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2009 NFL season

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2009 NFL season
The 2009 NFL season marks the 50th season of the eight original charter members of the American Football League
Regular season
DurationSeptember 10, 2009-January 3, 2010
Playoffs
Start dateJanuary 9, 2010
Super Bowl XLIV
DateFebruary 7, 2010
SiteDolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
Pro Bowl
DateJanuary 31, 2010
Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
SiteAloha Stadium

The 2009 NFL Season will be the 90th season of the National Football League, the major professional American football league in the United States. The season will start with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on August 9, 2009,[1] and end with Super Bowl XLIV, the league's championship game, on February 7, 2010 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.[2]

Anniversaries

Fiftieth seasons

American Football League's charter members

This season marks the fiftieth season of the eight original charter members of the American Football League, which began play in 1960 and merged with the NFL in 1970:

The Bills and Jets currently use throwback uniforms as their alternate jerseys. The league currently plans to have the other six teams use a third jersey replicating those from the AFL in their heyday, and have a special anniversary patch on all uniforms.[citation needed]

It will also be the fortieth season since the AFL–NFL merger was officially completed in 1970; it is also the sixtieth anniversary that the AFL's predecessor, the All-America Football Conference, merged with the NFL, adding the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers to the league, though no celebrations are planned for those two teams.

Not taking part are the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals. Miami joined in the 1966 season, and Cincinnati joined in 1968.

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys will celebrate their fiftieth season in 2009 with a special patch on all uniforms.[citation needed] The franchise started out in 1960 with a record of no wins, eleven losses and one tie, but has since gone on to appear in eight Super Bowls (more than any other team), winning five of them, tied for second with the San Francisco 49ers behind only the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Television

CBS will also celebrate its 50th season of NFL coverage, though not consecutive; CBS has covered NFL games from 1956 to 1993 and again from 1998 to the present.

This will also be the fortieth consecutive season that Monday Night Football has been a permanent part of the NFL schedule, though the league had played games on Monday night sporadically before this. Monday Night Football originally aired on ABC before switching to ESPN in 2006, when the two networks' sports operations were merged.

NFL's 90th

The NFL will be staging their 90th season overall; however, anything celebratory is to be announced.

New stadiums

The 2009 season will be the first season for the new stadium of the Dallas Cowboys. It will also be the last one for Giants Stadium, with both the New York Giants and Jets moving into a new stadium for 2010.

Uniforms

After having no major uniform changes for the 2008 NFL season, the trend of at least one major uniform change per season among the 32 teams will return with the San Francisco 49ers changing their uniforms for the 2009 season.[3] Although it is not known if the classic 1964-1995 uniforms will return or if it will be similar to the San Diego Chargers uniform overhaul in 2007 and giving the classic uniforms a modern design, the team has confirmed that it will return to scarlet red & non-metallic "49ers gold" as its team colors, replacing cardinal red and the metallic "49ers gold" as the colors the team adopted when it last overhauled their uniforms in 1996.[4] If the team decides to use a modern design of their classic uniforms, they are expected to keep the classic design as their alternate uniform. The new uniforms will be unveiled on April 25, 2009.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are also rumored to be changing their uniforms for the 2009 season,[5] however the team has yet to confirm this.

Besides the above mentioned throwbacks for the 50th anniversary season of the AFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will also wear their "Creamsicle" throwbacks for at least one game in conjunction with the team beginning the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.[6] The St. Louis Rams will wear their 1973-1999 blue uniforms to remember former owner Georgia Frontiere, who died in early 2008 and the team was already too late to inform the NFL about wearing a throwback for the 2008 season in her honor, and instead opted for the memorial patch for that season instead.[7]

The Detroit Lions will also keep their popular 1950's-era throwbacks as their third uniform and have completely dropped the unpopular black jerseys.[8] The team hadn't worn the throwbacks from 2005-2007 in order to make room for the black jerseys.

Tentative final season of the salary cap

In 2008, NFL owners voted not to continue the current salary cap system after the 2009 season (the vote was 23 in favor, 9 against, though the extension measure needed 24 to pass). An uncapped season will follow in 2010, after which will be the end of current bargaining agreement with the National Football League Players Association.[9]

The salary cap, before team-by-team adjustments, for the 2009 season will be US$127,000,000.

Schedule

The 2009 NFL Draft is scheduled to take place in Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 25–26, 2009.

