1998 NFL season

The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League.

1998 National Football League season
Regular season
DurationSeptember 6 – December 28, 1998
Playoffs
Start dateJanuary 2, 1999
AFC ChampionsDenver Broncos
NFC ChampionsAtlanta Falcons
Super Bowl XXXIII
DateJanuary 31, 1999
SitePro Player Stadium, Miami
ChampionsDenver Broncos
Pro Bowl
DateFebruary 7, 1999
SiteAloha Stadium

The season culminated with Super Bowl XXXIII, with the Denver Broncos defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34–19 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. The Broncos had won their first thirteen games, the best start since the undefeated 1972 Dolphins, and were tipped by some to have a realistic chance at winning all nineteen games.[1][2] The Minnesota Vikings became the first team since the 1968 Baltimore Colts to win all but one of their regular season games and not win the Super Bowl. After no team had won 14 regular season games since the 1992 49ers, three teams went 14–2 or better for the only time in a 16-game season.

Football Outsiders noted:

1998 was the last hurrah for the great quarterbacks who came into the league in the 1980s. The top four QBs [statistically] were all over 35: Vinny Testaverde, Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, and John Elway. Troy Aikman, age 32, was fifth. Dan Marino was 11th in his last good year.[3]

Draft

The 1998 NFL Draft was held from April 17 to 18, 1998 at New York City's Theater at Madison Square Garden. With the first pick, the Indianapolis Colts selected quarterback Peyton Manning from the University of Tennessee.

Referee changes

Dale Hamer and Gary Lane returned to head linesman and side judge, respectively. Tony Corrente and Ron Winter were promoted to referee.

Mike Pereira left the field after two seasons as a side judge to become an assistant supervisor of officials. He succeeded Jerry Seeman as Vice President of Officiating in 2001. Pereira's replacement, Terry McAulay, assumed Pereira's old position and uniform number (77). McAulay was promoted to referee in 2001 and was crew chief for three Super Bowls (XXXIX, XLIII and XLVIII).

Major rule changes
  • The officiating position titles of back judge and field judge were swapped to become more consistent with college and high school football. The field judge is now 20 yards deep, positioned on the same sideline as the line judge, while the back judge is 25 yards from the line of scrimmage near the center of the field.
  • Tinted visors on players' facemasks are banned except for medical need.
  • A defensive player can no longer flinch before the snap in an attempt to draw movement from an offensive lineman.
  • A team will be penalized immediately for having 12 players in a huddle even if the 12th player goes straight to the sideline as the huddle breaks.
  • During the season, the rules regarding the coin toss were changed to where the visiting team must make the call before the coin is tossed instead of while it was in the air. On Thanksgiving, the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions went to overtime. During the coin toss, Steelers running back Jerome Bettis was heard calling "tails" but referee Phil Luckett claimed he said "heads". The coin landed on tails, and the Lions won the toss and eventually the game on a Jason Hanson field goal. It was later revealed that Bettis had changed his mind during the call and was originally going to call "heads" but stopped.[4] Thus, the rule change was adopted to prevent any further confusion.

Preseason

Hall of Fame Game

The 1998 Hall of Fame Class included Paul Krause, Tommy McDonald, Anthony Muñoz, an offensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals, Mike Singletary, a member of the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX championship team, and Dwight Stephenson, a Pro Bowl offensive lineman with the Miami Dolphins.

Regular season

Scheduling formula

    Inter-conference
AFC East vs NFC West
AFC Central vs NFC Central
AFC West vs NFC East

Highlights of the 1998 season included:

  • Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 26, featuring the Pittsburgh at Detroit and Minnesota at Dallas, with Detroit and Minnesota winning. The Pittsburgh-Detroit game is notable for going into overtime, where Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis called the coin toss in the air, but referee Phil Luckett awarded Detroit the ball after Bettis tried to call both heads and tails at the same time. The Lions went on to kick a field goal on the first possession, winning 19–16. In the other game, Minnesota rookie receiver Randy Moss caught three touchdowns, all of over 50 yards in a 46–36 win.

Final standings

Tiebreakers
  • Miami finished ahead of Buffalo in the AFC East based on better net division points (6 to Bills’ 0).
  • Oakland finished ahead of Seattle in the AFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
  • Carolina finished ahead of St. Louis in the NFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).

