1977 NFL season

1977 National Football League season
Regular season
Duration	September 18, 1977 - December 18, 1977
Playoffs
Start date	December 24, 1977
AFC Champions	Denver Broncos
NFC Champions	Dallas Cowboys
Super Bowl XII
Date	January 15, 1978
Site	Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
Champions	Dallas Cowboys
Pro Bowl
Date	January 23, 1978
National Football League seasons  < 1976 1978 >

The 1977 NFL season was the 58th regular season of the National Football League. The Seattle Seahawks were placed in the AFC West while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were slotted in the NFC Central.

Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving Day game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys, the league scheduled a Miami Dolphins at St. Louis Cardinals contest. This would be only the second season since 1966 that the Cowboys did not play on that holiday.

This was the last NFL regular season with 14 games. The regular season was expanded to 16 games in 1978, with the preseason reduced from six games to four.

The season ended with Super Bowl XII when the Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos.

Contents 1 Major rule changes 2 Division races 3 Final standings 3.1 Tiebreakers 4 Playoffs 5 References

Major rule changes

• The head slap is outlawed. This change is referred to as the "Deacon Jones Rule"; the Rams defensive end frequently used this technique.
• Any shoe worn by a player with an artificial limb must have a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe. Informally referred to as the "Tom Dempsey Rule." Dempsey is a record-breaking placekicker whose modified shoe (having a flattened and enlarged toe area) on his deformed kicking foot generated controversy during his career.
• Defenders are only permitted to make contact with receivers once.
• Defenders are not allowed to make contact with an opponent above the shoulders with the palms of their hands, except to ward him off the line.
• Offensive linemen are not allowed to thrust their hands to a defender's neck, face, or head.
• Wide receivers are not allowed to clip defenders.

Division races

Tampa Bay and Seattle continued as "swing" teams that didn't participate in regular conference play. Every other NFL team played a home-and-away series against the other members in its division, three interconference games, and the remainder of their 14 game schedule against other conference teams. Tampa Bay switched to the NFC and played the other 13 members of the conference, while Seattle did the same in the AFC. The teams met in Week Five, with Seattle winning 30-23.

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 tiebraker rules were changed to start with head-to-head competition, followed by division records, common opponents records, and conference play.

National Football Conference

Week	Eastern		Central		Western		Wild Card
1	3 teams	1-0	(Chi, GB)	1-0	ATLANTA	1-0	3 teams	1-0
2	DALLAS	2-0	4 teams	1-1	ATLANTA*	1-1	8 teams	1-1
3	DALLAS	3-0	MINNESOTA	2-1*	ATLANTA	2-1	3 teams	2-1
4	DALLAS	4-0	MINNESOTA	3-1	ATLANTA	3-1	WASHINGTON	3-1
5	DALLAS	5-0	MINNESOTA	4-1	ATLANTA*	3-2	3 teams	3-2
6	DALLAS	6-0	MINNESOTA	4-2	ATLANTA*	4-2	LOS ANGELES	4-2
7	DALLAS	7-0	MINNESOTA	5-2	ATLANTA*	4-3	ST. LOUIS*	4-3
8	DALLAS	8-0	MINNESOTA	5-3	LOS ANGELES	5-3	ST. LOUIS*	5-3
9	DALLAS	8-1	MINNESOTA	6-3	LOS ANGELES	6-3	ST. LOUIS*	6-3
10	DALLAS	8-2	MINNESOTA	6-4	LOS ANGELES	7-3	ST. LOUIS	7-3
11	DALLAS	9-2	MINNESOTA	7-4	LOS ANGELES	8-3	ST. LOUIS	7-4
12	DALLAS	10-2	MINNESOTA	8-4	LOS ANGELES	8-4	ST. LOUIS*	7-5
13	DALLAS	11-2	CHICAGO*	8-5	LOS ANGELES	10-3	WASHINGTON*	8-5
14	DALLAS	12-2	MINNESOTA*	9-5	LOS ANGELES	10-4	CHICAGO*	9-5