The 2009 season will begin on September 10, 2009 (under the current scheduling system, this is the latest date the NFL can start its season as the season typically starts the weekend after Labor Day, which falls on its latest possible date in 2009). This will be the eighth and tentatively final year that the league uses its current scheduling rotation. Implemented in 2002, this rotation schedules all teams to play each other at least once every four years and to play in every other team's stadium at least once every eight years (notwithstanding the regular season games played overseas as part of the NFL International Series). At the end of the 2009 season, a decision will be made whether to continue using this same scheduling formula or create a new one.[10] There are also proposals to expand the regular season schedule to 17 or 18 games per team, possibly allowing for all teams to play abroad in the International Series.[11][12]

For the 2009 season, the intraconference and interconference matchups are:

Some details of the 2009 schedule have been released or can be inferred based on precedent:

  • Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. The first preseason game will be held August 9, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. EDT on NBC. The Buffalo Bills will play the Tennessee Titans and both will wear "throwback" jerseys celebrating the two franchises American Football League origins.[13] It is the first time since 1970 that the teams have not been from opposing conferences; also, both Bills owner Ralph Wilson (a 2009 Hall of Fame inductee) and Titans owner Bud Adams have owned their teams continuously since the AFL's inception in 1960, and because of this they are also the longest-tenured team owners in the league.
  • NFL Kickoff Game and opening weekend. The first game of the season will take place on Thursday, September 10, 2009, starting at 8:35 pm EDT, with the Super Bowl XLIII champion Pittsburgh Steelers serving as the home team. The visiting team will be announced on March 22, 2009.[14] Also expected to be revealed on March 22 are the opening-weekend night games; reportedly, all of the major networks have shown an interest in the Dallas Cowboys' home opener in their new stadium, making it a prime candidate for an opening-weekend night game.[15]
  • International Series. The first game announced in the 2009 schedule, this year's game will again be played at Wembley Stadium in London, on October 25, 2009 at 1:00 pm EDT (5:00 pm local time in London), with the New England Patriots playing the designated "home" team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.[16] CBS will televise this game on a regional basis as the Patriots are the "visiting" team.
  • Thanksgiving Day games. These games will take place on Thursday, November 26, 2009. The Dallas Cowboys will host an AFC team, either the San Diego Chargers or the Oakland Raiders at 4:15 p.m. EST on CBS, while the prime time NFL Network game, featuring opponents to be announced, will be featured at 8:15 p.m. EST. Fox holds the rights to the 12:30 p.m. afternoon game, which will feature an NFC team as the away team and the Detroit Lions tentatively as the home team. Poor on-field performance and attendance have increased calls for the Lions to be replaced, particularly in 2008. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said at his annual "State of the League" Press Conference January 30 in Tampa, Florida that the Lions were "grandfathered" into their slot on Thanksgiving Day, though the owners reserve the right to review the Lions' hosting "later in the year," presumably at the owner's meeting.[17]
  • Bills Toronto Series. The second regular-season game of the series, in which the Buffalo Bills play in the Rogers Centre in Template:City-state, is still being planned. While the previous year's game had been played outside of the Canadian Football League (CFL) season, the 2009 game may be played as a doubleheader with a Toronto Argonauts game, although those plans are still in the preliminary stages.[18] No preseason game will be played in this series for 2009.
  • Pro Bowl: The 2010 Pro Bowl will be played on January 31, one week before Super Bowl XLIV, at the same site of the league championship game, Dolphin Stadium in Template:City-state.[19] This will be the first time since 1979 (1978 NFL season) that the Pro Bowl will be held in the Continental United States as opposed to Hawaii. The NFL also announced that the site and date of Pro Bowl games after 2010 will include playing the game on a rotating basis in Honolulu.[19] NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the move was made after looking at alternatives to strengthen the Pro Bowl and to make the end of the season more climactic.[19] As a result of the move, players will not be allowed to play in both the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl in the same year. In addition, ESPN will replace CBS as broadcaster, with kickoff scheduled for 8:05 PM US EST.[20]

The China Bowl, a pre-season game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, would have taken place in Beijing, China. It had been postponed from the 2007 season to 2009, but after the 2008 economic crisis, the Patriots closed their Chinese operations and the game was canceled.[21]

All other games will be scheduled and announced in early April. Of note is whether or not the league will schedule a game or games on Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day. Those two days land on Thursday and Friday of Week 16; the league has been somewhat inconsistent in scheduling games on those days.

Also of note, this season will mark the first time ever that the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will meet in Buffalo in regular season play. In 2002, when the current scheduling formula was arranged, the fact that Buffalo had never hosted Tampa Bay in a then-26-year span was one of the quirks cited in creating the formula. There remains a possibility that the game may not be played in Ralph Wilson Stadium, if the Buccaneers game is chosen for the Toronto Series, but because the Buccaneers are already playing in the International Series that year, the chances of the team playing two games outside the United States in one year are slim.

