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Information About

2001 Nfl Season




  NFLchampion New England Patriots
  Regular Season September 9 , 2001 - January 7 , 2002
  Playoffs Start January 12 , 2002
  Sb Name XXXVI
  Sb Date February 3 , 2002
  Sb Site Louisiana Superdome , New Orleans, Louisiana
  Pb Date February 10 , 2002


The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd Regular Season of the National Football League . In the wake of the September 11 Attacks , the games for September 16 - September 17 were postponed and re-scheduled to the weekend of January 6 - January 7 . In order to retain the full playoff format, all playoff games, including the Super Bowl were re-scheduled one week later. The season-ending Pro Bowl was also moved one week later. This was the last season before the 2002 Realignment , in which the AFC Central and the NFC Central were either renamed or divided.

Canceling the games scheduled for Sept. 16-17 was considered and rejected. That would have canceled a home game for about half the teams of the league, and also would have resulted in an unequal number of games played (Sept. 16-17 was to have been San Diego's bye week, so that team would still have played 16 games that season and each of the other teams would have played only 15 games).

As a result of rescheduling Week 2 as Week 18, the ESPN Sunday night primetime game for that week was changed. It was originally scheduled to be Cleveland at Pittsburgh , but it was replaced with Philadelphia at Tampa Bay , which was seen as a more interesting matchup.

The season ended with Super Bowl XXXVI when the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams .


MAJOR RULE CHANGES

  • Fumble recoveries will be awarded at the spot of the recovery, not where the player's momentum carries him.

  • Taunting rules will be strictly enforced.

  • Roughing the passer will be strictly enforced.



FINAL STANDINGS

''W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against''







Tiebreakers

  • New England finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on better division record (6-2 to Dolphins' 5-3).

  • Cleveland finished ahead of Tennessee in the AFC Central based on better division record (5-5 to Titans' 3-7).

  • Jacksonville finished ahead of Cincinnati in the AFC Central based on head-to-head sweep (2-0).

  • N.Y. Giants finished ahead of Arizona in the NFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2-0).

  • New Orleans finished ahead of Atlanta in the NFC West based on better division record (4-4 to Falcons' 3-5).

  • Baltimore was the second AFC Wild Card based on better record against common opponents (3-2 to Jets' 2-2).

  • Green Bay was the first NFC Wild Card based on better conference record (9-3 to 49ers' 8-4).



PLAYOFFS

See Also: NFL playoffs, 2001-02


Home team in capitals


AFC

  • Wild-Card playoffs: OAKLAND 38, N.Y. Jets 24; Baltimore 20, MIAMI 3

  • Divisional playoffs: NEW ENGLAND 16, Oakland 13 (OT); PITTSBURGH 27, Baltimore 10

  • AFC Championship: New England 24, PITTSBURGH 17 at Heinz Field , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , January 27 , 2002

  • NFC

  • Wild-Card playoffs: PHILADELPHIA 31, Tampa Bay 9; GREEN BAY 25, San Francisco 15

  • Divisional playoffs: Philadelphia 33, CHICAGO 19; ST. LOUIS 45, Green Bay 17

  • NFC Championship: ST. LOUIS 29, Philadelphia 24 at Edward Jones Dome , St. Louis, Missouri , January 27 , 2002



Super Bowl

  • Super Bowl XXXVI: New England (AFC) 20, St. Louis (NFC) 17 at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 3 , 2002



MILESTONES

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

  • - Sacks have only been compiled since 1982 .



STATISTICAL LEADERS


Team



Individual



AWARDS



REFERENCES