Playoffs
Main article: 1998–99 NFL playoffs
Jan. 3 – Alltel Stadium Jan. 10 – Giants Stadium
6 New England 10
3 Jacksonville 24
3 Jacksonville 25 Jan. 17 – Mile High Stadium
2 NY Jets 34
AFC
Jan. 2 – Pro Player Stadium 2 NY Jets 10
Jan. 9 – Mile High Stadium
1 Denver 23
5 Buffalo 17 AFC Championship
4 Miami 3
4 Miami 24 Jan. 31 – Pro Player Stadium
1 Denver 38
Wild Card playoffs
Divisional playoffs
Jan. 3 – 3Com Park A1 Denver 34
Jan. 9 – Georgia Dome
N2 Atlanta 19
5 Green Bay 27 Super Bowl XXXIII
4 San Francisco 18
4 San Francisco 30 Jan. 17 – Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
2 Atlanta 20
NFC
Jan. 2 – Texas Stadium 2 Atlanta 30*
Jan. 10 – Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
1 Minnesota 27
6 Arizona 20 NFC Championship
6 Arizona 21
3 Dallas 7
1 Minnesota 41


* Indicates overtime victory

Statistical leaders

Team
Points scoredMinnesota Vikings (556)
Total yards gainedSan Francisco 49ers (6,800)
Yards rushingSan Francisco 49ers (2,544)
Yards passingMinnesota Vikings (4,328)
Fewest points allowedMiami Dolphins (265)
Fewest total yards allowedSan Diego Chargers (4,208)
Fewest rushing yards allowedSan Diego Chargers (1,140)
Fewest passing yards allowedPhiladelphia Eagles (2,720)

Individual
ScoringGary Anderson, Minnesota (164 points)
TouchdownsTerrell Davis, Denver (23 TDs)
Most field goals madeAl Del Greco, Tennessee (36 FGs)
RushingTerrell Davis, Denver (2,008 yards)
PassingRandall Cunningham, Minnesota, (106.0 rating)
Passing touchdownsSteve Young, San Francisco (36 TDs)
Pass receivingO.J. McDuffie, Miami (90 catches)
Pass receiving yardsAntonio Freeman, Green Bay (1,424)
Receiving touchdownsRandy Moss, Minnesota (17 touchdowns)
Punt returnsDeion Sanders, Dallas (15.6 average yards)
Kickoff returnsTerry Fair, Detroit (28.0 average yards)
InterceptionsTy Law, New England (8)
PuntingCraig Hentrich, Tennessee (47.2 average yards)
SacksMichael Sinclair, Seattle (16.5)

Awards
Most Valuable PlayerTerrell Davis, Running back, Denver
Coach of the YearDan Reeves, Atlanta
Offensive Player of the YearTerrell Davis, Running back, Denver
Defensive Player of the YearReggie White, Defensive end, Green Bay
Offensive Rookie of the YearRandy Moss, Wide receiver, Minnesota
Defensive Rookie of the YearCharles Woodson, Cornerback, Oakland
NFL Comeback Player of the YearDoug Flutie, Quarterback, Buffalo
NFL Man of the YearDan Marino, Quarterback, Miami
Super Bowl Most Valuable PlayerJohn Elway, Quarterback, Denver

Coaching changes

Stadium changes

New uniforms
  • The Baltimore Ravens began wearing their white pants instead of black with their white jerseys
  • The Detroit Lions wore blue pants and silver-topped socks with their white jerseys for this season only
  • The Jacksonville Jaguars removed the black side panels on uniforms
  • The New York Jets unveiled a modernized version of the team's classic design and logo used from 1964-77
  • The San Diego Chargers returned to navy pants with their white jerseys
  • The San Francisco 49ers switched from white to gold pants

Television

This was the first season that CBS held the rights to televise American Football Conference games, taking over the package from NBC. Meanwhile, this was the first time that ESPN broadcast all of the Sunday night games throughout the season (this was also the first season in which ESPN's coverage used the Monday Night Football themes, before reverting to using an original theme in 2001). This was also the first season where the late games kicked off at 4:05pm ET & 4:15pm ET (replacing the original 4:00pm ET start time), to give more time to finish the early games before the start of the late games. The 4:15 start time would last until 2011.

References
  1. "New York eyes 19–0, but there's no rush" in Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 16, 1998
  2. Freeman, Mike; "Chasing Perfection and Taking Questions; Voluble Broncos Are 13–0 and Ready to Talk" in The New York Times, December 9, 1998
  3. 1998 DVOA Ratings and Commentary
  4. Pincus, David (November 26, 2010). "11/26/1998 - The Turkey Day coin flip". sbnation.com. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
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