1977 NFL season


The 1977 NFL season was the 58th regular season of the National Football League. The two second-year expansion teams switched conferences, with the Seattle Seahawks moving from the NFC West to the AFC West, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers transferring from the AFC West to the NFC Central.
Instead of a [NFL on NFL on Thanksgiving Day|Thanksgiving Day|traditional Thanksgiving Day game] hosted by the Dallas Cowboys, the league scheduled a [1977 1977 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins season|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. It marked the last time that the Cowboys did not play on Thanksgiving.
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. It was also the final season of the eight-team playoff field in the NFL, before going to ten the following season.
The 1977 season is considered the last season of the "Dead Ball Era" of professional football. The 17.2 average points scored per team per game was the lowest since 1942, and it was the only post-merger NFL season where no player surpassed 1,000 receiving yards. For 1978, the league made significant changes to allow greater offensive production.
The season ended with Super Bowl XII when the Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos 27-10.

Player movement

Transactions

  • May 2, 1977: Earl Morrall, the oldest player on the [1972 1977 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins season|1972 Miami Dolphins] championship roster announced his retirement from professional football.

Draft

The 1977 NFL draft was held from May 3 to 4, 1977, at New York City's Roosevelt Hotel. With the first pick, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected running back Ricky Bell from the University of Southern California.

New referees

Tommy Bell retired after the 1976 season. His line judge, Jerry Markbreit, was named his successor. Bell worked two Super Bowls, III and VII. Markbreit would work four Super Bowls, and is the only referee to achieve this.

Major rule changes

  • The head slap is outlawed. This change is referred to as the "Deacon Jones Rule"; the Los Angeles 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 was a record-breaking placekicker whose modified shoe 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.
  • This was the first season in which time of possession was recorded.

Deaths

Division races

Tampa Bay and Seattle continued as "swing" teams that did not participate in regular conference play. Every other NFL team played a home-and-away series against the other members in its division, two or 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 through 2001, except for the strike-shortened 1982 season, there were three divisions in each conference. This was the final season in which 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, common opponents records, and conference play.
National Football Conference
WeekEasternCentralWesternWild Card
13 teams1–01–0Atlanta1–03 teams1–0
2Dallas2–04 teams1–1Atlanta*1–18 teams1–1
3Dallas3–0[1977 1977 Minnesota Vikings season|Minnesota Vikings season|Minnesota]2–1*Atlanta2–13 teams2–1
4Dallas4–0Minnesota3–1Atlanta3–1[1977 1977 Washington Redskins season|Washington Redskins season|Washington]3–1
5Dallas5–0Minnesota4–1Atlanta*3–23 teams3–2
6Dallas6–0Minnesota4–2Atlanta*4–2Los Angeles4–2
7Dallas7–0Minnesota5–2Atlanta*4–3St. Louis*4–3
8Dallas8–0Minnesota5–3Los Angeles5–3St. Louis*5–3
9Dallas8–1Minnesota6–3Los Angeles6–3St. Louis*6–3
10Dallas8–2Minnesota6–4Los Angeles7–3St. Louis7–3
11Dallas9–2Minnesota7–4Los Angeles8–3St. Louis7–4
12Dallas10–2Minnesota8–4Los Angeles8–4St. Louis*7–5
13Dallas11–2Chicago*8–5Los Angeles10–3Washington*8–5
14Dallas12–2Minnesota*9–5Los Angeles10–4[1977 1977 Chicago Bears season|Chicago Bears season|Chicago]*9–5

* other teams with same W-L record
American Football Conference
WeekEasternCentralWesternWild Card
11–03 teams1–01–05 teams1–0
22–02–02–03 teams2–0–0
33–0Cleveland*2–13–02 teams3–0
4Baltimore4–0Houston3–14–02 teams4–0
5Baltimore5–0Pittsburgh*3–2Denver5–0Oakland*4–1
6Baltimore*5–1Pittsburgh*3–2Denver6–0Oakland*5–1
7Baltimore6–1Cleveland5–2Oakland*6–1Denver6–1
8Baltimore7–1Cleveland5–3Oakland*7–1Denver7–1
9Baltimore8–1Pittsburgh*5–4Oakland*8–1Denver8–1
10Baltimore9–1Pittsburgh*6–4Denver9–1Oakland8–2
11Baltimore*9–2Pittsburgh7–4Denver10–1Oakland9–2
12Baltimore*9–3Pittsburgh8–4Denver11–1Oakland9–3
13Baltimore*9–4Pittsburgh*8–5Denver12–1Oakland10–3
14Baltimore*10–4Pittsburgh9–5Denver12–2Oakland11–3

* other teams with same W-L record

Regular season

Highlights of the 1977 season included:
  • Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 24:
  1. The first featured Chicago at Detroit. Chicago would prevail by a 31–14 final margin
  2. In the second the Miami Dolphins visited St. Louis to play the Cardinals, defeating them by a 55–14 mark. Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese would throw for six touchdown passes, while the Dolphins would set a franchise record for most points scored in one game with 55. Of note, the Dolphins would score eight touchdowns and accumulate 34 first downs.

Tiebreakers

  • Baltimore finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on better conference record.
  • N.Y. Jets finished ahead of Buffalo in the AFC East based on better point-differential in head-to-head competition.
  • Houston finished ahead of Cincinnati in the AFC Central based on better point-differential in head-to-head competition.
  • Minnesota finished ahead of Chicago in the NFC Central based on better point-differential in head-to-head competition.
  • Chicago won the NFC Wild Card over Washington based on better net points in conference games.
  • Philadelphia finished ahead of N.Y. Giants in the NFC East based on head-to-head sweep.

Coaching changes

Offseason

In-season

Uniform changes

  • The Buffalo Bills changed from gray to blue face masks.
  • The Pittsburgh Steelers changed from gray to black facemasks.
  • The Tampa Bay Buccaneers changed the color scheme of the numbers on their white jerseys. In 1976, the numbers were orange with red trim; in 1977, they became red with orange trim to increase visibility.

Television

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. Don Meredith returned to ABC after spending three seasons at NBC, while Alex Karras returned to his acting career. John Brodie was promoted to replace Meredith as NBC's lead color commentator, while Merlin Olsen replaced Brodie on the network's #2 team. NBC also renamed its pregame show, referring to it as NFL '77 to start and updating the program's title every new season.