Trisha Shetty (Editor)

2003 NFL season

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Start date
  
January 3, 2004

NFC Champions
  
Carolina Panthers

Dates
  
4 Sep 2003 – 1 Feb 2004

AFC Champions
  
New England Patriots

Champions
  
New England Patriots

2003 NFL season temptdestinycomimages2003statsgif

Duration
  
September 4 – December 28, 2003

Site
  
Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

Champion
  
Carolina Panthers, New England Patriots

Similar
  
2002 NFL season, 2004 NFL season, 2001 NFL season, 2005 NFL season, 2000 NFL season

The 2003 NFL season was the 84th regular season of the National Football League (NFL).

Contents

The Philadelphia Eagles opened Lincoln Financial Field.

Regular season play was held from September 4, 2003 to December 28, 2003. Due to damage caused by the Cedar Fire, Qualcomm Stadium was used as an emergency shelter, and thus the Miami Dolphins–San Diego Chargers regular season match on October 27 was instead played at Sun Devil Stadium, the home field of the Arizona Cardinals.

The playoffs began on January 3, 2004. The NFL title was eventually won by the New England Patriots when they narrowly defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 in Super Bowl XXXVIII at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on February 1.

Major rule changes

  • If an onside kick inside the final five minutes of the game does not go 10 yards, goes out of bounds, or is touched illegally, the receiving team will have the option of accepting the penalty and getting the ball immediately. Previously, the kicking team was penalized, but had another chance to kick again from five yards back.
  • League officials encouraged networks to immediately cut to a commercial break if an instant replay challenge review was initiated. Previously networks rarely utilized those stoppages for their prescribed commercial periods.

    • Coaching changes

  • Cincinnati Bengals – Marvin Lewis; replaced Dick LeBeau who was fired following the 2002 season.
  • Dallas Cowboys – Bill Parcells; replaced Dave Campo who was fired following the 2002 season.
  • Detroit Lions – Steve Mariucci; replaced Marty Mornhinweg who was fired following the 2002 season.
  • Jacksonville Jaguars – Jack Del Rio; replaced Tom Coughlin who was fired following the 2002 season.
  • San Francisco 49ers – Dennis Erickson; replaced Steve Mariucci who was fired following the 2002 season.

    • Final regular season standings

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

    Clinched playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green. No ties occurred this year.

    Tiebreakers

  • a Indianapolis finished ahead of Tennessee in the AFC South based on better head-to-head record (2–0).
  • b Denver clinched the AFC 6 seed instead of Miami based on better conference record (9–3 to 7–5).
  • c Buffalo finished ahead of N.Y. Jets in the AFC East based on better division record (2–4 to 1–5).
  • d Jacksonville finished ahead of Houston in the AFC South based on better division record (2–4 to 1–5).
  • e Oakland finished ahead of San Diego in the AFC West based on better conference record (3–9 to 2–10).
  • f Philadelphia clinched the NFC 1 seed instead of St. Louis based on better conference record (9–3 to 8–4).
  • g Seattle clinched the NFC 5 seed instead of Dallas based on strength of victory (.406 to .388).

    • 2003 Changes

  • New Orleans Saints – New AstroPlay home turf by midseason.
  • Atlanta Falcons – New Logo. New Uniforms. New FieldTurf surface.
  • Green Bay Packers – New remodel Lambeau Field.
  • Detroit Lions – New Uniforms. added black trim on logo and numbers.
  • Chicago Bears – New remodel Soldier Field.
  • Buffalo Bills – New AstroPlay home turf.
  • Philadelphia Eagles – New stadium; Lincoln Financial Field. And added silver trim to numbers on uniforms. Introduce new home alternative uniforms. black uniforms with white numbers with midnight green shadow in numbers.
  • San Diego Chargers – White pants with road uniforms.
  • New England Patriots – Added third alternative uniforms. Silver uniforms.
  • Miami Dolphins – Added third alternative uniforms. Orange uniforms.
  • Houston Texans – Added third alternative uniforms. Red Uniforms.
  • Cleveland Browns – Added new alternative orange pants last worn in the Kardiac Kids era of coach Sam Rutigliano.
  • Tennessee Titans – Added third alternative uniforms. powder blue.

    • Playoffs

    Within each conference, the four division winners and the two wild card teams (the top two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system, and there are no restrictions regarding teams from the same division matching up in any round. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the third-seeded division winner hosts the sixth seed wild card, and the fourth seed hosts the fifth. The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference then receive a bye in the first round. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosts the worst surviving seed from the first round (seed 4, 5 or 6), while the number 2 seed will play the other team (seed 3, 4 or 5). The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the fourth and final round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference.

    * Indicates overtime victory ** Indicates double overtime victory

    Milestones

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

    References

    2003 NFL season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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