Coaching changes

The following teams hired new head coaches prior to the start of the 2009 season:

Team 2009 Coach 2008 Coach(es) Reason for leaving Story/Accomplishments
Cleveland Browns Eric Mangini, former head coach of the New York Jets (see below) Romeo Crennel Fired Crennel compiled a 24-40 (.375) record in four seasons as the Browns' head coach. Browns GM Phil Savage was fired at the same time.
Denver Broncos Josh McDaniels, former offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots [22] Mike Shanahan Fired Shanahan, the second-longest tenured head coach in the league (hired in 1995), was relieved of his duties after a 146-91 record (.616), two Super Bowl titles (XXXII and XXXIII), three division titles, and seven playoff appearances in fourteen seasons in Colorado. The Broncos let a three-game division lead slip away over the last month of the 2008 season and missed the playoffs for the third straight year. McDaniels, who has been an offensive and defensive assistant with the Patriots, led the Patriots offense (led by Matt Cassel, who had not started a football game since high school) to an 11-win season in 2008.
Detroit Lions Jim Schwartz, former defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans Rod Marinelli Fired Marinelli was fired after the Lions suffered the worst season in NFL history, a record 0–16 finish, the NFL's first perfectly bad season in 32 years. In three years with the Lions, he compiled a 10–38 (.208) record. (Earlier in the season, team president and general manager Matt Millen had also been sacked.) Schwartz had been with the Titans since 2001, and in 2008, under Schwartz's leadership, the Titans allowed only 14.6 points per game, second in the NFL.
Kansas City Chiefs Todd Haley, former Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Herm Edwards Fired Edwards was released on January 23 by new team president Scott Pioli, who was hired a week earlier. Edwards has been the coach the past two seasons, and during his tenure the Chiefs focused on becoming younger. This lack of experience was reflected in a record of 6–26 (.188) under Edwards the last seasons, after a 9–7 record his first season. Before coming to the Chiefs, Edwards was head coach of the New York Jets for five seasons. Haley, whose high-powered passing offense was the predominant factor in the Cardinals' run to their first ever Super Bowl appearance, was named head coach February 6.
Indianapolis Colts Jim Caldwell, associate head coach and quarterback coach Tony Dungy Retired Dungy retired on January 12, after a 13 year head coaching career that saw him go 148-79 (.652) with Tampa Bay (1996-2001) and Indianapolis (2002-08), including a win in Super Bowl XLI in 2007, beating his friend, Lovie Smith (Chicago Bears coach) and becoming the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl. This followed a 16 year career (1980-95) as a defensive assistant coach in both college football and the NFL.
New York Jets Rex Ryan, former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Eric Mangini Fired Despite an 8-3 start in 2008, the Jets finished the season 1-4, with the only win coming against an equally skidding Buffalo Bills team, leading to Mangini's firing. Mangini coached three seasons with the Jets and compiled a 23-25 (.479) record; he was hired as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns nine days after being released by the Jets. Ryan, one of the two sons of former Jets defensive coach Buddy Ryan, agreed to a four year contract hours following the Ravens' loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.
Oakland Raiders Tom Cable, offensive line coach Lane Kiffin Fired Kiffin was fired September 30, 2008 after 5-15 mark (.250) in 1¼ seasons as coach, and would be named the new coach at University of Tennessee on December 1, replacing Phil Fulmer. Cable, who served as offensive line coach under Kiffin and previously coached the University of Idaho, went 4-8 as interim coach of the Raiders and was retained as coach February 4, 2009.
St. Louis Rams Steve Spagnuolo, former New York Giants defensive coordinator Scott Linehan, Defensive coordinator Jim Haslett (interim for 12 games) Fired Linehan was fired September 29, 2008 after going 11-25 (.306) over 2¼ seasons as coach; after turning down an offer from the San Francisco 49ers to be their offensive coordinator, he took the position of offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions. Haslett went 2-10 as interim coach, but was told he would not be retained on January 15; Haslett has jumped to the United Football League, where he will coach Orlando. Spagnoulo rose to fame after his defense led the Giants to a win in Super Bowl XLII (ruining the New England Patriots' perfect season), and got a four-year contract on January 17 to take over as Rams coach.
San Francisco 49ers Mike Singletary, assistant head coach and linebackers coach who went 5-4 as interim coach in 2008. Mike Nolan Fired Nolan was fired October 20 after an 18-37 mark (.327) over nearly 3½ seasons as coach. Singletary was rewarded with a four-year contract on December 28 following their 27-24 win over the Washington Redskins.
Seattle Seahawks Jim L. Mora, assistant head coach and defensive backs coach and former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Mike Holmgren Retired It was announced that Holmgren would step down as head coach after the 2008 season with Mora as his automatic successor. In his ten years with the Seahawks, Holmgren compiled a record of 90-80 (.529) with six playoff appearances, five division titles, and a conference title (2005).
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Raheem Morris, defensive backs coach Jon Gruden Fired After his arrival from Oakland for two first round and two second round picks an $8 million, Gruden - who was sacked along with general manager Bruce Allen - became the Buccaneers' most successful coach, winning Super Bowl XXXVII over the Raiders in 2003. The team's late season collapse after starting with a 9–3 record and the lead position in the NFC South may have been the main reason for Gruden's firing. In seven seasons with the Buccaneers, Gruden compiled a 57–55 (.509) regular season record and was 3–2 in the playoffs. Morris, who was defensive backs coach, was promoted to defensive coordinator after Monte Kiffin left to join his son Lane at the Univesity of Tennessee.

