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1982 National Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 12, 1982 – January 3, 1983
A player's strike shortened the regular season to 9 games.
Playoffs
Start date January 8, 1983
AFC Champions Miami Dolphins
NFC Champions Washington Redskins
Super Bowl XVII
Date January 30, 1983
Site Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
Champions Washington Redskins
Pro Bowl
Date February 6, 1983
Site Aloha Stadium
National Football League seasons
 < 1981 1983 > 

The 1982 NFL season was the 63rd regular season of the National Football League. A 57-day long players' strike reduced the 1982 season from a 16-game schedule per team to an abbreviated nine game schedule. Because of the shortened season, the NFL adopted a special 16-team playoff tournament; division standings were ignored (although each division did send at least one team to the playoffs). Eight teams from each conference were seeded 1-8 based on their regular season records. Two teams qualified for the playoffs despite losing records. The season ended with Super Bowl XVII when the Washington Redskins defeated the Miami Dolphins.

Before the season, a verdict was handed down against the league in the trial brought by the Oakland Raiders and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum back in 1980. The jury ruled that the NFL violated antitrust laws when it declined to approve the proposed move by the team from Oakland, California to Los Angeles. Thus, the league was forced to let the officially renamed Los Angeles Raiders play in the second largest city in the United States.

For the start of the 1982 season, the Minnesota Vikings moved from Metropolitan Stadium to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.

Major rule changes[]

  • The penalty for incidental grabbing of a facemask that is committed by the defensive team is changed from 5 yards and an automatic first down to just 5 yards.
  • The penalties for illegally kicking, batting, or punching the ball are changed from 15 yards to 10 yards.
  • The league discontinued the 1979 numbering system for officials, with officials numbered separately by position, and reverted back to the original system where each NFL official was assigned a different number. Also the officials' position was now abbreviated on the back of the uniform instead of being spelled out.

Final 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

AFC
Team W L T PCT PF PA
(1) Los Angeles Raiders 8 1 0 .889 260 200
(2) Miami Dolphins 7 2 0 .778 198 131
(3) Cincinnati Bengals 7 2 0 .778 232 177
(4) Pittsburgh Steelers 6 3 0 .667 204 146
(5) San Diego Chargers 6 3 0 .667 288 221
(6) New York Jets 6 3 0 .667 245 166
(7) New England Patriots 5 4 0 .556 143 157
(8) Cleveland Browns 4 5 0 .444 140 182
Buffalo Bills 4 5 0 .444 150 154
Seattle Seahawks 4 5 0 .444 127 147
Kansas City Chiefs 3 6 0 .333 176 184
Denver Broncos 2 7 0 .222 148 226
Houston Oilers 1 8 0 .111 136 245
Baltimore Colts 0 8 1 .056 113 236
NFC
Team W L T PCT PF PA
(1) Washington Redskins 8 1 0 .889 190 128
(2) Dallas Cowboys 6 3 0 .667 226 145
(3) Green Bay Packers 5 3 1 .611 226 169
(4) Minnesota Vikings 5 4 0 .556 187 198
(5) Atlanta Falcons 5 4 0 .556 183 199
(6) St. Louis Cardinals 5 4 0 .556 135 170
(7) Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5 4 0 .556 158 178
(8) Detroit Lions 4 5 0 .444 181 176
New Orleans Saints 4 5 0 .444 129 160
New York Giants 4 5 0 .444 164 160
San Francisco 49ers 3 6 0 .333 209 206
Chicago Bears 3 6 0 .333 141 174
Philadelphia Eagles 3 6 0 .333 191 195
Los Angeles Rams 2 7 0 .222 200 250


Tiebreakers[]

  • AFC
    • Miami finished ahead of Cincinnati based on better conference record (6-1 to Bengals' 6-2).
    • Pittsburgh finished ahead of San Diego based on better record against common opponents (3-1 to Chargers' 2-1) after N.Y. Jets were eliminated from three-way tie based on conference record (Pittsburgh and San Diego 5-3 to Jets' 2-3).
    • Cleveland finished ahead of Buffalo and Seattle based on better conference record (4-3 to Bills' 3-3 to Seahawks' 3-5).
    • Buffalo finished ahead of Seattle based on better conference record (3-3 to Seahawks' 3-5).
  • NFC
    • Minnesota (4-1), Atlanta (4-3), St. Louis (5-4), Tampa Bay (3-3) seeds were determined by best won-lost record in conference games.
    • Detroit finished ahead of New Orleans and the N.Y. Giants based on best conference record (4-4 to Saints' 3-5 to Giants' 3-5).
    • San Francisco finished ahead of Chicago, and Chicago finished ahead of Philadelphia, based on conference record (49ers' 2-3 to Bears' 2-5 to Eagles' 1-5).

Playoffs[]

First Round Second Round Conf. Championship Games Super Bowl XVII
                           
January 9 - Riverfront Stadium            
 6) N.Y. Jets  44
January 15 - L.A. Memorial Coliseum
 3) Cincinnati  17  
 6) N.Y. Jets  17
January 8 - L.A. Memorial Coliseum
   1) L.A. Raiders  14  
 8) Cleveland  10
January 23 - Miami Orange Bowl
 1) L.A. Raiders  27  
 6) N.Y. Jets  0
January 9 - Three Rivers Stadium
   2) Miami  14  
 5) San Diego  31
January 16 - Miami Orange Bowl
 4) Pittsburgh  28  
 5) San Diego  14
January 8 - Miami Orange Bowl
   2) Miami  34  
 7) New England  13
January 30 - Rose Bowl
 2) Miami  28  
 A2) Miami  17
January 8 - Lambeau Field
   N1) Washington  27
 6) St. Louis  16
January 16 - Texas Stadium
 3) Green Bay  41  
 3) Green Bay  26
January 9 - Texas Stadium
   2)Dallas  37  
 7) Tampa Bay  17
January 22 - RFK Stadium
 2) Dallas  30  
 2) Dallas  17
January 9 - Metrodome
   1) Washington  31  
 5) Atlanta  24
January 15 - RFK Stadium
 4) Minnesota  30  
 4) Minnesota  7
January 8 - RFK Stadium
   1) Washington  21  
 8) Detroit  7
 1) Washington  31  

Bold type indicates the winning team.

Until this season, no team ever reached the post-season with a losing record. The Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions both made playoff appearances with 4-5 records. It would be 28 years before another team with a losing record would make the post-season.[1]

Awards[]

Most Valuable Player Mark Moseley, Placekicker, Washington
Coach of the Year Joe Gibbs, Washington
Offensive Player of the Year Dan Fouts, Quarterback, San Diego
Defensive Player of the Year Lawrence Taylor, Linebacker, N.Y. Giants
Offensive Rookie of the Year Marcus Allen, Running Back, L.A. Raiders
Defensive Rookie of the Year Chip Banks, Linebacker, Cleveland

References[]

  1. [citation needed]
1982 NFL seasonv · d · e
AFC East Central West East Central West NFC
Baltimore Cincinnati Denver Dallas Chicago Atlanta
Buffalo Cleveland Kansas City NY Giants Detroit LA Rams
Miami Houston LA Raiders Philadelphia Green Bay New Orleans
New England Pittsburgh San Diego St. Louis Minnesota San Francisco
NY Jets Seattle Washington Tampa Bay
1982 NFL Draft1982 NFL strikeNFL PlayoffsPro BowlSuper Bowl XVII
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