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AFC teams: West, Central, East

Cowboys

Giants

Eagles

Cardinals

Redskins

Bears

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Packers

Vikings

Buccaneers

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Rams

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NFC teams: West, Central, East

The1987 NFL season was the 68thregular season of theNational Football League (NFL). This season included games predominantly played byreplacement players, as theNational Football League Players Association (NFLPA) players wereon strike from weeks four to six with week three being cancelled in its entirety. This remains the last NFL season in which regular-season games were impacted by a labor conflict (as well as the last season when non-union players were used as strikebreaking competitors).

The season ended withSuper Bowl XXII, with theWashington Redskins defeating theDenver Broncos, 42–10, atJack Murphy Stadium inSan Diego. The Broncos suffered their second consecutive Super Bowl defeat.

• On October 31, 1987, the Los Angeles Rams tradedEric Dickerson to the Indianapolis Colts in a three-team trade involving the Buffalo Bills. The Rams sent Dickerson to the Colts for six draft choices and two players. Buffalo obtained the rights toCornelius Bennett from Indianapolis. Buffalo sent running backGreg Bell and three draft choices to the Rams, while Indianapolis addedOwen Gill and three of their own draft picks to complete the deal with the Rams.^[1]

The 1987 NFL draft was held from April 28 to 29, 1987, atNew York City'sMarriott Marquis. With the first pick, theTampa Bay Buccaneers selected quarterbackVinny Testaverde from theUniversity of Miami.

Chuck Heberling retired during the 1987 offseason. He joined the NFL in 1965 as a line judge before being promoted to referee in 1972. Games that he officiated include theHail Mary Game andThe Drive.Fred Silva, who was a swing official in 1986, was given his own crew again.

• If a defensive player commitspass interference in his own end zone, the ball is placed at the 1-yard line, or if the previous spot was inside the 2-yard line, the penalty is half the distance to the goal line.
• Except for the firstonside kick attempt, if a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team takes possession of the ball 30 yards from the spot of the kick or the spot it went out of bounds.
• In order to stop the clock, the quarterback is permitted to throw the ball out of bounds or to the ground as long as he throws itimmediately after receiving the snap.
• During passing plays, an offensive player cannot chop block (block a defender below the thigh while the defensive player is already engaging another offensive player).
• Illegal contact by a defensive player beyond the 5-yard zone from the line of scrimmage will not be called if the offensive team is in an obvious punt formation.
• During kicks and punts, players on the receiving team cannot block below the waist. However, players on the kicking team may block below the waist, but only before the kick is made. On all other plays after a change of possession, no player can block below the waist.
• Revenue sharing was changed so that NFL players received a portion of the ticket revenue, while the owners kept the revenue generated by skybox rentals. This led to many teams pushing for new stadiums which lowered many skybox suites from the less-desirable outer rim of a stadium to more desirable locations closer to the field (typically, the midsection or lower) so that the owners could charge more money for the suites, while similarly reducing the ticket revenue by replacing the higher-priced seats with lower-priced "nose bleed" seats. Overall, the number of available general admission seating was also reduced in favor of larger suites.

• December 15 -Ray Malavasi, 57, who coached theLos Angeles Rams to their first Super Bowl appearance inSuper Bowl XIV.

A 24-dayplayers' strike was called after week 2. The games that were scheduled for thethird week of the season were cancelled, reducing the 16-game season to 15, but the games for Weeks 4, 5 and 6 were played withreplacement players. The NFLPA actually ended the strike before the week 6 slate of games, but the NFL owners' unanimously nixed their return that week because the union had missed an owner-mandated deadline that week to be eligible to return, and would have to wait until week 7 to resume playing. Approximately 15% of the NFLPA's players chose to cross picket lines to play during the strike; prominent players who did so included New York Jets defensive endMark Gastineau, Dallas Cowboys defensive tackleRandy White, San Francisco 49ers quarterbackJoe Montana, Los Angeles Raiders defensive endHowie Long, 49ers running backRoger Craig, New England Patriots quarterbackDoug Flutie and Seattle Seahawks wide receiverSteve Largent.^[2] The replacement players were mostly those left out of work by the recent folding of theCanadian Football League'sMontreal Alouettes and the 1986 dissolution of theUnited States Football League, as well as others who had been preseason cuts, had long left professional football or were other assorted oddities. The replacement players, called to play on short notice and having little chance to gel as teammates, were widely treated with scorn by the press and general public, including name calling,public shaming and accusations of beingscabs. The games played by these replacement players were regarded with even less legitimacy – attendance plummeted to under 10,000 fans at many of the games in smaller markets and cities with strong union presence, including a low of 4,074 for the lone replacement game playedin Philadelphia — but nonetheless were counted as regular NFL games.^[3] Final television revenues were down by about 20%, a smaller drop than the networks had expected.^[4] The defendingSuper Bowl champion New York Giants went 0–3 in replacement games, ultimately costing them a chance to make the playoffs and to repeat their championship. The final replacement game was aMonday Night Football matchup on October 19, 1987, withthe Washington Redskins atthe Dallas Cowboys. Along with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Redskins were the only other NFL team not to have any players cross the picket line and were surprising 13–7 victors over the Cowboys who had plenty of big name players cross the picket line.

