2001 NFL season

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The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League. 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 primetime 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.

The season ended with Super Bowl XXXVI when the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams.

Contents 1 Major rule changes 2 Final standings 2.1 Tiebreakers 3 Playoffs 3.1 AFC 3.2 NFC 3.3 Super Bowl 4 Milestones 5 Statistical leaders 5.1 Team 5.2 Individual 6 Awards 7 Notes 8 References

[edit] 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.

[edit] Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

Qualified for playoffs

[edit] 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).

[edit] Playoffs

Main article: NFL playoffs, 2001-02

Home team in capitals

[edit] 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

[edit] 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

[edit] Super Bowl

• Super Bowl XXXVI: New England (AFC) 20, St. Louis (NFC) 17 at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 3, 2002

[edit] Milestones

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

Record	Player/Team	Previous Record Holder[1]
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.

[edit] Statistical leaders

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• 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)
• Steelers Fever - History of NFL Rules (Last accessed October 17 2005)

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