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2001 NFL season
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The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League.
Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day. With Super Bowls XXXVI-XXXVII already scheduled for fixed dates, the league initially decided to eliminate the Super Bowl bye weeks for those two years to adjust.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the games for September 16–September 17 were postponed and re-scheduled to the weekend of January 6–January 7.
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Encyclopedia
The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League.
Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day. With Super Bowls XXXVI-XXXVII already scheduled for fixed dates, the league initially decided to eliminate the Super Bowl bye weeks for those two years to adjust.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the games for September 16–September 17 were postponed and re-scheduled to the weekend of January 6–January 7. In order to retain the full playoff format, all playoff games, including the Super Bowl were re-scheduled one week later. The season-ending Pro Bowl was also moved one week later. This was the last season before the 2002 realignment, in which the AFC Central and the NFC Central were either renamed or divided.
Canceling the games scheduled for Sept. 16–17 was considered and rejected. That would have cancelled a home game for about half the teams of the league, and also would have resulted in an unequal number of games played (Sept. 16–17 was to have been San Diego's bye week, so that team would still have played 16 games that season and each of the other teams would have played only 15 games).
As a result of rescheduling Week 2 as Week 18, the ESPN Sunday Night Football game for that week was changed. It was originally scheduled to be Cleveland at Pittsburgh, but it was replaced with Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, which was seen as a more interesting matchup. Also, this was the only NFL season where every jersey had a patch to remember those to die in 9/11, and the NY Jets and NY Giants wore a patch to remember the fire fighters who died.
The season ended with Super Bowl XXXVI when the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams.
Major rule changes
- Fumble recoveries will be awarded at the spot of the recovery, not where the player's momentum carries him.
- Taunting rules will be strictly enforced.
- Roughing the passer will be strictly enforced.
2001 Coaching Changes
Final regular season standings
W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT = Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against
Clinched playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green
Tiebreakers
- New England finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on better division record (6-2 to Dolphins' 5-3).
- Cleveland finished ahead of Tennessee in the AFC Central based on better division record (5-5 to Titans' 3-7).
- Jacksonville finished ahead of Cincinnati in the AFC Central based on head-to-head sweep (2-0).
- N.Y. Giants finished ahead of Arizona 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 division record (4-4 to Falcons' 3-5).
- Baltimore was the second AFC Wild Card based on better record against common opponents (3-2 to Jets' 2-2).
- Green Bay was the first NFC Wild Card based on better conference record (9-3 to 49ers' 8-4).
Playoffs
- Home team in capitals
AFC
- Wild-Card playoffs: OAKLAND 38, N.Y. Jets 24; Baltimore 20, MIAMI 3
- Divisional playoffs: NEW ENGLAND 16, Oakland 13 (OT); PITTSBURGH 27, Baltimore 10
- AFC Championship: NEW ENGLAND 24, Pittsburgh 17 at Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 27, 2002
NFC
- Wild-Card playoffs: PHILADELPHIA 31, Tampa Bay 9; GREEN BAY 25, San Francisco 15
- Divisional playoffs: Philadelphia 33, CHICAGO 19; ST. LOUIS 45, Green Bay 17
- NFC Championship: ST. LOUIS 29, Philadelphia 24 at Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, Missouri, January 27, 2002
Super Bowl
- Super Bowl XXXVI: New England (AFC) 20, St. Louis (NFC) 17 at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 3, 2002
Milestones
The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season:
| Record | Player/Team | Previous Record Holder |
|---|
| Most Sacks, Season* | Michael Strahan, New York Giants (22.5) | Mark Gastineau, New York Jets, 1984 (22.0) | | Most Consecutive Games Lost, Season | Carolina (15) | Tied by 4 teams (14) |
* - Sack statistics have only been compiled since 1982.
Statistical leaders
Team
| Points scored | St. Louis Rams (503) | | Total yards gained | St. Louis Rams (6,930) | | Yards rushing | Pittsburgh Steelers (2,774) | | Yards passing | St. Louis Rams (4,903) | | Fewest points allowed | Chicago Bears (203) | | Fewest total yards allowed | Pittsburgh Steelers (4,504) | | Fewest rushing yards allowed | Pittsburgh Steelers (1,195) | | Fewest passing yards allowed | Dallas Cowboys (3,019) |
Individual
| Scoring | Marshall Faulk, St. Louis (128 points) | | Touchdowns | Marshall Faulk, St. Louis (21 TDs) | | Most field goals made | Jason Elam, Denver (31 FGs) | | Rushing | Priest Holmes, Kansas City (1,555 yards) | | Passing | Kurt Warner, St. Louis (101.4 rating) | | Passing touchdowns | Kurt Warner, St. Louis (36 TDs) | | Pass receiving | Rod Smith, Denver (113 catches) | | Pass receiving yards | David Boston, Arizona (1,598) | | Punt returns | Troy Brown, New England (14.2 average yards) | | Kickoff returns | Ronney Jenkins, San Diego (26.6 average yards) | | Interceptions | Ronde Barber, Tampa Bay and Anthony Henry, Cleveland (10) | | Punting | Todd Sauerbrun, Carolina (47.5 average yards) | | Sacks | Michael Strahan, New York Giants (22.5) |
Awards
| Most Valuable Player | Kurt Warner, Quarterback, St. Louis | | Coach of the Year | Dick Jauron, Chicago | | Offensive Player of the Year | Marshall Faulk, Running back, St. Louis | | Defensive Player of the Year | Michael Strahan, Defensive End, New York Giants | | Offensive Rookie of the Year | Anthony Thomas, Running Back, Chicago | | Defensive Rookie of the Year | Kendrell Bell, Linebacker, Pittsburgh | | NFL Comeback Player of the Year | Garrison Hearst, Running Back, San Francisco |
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