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1973 National Football League season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1973 NFL season was the 54th regular season of the National Football League. The season was highlighted by O. J. Simpson becoming the first player to rush for 2,000 yards in one season.
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Regular season | |
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Duration | September 16 – December 16, 1973 |
Playoffs | |
Start date | December 22, 1973 |
AFC Champions | Miami Dolphins |
NFC Champions | Minnesota Vikings |
Super Bowl VIII | |
Date | January 13, 1974 |
Site | Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas |
Champions | Miami Dolphins |
Pro Bowl | |
Date | January 20, 1974 |
Site | Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri |
The season ended with Super Bowl VIII when the Miami Dolphins repeated as league champions by defeating the Minnesota Vikings 24–7 at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas. The Pro Bowl took place on January 20, 1974, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri; the AFC beat the NFC 15–13.
The 1973 NFL draft was held from January 30 to 31, 1973 at New York City's Americana Hotel. With the first pick, the Houston Oilers selected defensive end John Matuszak from the University of Tampa.
The system would later be modified throughout the years to increase the available numbers to different positions due to increasing team rosters and teams retiring numbers
.Starting in 1970, and until 2002, there were three divisions (Eastern, Central and Western) in each conference. The winners of each division, and a fourth "wild card" team based on the best non-division winner, qualified for the playoffs. The tiebreaker rules were changed to start with head-to-head competition, followed by division records, records against common opponents, and records in conference play.
Week | Eastern | Central | Western | Wild Card | ||||
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1 | 4 teams | 1–0–0 | 2 teams | 1–0–0 | 2 teams | 1–0–0 | 5 teams | 1–0–0 |
2 | Dallas, St. Louis (tie) | 2–0–0 | Minnesota | 2–0–0 | Los Angeles | 2–0–0 | Dallas, St. Louis (tie) | 2–0–0 |
3 | Dallas | 3–0–0 | Minnesota | 3–0–0 | Los Angeles | 3–0–0 | St. Louis | 2–1–0 |
4 | Washington* | 3–1–0 | Minnesota | 4–0–0 | Los Angeles | 4–0–0 | Dallas | 3–1–0 |
5 | Washington | 4–1–0 | Minnesota | 5–0–0 | Los Angeles | 5–0–0 | Dallas | 3–2–0 |
6 | Washington | 5–1–0 | Minnesota | 6–0–0 | Los Angeles | 6–0–0 | Dallas | 4–2–0 |
7 | Washington | 5–2–0 | Minnesota | 7–0–0 | Los Angeles | 6–1–0 | Dallas* | 4–3–0 |
8 | Washington* | 5–3–0 | Minnesota | 8–0–0 | Los Angeles | 6–2–0 | Atlanta* | 5–3–0 |
9 | Washington* | 6–3–0 | Minnesota | 9–0–0 | Los Angeles | 7–2–0 | Atlanta* | 6–3–0 |
10 | Washington* | 7–3–0 | Minnesota | 9–1–0 | Los Angeles | 8–2–0 | Atlanta* | 7–3–0 |
11 | Washington | 8–3–0 | Minnesota | 10–1–0 | Los Angeles | 9–2–0 | Atlanta | 8–3–0 |
12 | Washington* | 9–3–0 | Minnesota | 10–2–0 | Los Angeles | 10–2–0 | Atlanta* | 8–4–0 |
13 | Dallas* | 9–4–0 | Minnesota | 11–2–0 | Los Angeles | 11–2–0 | Washington | 9–4–0 |
14 | Dallas | 10–4–0 | Minnesota | 12–2–0 | Los Angeles | 12–2–0 | Washington | 10–4–0 |
Week | Eastern | Central | Western | Wild Card | ||||
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1 | Buffalo, Miami (tie) | 1–0–0 | Cleveland, Pittsburgh (tie) | 1–0–0 | Denver | 1–0–0 | 2 teams | 1–0–0 |
2 | NY Jets | 1–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 2–0–0 | 4 teams | 1–1–0 | 7 teams | 1–1–0 |
3 | Buffalo | 2–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 3–0–0 | Kansas City | 2–1–0 | 3 teams | 2–1–0 |
4 | Buffalo, Miami (tie) | 3–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 4–0–0 | Kansas City | 3–1–0 | Buffalo, Miami (tie) | 3–1–0 |
5 | Buffalo, Miami (tie) | 4–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 4–1–0 | Kansas City | 3–1–1 | Buffalo, Miami (tie) | 4–1–0 |
6 | Miami | 5–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 5–1–0 | Kansas City | 3–2–1 | Cincinnati* | 4–2–0 |
7 | Miami | 6–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 6–1–0 | Oakland | 4–2–1 | Buffalo | 5–2–0 |
8 | Miami | 7–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 7–1–0 | Oakland | 5–2–1 | Buffalo | 5–3–0 |
9 | Miami | 8–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 8–1–0 | Oakland* | 5–3–1 | Kansas City* | 5–3–1 |
10 | Miami | 9–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 8–2–0 | Kansas City | 6–3–1 | Cleveland | 6–3–1 |
11 | Miami | 10–1–0 | Pittsburgh | 8–3–0 | Denver | 6–3–2 | Cleveland | 7–3–1 |
12 | Miami | 11–1–0 | Cincinnati* | 8–4–0 | Oakland | 7–4–1 | Pittsburgh | 8–4–0 |
13 | Miami | 11–2–0 | Cincinnati* | 9–4–0 | Oakland | 8–3–1 | Pittsburgh | 9–4–0 |
14 | Miami | 12–2–0 | Cincinnati* | 10–4–0 | Oakland | 9–4–1 | Pittsburgh | 10–4–0 |
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Dec 22 – Metropolitan Stadium | |||||||||||||
WC | Washington | 20 | |||||||||||
Dec 30 – Texas Stadium | |||||||||||||
Cent. | Minnesota | 27 | |||||||||||
NFC | |||||||||||||
Cent. | Minnesota | 27 | |||||||||||
Dec 23 – Texas Stadium | |||||||||||||
East | Dallas | 10 | |||||||||||
