams competing for 8 playoff spots, with division standings being disregarded in favor of overall conference standings.The Washington Redskins were the Super Bowl winners.

Clinched playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green

Each of the first three rounds of the playoffs was pushed back one week in order to make room for the new week 17, which was originally scheduled as the Wild Card weekend. This was possible because there was an idle week between the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl was held as originally scheduled.

Until this season, no team ever reached the post-season with a losing record. TheCleveland Browns andDetroit Lions both made playoff appearances with 4–5 records. It would be28 years before anotherteam with a losing record would make the postseason (however, this would be accomplished in a full season).^[4]

The postseason would mark several "firsts" and "lasts" for several teams and players:

• This was the Cardinals' first postseason appearance since 1975 and last postseason game representingSt. Louis. The franchise relocated toArizona in 1988 and did not return to the playoffs until 1998. The Cardinals were 0–3 in playoff games representing St. Louis, with all three on the road.
• This markedTerry Bradshaw's final appearance atThree Rivers Stadium. He sat out nearly all of the1983 season with an elbow injury, appearing in just one half of a late-season game against the Jets in what turned out to be their final game atShea Stadium. It would also be the final appearance of fellow Hall of FamersLynn Swann andJack Ham, both of whom would retire in the offseason, the last home playoff game of head coachChuck Noll (who would coach eight more years, with the Steelers either missing the playoffs or only playing away playoff games), and the Steelers last home playoff game until 1992.
• This was Tampa Bay's last playoff game until 1997, by which time the Buccaneers replaced their orange uniforms. From 1983 to 1996, they suffered 14 consecutive losing seasons, 13 of which saw Tampa Bay lose 10 or more games.
• This would be Atlanta's last playoff appearance until the 1991 season.
• This was the final postseason appearance in theHall of Fame careers of Chargers starsDan Fouts,Charlie Joiner, andKellen Winslow. All would remain with the Chargers until at least 1986, but the Chargers would not return to the postseason until 1992.
• This was the Packers' first postseason appearance since 1972 and only the second sinceVince Lombardi stepped down as head coach following the 1967 season, as well as the team's only postseason victory between the Lombardi andBrett Favre eras (1969–91). The Packers would not play another postseason game until1993.
• This would be the final playoff win in Cowboys coachTom Landry's career before his firing in 1989. It would be the Cowboys last playoff victory until1991. After appearing in 10 of the previous 13 NFC Championship games, this would be Dallas's last appearance until 1992.

• Baltimore Colts:Frank Kush replaced the firedMike McCormack.
• Chicago Bears:Mike Ditka replaced the firedNeill Armstrong.
• New England Patriots:Ron Meyer replaced the firedRon Erhardt.

• Seattle Seahawks:Jack Patera was fired during the players strike after the team lost their first two games.Mike McCormack, the team's director of football operations, took over as interim for the remainder of the season.

• The relocatedLos Angeles Raiders moved from theOakland–Alameda County Coliseum to theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
• TheMinnesota Vikings moved fromMetropolitan Stadium inBloomington to theMetrodome inMinneapolis

• The league discontinued the 1979 numbering system for officials, with officials numbered separately by position, and reverted to the original system where each NFL official was assigned a random number regardless of position. Officials who were in the league in 1978 were allowed to reclaim their old number or switch to a number used by a 1978 official who had since retired or was not in use in 1978; officials hired beginning in 1979 then picked from remaining numbers based upon seniority. Also the officials' position was now abbreviated on the back of the uniform instead of being spelled out in full.
• TheBaltimore Colts began wearing gray pants with their blue jerseys. The gray pants featured a horseshoe on each hip, with the player's number inside the horseshoe.
• TheChicago Bears switched from gray to navy blue face masks.
• TheDetroit Lions switched from silver to white numbers on their blue jerseys.
• TheDallas Cowboys added elliptical blue circles with the player's number to the hip area of the pants.
• TheSt. Louis Cardinals repeated their helmet logo on top of the sleeve stripes of their white jerseys.
• TheWashington Redskins modified their helmet logo. The feathers hanging from the side of the Redskin portrait were now curved ("tucked under" the portrait) instead of hanging straight. The Redskins reverted to their previous logo, adopted in1972,the next season.

ABC,CBS, andNBC each signed five-year contracts to renew their rights to broadcastMonday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively. The major change was that ABC was allowed into the Super Bowl rotation beginning withSuper Bowl XIX at the end of the1984 season.^[5]

Len Berman replacedBryant Gumbel as host on NBC's pregame showNFL '82.Pete Axthelm also joined the show as a studio analyst.

With games canceled during the players' strike, CBS sentPat Summerall andJohn Madden, and some of their other regular NFL announcing crews, to instead call a fewcollege football Division II andIII games.^[6] NBC acquired the rights to air theCanadian Football League for those weeks, sendingDick Enberg andMerlin Olsen, and their other regular NFL announcing crews to those games.^[7]

During this season, the newChannel 4 in the United Kingdom began its coverage of the NFL^[8] which was to earn a substantial following during English soccer's low point of the mid-1980s. However, the first game shown—between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers—had been played some time before it was shown in the UK, because coverage began during the players' strike.^[9]

• October 26 – Vince Jacob, age 51. Official since 1975 (line judge 1975–77; side judge 1978 – first two weeks of 1982).

• December 11 –Rich Houston, age 37. Drafted in the 4th round of the1969 National Football League draft, Houston played for the New York Giants 1969–1973.

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1981–1990Archived October 6, 2008, at theWayback Machine (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
• 1982 NFL season atFootball Reference

• NFL seasons
• 1982 in American football
• 1982 NFL season

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