1983 NFL season


The 1983 NFL season was the 64th regular season of the National Football League. The Colts played their final season in Baltimore before the team's [Baltimore Indianapolis Colts|Colts relocation to Indianapolis|relocation] to Indianapolis the following season. The season ended with Super Bowl XVIII when the [1983 1983 Los Angeles Raiders season|Los Angeles Raiders season|Los Angeles Raiders] defeated the Washington Redskins 38–9 at Tampa Stadium in Florida.

Player movement

Trades

Retirements

Draft

The 1983 NFL draft was held from April 26 to 27, 1983, at New York City's Sheraton Hotel. With the first pick, the Baltimore Colts selected quarterback John Elway from Stanford University.

Major rule changes

  • In the last 30 seconds of a half, with the defensive team behind with no more time outs, a defensive foul cannot prevent the half from ending except for the normal options that are available to the offensive team.
  • Pass interference will not be called if there was incidental contact, or if players make simultaneous attempts to catch, tip, block, or bat the ball.
  • Players may not use a helmet, that is no longer worn by anyone, as a weapon to strike or hit an opponent; they risk disqualification if they do. This rule was instituted after Raiders defensive end Lyle Alzado swung a helmet at New York Jets tackle Chris Ward during a playoff game the previous season.

1983 deaths

Division races

From to and this season to, ten teams qualified for the playoffs: the winners of each of the divisions, and two wild-card teams in each conference. The two wild cards would meet for the right to face whichever of the three division winners had the best overall record. The tiebreaker rules were based on head-to-head competition, followed by division records, common opponents records, and conference play.

Regular season

Scheduling formula

Highlights of the 1983 season included:
  • Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 24, featuring Pittsburgh at [1983 1983 Detroit Lions season|Detroit Lions season|Detroit] and St. Louis at [1983 1983 Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas], with Detroit and Dallas winning.

Tiebreakers

  • Los Angeles Raiders was the first AFC seed over Miami based on head-to-head victory.
  • Seattle was the first AFC Wild Card ahead of Denver based on better division record after Cleveland was eliminated from the three-way tie based on head-to-head record.
  • New England finished ahead of Buffalo in the AFC East based on head-to-head sweep.
  • Baltimore finished ahead of N.Y. Jets in the AFC East based on better conference record.
  • San Diego finished ahead of Kansas City in the AFC West based on head-to-head sweep.
  • Minnesota ended up in fourth place in the NFC Central after being eliminated from the three-way tie based on conference record.
  • Green Bay finished ahead of Chicago in the NFC Central based on better record against common opponents.

Notable events

Milestones

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

Coaching changes

Offseason

In-season

Stadium changes

Schaefer Stadium is renamed Sullivan Stadium after New England Patriots founder and owner Billy Sullivan

Uniform changes

  • The New Orleans Saints' jersey numbers were slightly modified, adding a thin inner border which matched the jersey color between the gold outer border and the number itself, similar to the numbers on the San Diego Chargers' jerseys.
  • The Seattle Seahawks revised their jerseys for the first time since joining the NFL in 1976. The new jerseys moved the TV numbers from the sleeves to the shoulders, with the helmet logo duplicated on the sleeves and the jersey collars gaining striping trim; the socks also became solid blue. The face masks also changed from gray to blue.
  • The Washington Redskins reversed their helmet logo modification of 1982, when the feathers hanging from the portrait of the Native American were curved instead of straight, which they were from 1972-81. Washington kept the 1972 logo until retiring the Redskins nickname and all Native American imagery prior to the 2020 season.

Television

This was the second year under the league's five-year broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively.
O. J. Simpson replaced Fran Tarkenton as ABC's fill-in color commentator. Howard Cosell then ignited racial controversy during the broadcast of the September 5 MNF game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins when his commentary on Alvin Garrett, an African American wide receiver for Washington, included a reference to "That little monkey". The fallout contributed to Cosell's decision to leave MNF after the season; his final telecast was a special Friday night game between the Jets and Dolphins on December 16.