NFC Championship | |||||||||||||
West | Los Angeles | 16 | |||||||||||
Jan 13 – Rice Stadium | |||||||||||||
East | Dallas | 27 | |||||||||||
Divisional playoffs | |||||||||||||
NFC | Minnesota | 7 | |||||||||||
Dec 22 – Oakland Coliseum | |||||||||||||
AFC | Miami | 24 | |||||||||||
Super Bowl VIII | |||||||||||||
WC | Pittsburgh | 14 | |||||||||||
Dec 30 – Miami Orange Bowl | |||||||||||||
West | Oakland | 33 | |||||||||||
AFC | |||||||||||||
West | Oakland | 10 | |||||||||||
Dec 23 – Miami Orange Bowl | |||||||||||||
East | Miami | 27 | |||||||||||
AFC Championship | |||||||||||||
Cent. | Cincinnati | 16 | |||||||||||
East | Miami | 34 | |||||||||||
Most Valuable Player | O. J. Simpson, running back, Buffalo |
Coach of the Year | Chuck Knox, Los Angeles |
Offensive Player of the Year | O. J. Simpson, running back, Buffalo |
Defensive Player of the Year | Dick Anderson, safety, Miami |
Offensive Rookie of the Year | Chuck Foreman, running back, Minnesota |
Defensive Rookie of the Year | Wally Chambers, defensive tackle, Chicago |
Man of the Year | Len Dawson, quarterback, Kansas City |
Comeback Player of the Year | Roman Gabriel, quarterback, Eagles |
Super Bowl Most Valuable Player | Larry Csonka, running back, Miami |
The Buffalo Bills moved from their original home at War Memorial Stadium and played their first season at Rich Stadium.
From October 7, the New York Giants moved from Yankee Stadium to the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, where they would play the rest of 1973 and all of 1974. The Giants were forced out of Yankee Stadium after it closed to be renovated to a baseball-only venue. Also, a new Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey was already under construction by 1973, but it would not open until 1976.
This was the fourth and final year under the league's broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively. All three networks renewed their deals for another four years.[2]
Through December 1972, all NFL home games (including championship games and Super Bowls) were blacked-out on television in each team's respective city. The first exception was Super Bowl VII in Los Angeles in January 1973; the league changed their policy to black out home games only if tickets had not sold out. This expanded the league's television presence in teams' home cities on gameday.
The policy was put into effect when, in 1972, the Washington Redskins made the playoffs for only the second time in 27 seasons. Because all home games were blacked-out, politicians — including devout football fan President Richard Nixon — were not able to watch their home team win. NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle refused to lift the blackout, despite a plea from Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, who then suggested that the U.S. Congress re-evaluate the NFL's antitrust exemption. Rozelle agreed to lift the blackout for Super Bowl VII on an "experimental basis", but Congress intervened before the 1973 season anyway, passing Public Law 93-107; it eliminated the blackout of games in the home market so long as the game was sold out by 72 hours before kickoff.[3]
With the new rule, the NFL recorded over one million no-shows by ticketholders to regular season games in 1973.[4] On March 23, 2015, the NFL's owners voted to suspend the blackout rules for 2015, meaning that all games would be televised in their home markets, regardless of ticket sales.[5] The blackout rule has been suspended for every subsequent season through 2023.
The Congressional action caused an issue for CBS affiliate KPIX in the Bay Area. For Week 8 of the season, the Oakland Raiders were scheduled to host the New York Giants at Oakland Coliseum while the San Francisco 49ers would travel to Tiger Stadium to play the Detroit Lions. As each game involved an NFC road team, CBS held the rights to both games.
Since it was expected that the Raiders game would be blacked out in the Bay Area in any event, both games were scheduled for the 4:00 EST time slot, an uncontroversial arrangement at the time since it benefited both 49ers fans watching their game on television and Raiders fans attending their game in person. Following the enactment of Public Law 93-107 (and with concepts such as flexible scheduling decades away), KPIX had to decide which game to show once it became obvious the Oakland contest would sell out. Unwilling to sell the rights to either game to an independent station, KPIX (with the approval of CBS and the NFL) announced they would switch between both games, with an intent to screen the most consequential parts of each.
Technical limitations and production miscues led to the effort being widely panned by pundits and fans of both teams. Among other issues, KPIX failed to show the Raiders' opening touchdown while both sets of announcers were frequently cut off mid-sentence. Following the season, NFL schedule makers would ensure similar network conflicts in New York City and the Bay Area (and, later, Los Angeles after the Raiders moved there) were avoided. However, later improvements to technology and production standards would eventually allow the NFL to replicate KPIX's innovation on a national scale, culminating with the successful introduction of NFL Red Zone in 2009.