The 2017 filmYear of the Scab, which aired as part of theESPN series30 for 30, documented the story of the replacement players who crossed the picket line to play for the Redskins.^[5][6] A fictionalized account based on the 1987 strike formed the basis of the 2000 filmThe Replacements.

A series ofNational Football Leaguepreseason exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States, the only American Bowl game in 1987 was held at London's Wembley Stadium.

Date	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Score	Stadium	City
August 9, 1987	Los Angeles Rams	28	Denver Broncos	27	Wembley Stadium	London

Highlights of the 1987 season included:

• Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 26, featuring Kansas City atDetroit and Minnesota atDallas, with Kansas City and Minnesota winning.

• Houston was the #4 seed in the AFC, winning a tiebreaker over Seattle based on better conference record (7–4 vs. Seahawks' 5–6).
• Chicago was the #2 seed in the NFC, winning a tiebreaker over Washington based on better conference record (9–2 vs. Redskins' 9–3).
• New England finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
• Dallas finished ahead of St. Louis and Philadelphia in the NFC East based on better division record (4–4 to Cardinals' 3–5 and Eagles' 3–5), and St. Louis finished ahead of Philadelphia based on better conference record (7–7 to Eagles' 4–7).
• Tampa Bay finished ahead of Detroit in the NFC Central based on better division record (3–4 to Lions' 2–5).

* Indicatesovertime victory

As awarded by theAssociated Press

• Atlanta Falcons:Marion Campbell began his second stint as head coach of the Falcons, replacing the firedDan Henning. Campbell previously coached the Falcons from the eighth game of1974 through the seventh game of1976, and was also coach of thePhiladelphia Eagles from1983 through the 15th game of1985.
• Buffalo Bills:Marv Levy began his first full season as the Bills' head coach. He was named asHank Bullough's replacement after 9 games into the 1986 season.
• Indianapolis Colts:Ron Meyer begin his first full season as the Colts' head coach. AfterRod Dowhower was fired after the Colts lost their first 13 games in 1986, Meyer promptly led the team to three straight victories to finish 3–13.
• Kansas City Chiefs:John Mackovic was fired and replaced byFrank Gansz.
• San Diego Chargers:Al Saunders begin his first full season as the Chargers' head coach. He replacedDon Coryell, who left after a 1–7 start in 1986.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers:Leeman Bennett was fired and replaced byAlabama coachRay Perkins, who previously coached theNew York Giants from 1979 to 1982.

The Miami Dolphins began playing at their new home,Joe Robbie Stadium, moving from theMiami Orange Bowl. This was also theCardinals' final season atBusch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis; the team relocated toTempe, Arizona, the following season.

• TheAtlanta Falcons moved the Falcon emblem on their jersey sleeves downward, now being superimposed on the sleeve striping.
• TheBuffalo Bills switched from blue face masks to white.
• TheIndianapolis Colts began wearing their white pants with their blue jerseys, discontinuing their gray pants, which had been worn since 1982.
• TheMiami Dolphins introduced a redesigned jersey to coincide with the opening ofJoe Robbie Stadium. The stripes on the sleeves were pared down from five to three to make way for the helmet logo on the sleeves; the TV numbers moved from the sleeves to the shoulders; and the numbers changed to a new Dolphins-specific font.

The eight-year old ESPN cable network signed a three-year deal to become the first cable television broadcaster of the league, broadcasting a series of Sunday night games during the second half of the season.^[7] Its programESPN Sunday Night NFL (subsequently rebranded asESPN Sunday Night Football) debuted on November 8, 1987. The league also mandated that each ESPN game must air viabroadcast syndication to an over-the-air station in the markets of the participating teams. ESPN also debutedNFL Primetime, featuring scores, highlights, and analysis of the Sunday afternoon games; the program served as a pregame show during those weeks of Sunday Night Football.

In addition,ABC,CBS, andNBC each signed three-year contracts to renew their rights to broadcastMonday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively.^[7]

ABC returned to a three-man booth, hiringDan Dierdorf from CBS to joinAl Michaels andFrank Gifford. ESPN's initial broadcast team consisted ofMike Patrick on play-by-play, withRoy Firestone and a weekly "guest color commentator".NFL Primetime included hostChris Berman, and analystsTom Jackson andPete Axthelm. NBC renamed its pregame showNFL Live!Gayle Sierens then made history as the first woman to do play-by-play for an NFL regular season game, calling NBC's telecast of the December 27 game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs.

CBS fired"Jimmy the Greek" Snyder on January 16, 1988, a few days before the NFC Championship Game, after he made several questionable comments aboutAfrican Americans during an interview with Ed Hotaling, producer-reporter forWashington, D.C. NBC-owned stationWRC-TV.^[8]

• 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)

• 1987 NFL season
• NFL seasons

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