* other teams with same W-L record

American Football Conference

Week	Eastern		Central		Western		Wild Card
1	(Bal, Mia)	1-0	3 teams	1-0	(Den, Oak)	1-0	5 teams	1-0
2	(Bal, Mia)	2-0	(Cle, Hou)	2-0	(Den, Oak)	2-0	3 teams	2-0-0
3	(Bal, Mia)	3-0	CLEVELAND*	2-1	(Den, Oak)	3-0	2 teams	3-0
4	BALTIMORE	4-0	HOUSTON	3-1	(Den, Oak)	4-0	2 teams	4-0
5	BALTIMORE	5-0	PITTSBURGH*	3-2	DENVER	5-0	OAKLAND*	4-1
6	BALTIMORE*	5-1	PITTSBURGH*	3-2	DENVER	6-0	OAKLAND*	5-1
7	BALTIMORE	6-1	CLEVELAND	5-2	OAKLAND*	6-1	DENVER	6-1
8	BALTIMORE	7-1	CLEVELAND	5-3	OAKLAND*	7-1	DENVER	7-1
9	BALTIMORE	8-1	PITTSBURGH*	5-4	OAKLAND*	8-1	DENVER	8-1
10	BALTIMORE	9-1	PITTSBURGH*	6-4	DENVER	9-1	OAKLAND	8-2
11	BALTIMORE*	9-2	PITTSBURGH	7-4	DENVER	10-1	OAKLAND	9-2
12	BALTIMORE*	9-3	PITTSBURGH	8-4	DENVER	11-1	OAKLAND	9-3
13	BALTIMORE*	9-4	PITTSBURGH*	8-5	DENVER	12-1	OAKLAND	10-3
14	BALTIMORE*	10-4	PITTSBURGH	9-5	DENVER	12-2	OAKLAND	11-3

* other teams with same W-L record

Final standings

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

  x  - clinched wild card berth,   y  - clinched division title

Tiebreakers

• Baltimore finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on better conference record (9-3 to Dolphins' 8-4).
• Buffalo finished ahead of N.Y. Jets in the AFC East based on better strength of schedule (.582 to Jets' .536).
• Cincinnati finished ahead of Houston in the AFC Central based on better division record (6-3 to Oilers' 5-4).
• Minnesota finished ahead of Chicago in the NFC Central based on fewer losses by common opponents (11 losses to 14 losses by the Bears' opponents).
• Chicago won the NFC Wild Card over Washington based on better net points in conference games (48 to Redskins' 4).
• Philadelphia finished ahead of N.Y. Giants in the NFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2-0).

Playoffs

Main article: NFL playoffs, 1977-78

	Divisional Playoffs				Conf. Championship Games				Super Bowl XII
	December 26 - L.A. Memorial Coliseum
	3) Minnesota Vikings	14
					January 1 - Texas Stadium
	2) Los Angeles Rams	7
					3) Minnesota Vikings	6
	December 26 - Texas Stadium
					1) Dallas Cowboys	23
	4) Chicago Bears	7
									January 15 - Louisiana Superdome
	1) Dallas Cowboys	37
									N1) Dallas Cowboys	27
	December 24 - Memorial Stadium
									A1) Denver Broncos	10
	4) Oakland Raiders (2OT)	37
					January 1 - Mile High Stadium
	2)* Baltimore Colts	31
					4) Oakland Raiders	17
	December 24 - Mile High Stadium
					1) Denver Broncos	20
	3) Pittsburgh Steelers	21
	1)* Denver Broncos	34

*Denver (the AFC 1 seed) did not play Oakland (the 4 seed) in the Divisional playoff round because both teams were in the same division.

References

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1971-1980 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
• 1977 season in details
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)

1977 NFL season v • d • e
AFC	East	Central	West	NFC	East	Central	West
	Baltimore	Cincinnati	Denver		Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
	Buffalo	Cleveland	Kansas City		NY Giants	Detroit	Los Angeles
	Miami	Houston	Oakland		Philadelphia	Green Bay	New Orleans
	New England	Pittsburgh	San Diego		St. Louis	Minnesota	San Francisco
	NY Jets		Seattle		Washington	Tampa Bay
1977 NFL Draft • NFL Playoffs • Pro Bowl • Super Bowl XII

v • d • e National Football League seasons Early Era (1920-1969) 1920 • 1921 • 1922 • 1923 • 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1928 • 1929 1930 • 1931 • 1932 • 1933 • 1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939 1940 • 1941 • 1942 • 1943 • 1944 • 1945 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 Modern Era (1970-present) 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009

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