Television and radio

Further information: NFL on television

This will be the fourth season under the current television contracts with the league's television partners: CBS (all AFC Sunday afternoon away games and one Thanksgiving Day game), FOX (all NFC Sunday afternoon away games and one Thanksgiving Day game), NBC (16 Sunday night games and the kickoff game), ESPN (17 Monday night games over sixteen weeks), NFL Network (eight late-season games on Thursday and Saturday nights, including one Thanksgiving game), and DirecTV.

This will also be the first NFL season after the DTV transition in the United States which was originally scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009, but delayed until June 12. Hawaii made the digital switchover on January 15.[needs update] (Low-power translators will still be allowed to broadcast in analog until at least 2012, and cable providers will continue to distribute analog signals for the foreseeable future.)

In radio, it was reported that the league is exploring ending its contract with Westwood One or perhaps sharing games with another networks due to Westwood One's financial problems. Dial Global's Sports USA Radio Network, Disney's ESPN Radio and American City Business Journals' Sporting News Radio were mentioned as possible partners; Clear Channel's Fox Sports Radio was notably excluded from consideration. Sports USA currently carries Sunday afternoon games by agreement with individual teams, while ESPN carries the NBA and Major League Baseball, the latter causing a potential schedule conflict between Sunday Night Football and Sunday Night Baseball. Sunday night, Monday night, Thanksgiving and all other Thursday and Saturday games are covered by the contract.[23] Of the offers, Westwood One remains the high bidder, ESPN is requesting a longer-term deal while Sporting News is offering a revenue sharing plan in lieu of rights fees; Sports USA is being described as a "long shot."[24]

In Italy, RAI will probably provide coverage of the NFL for the second consecutive year (season games on Rai Sport Più and the Super Bowl on Rai Due).

References

  1. ^ "Bills vs. Titans in 2009 Hall of Fame Game". Pro Football Hall of Fame website. January 31, 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2009.
  2. ^ "Future Super Bowl sites". NFL.com:. Retrieved November 12, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  3. ^ "www.49ers.com". Retrieved February 17, 2009. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  4. ^ Price, Taylor (February 16, 2009). "State of the Franchise a Hit with Fans". Retrieved February 18, 2009.
  5. ^ "\New Uniforms?". Forum.jaguars.com. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
  6. ^ "Bucs to create Ring of Honor, wear orange uniforms in 2009". TampaBay.com. Retrieved March 11, 2009.[dead link]
  7. ^ Thomas, Jim (November 21, 2008). "Rams will wear 1999 'throwbacks' in '09". Stltoday.com. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
  8. ^ Kowalski, Tom (Feb 9, 2009), "Tom Lewand: Lions' black uniforms discarded", MLive.com, retrieved Feb 9, 2009 {{citation}}: Text "1" ignored (help); Text "a" ignored (help)
  9. ^ Wilner, Barry (January 30, 2009). 29, 2009-21-04-12 "Union: No reason for NFL lockout". ap.org. Associated Press. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help)
  10. ^ "NFL Announces 2002-2009 Schedule Rotation]". August 22, 2001.
  11. ^ Roberts, Michelle (October 8, 2008). "Goodell says NFL faces economic challenges". Ca.sports.yahoo.com. Associated Press. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  12. ^ "NFL looking closely at expanding to 17 games with international flavor". ESPN.com. Associated Press. May 10, 2007.
  13. ^ "17 Finalists for Hall of Fame Election". Pro Football Hall of Fame website. January 6, 2009.
  14. ^ Florio, Mike (March 9, 2009). "Two weeks until first week's prime time games are announced?". Pro Football Talk. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
  15. ^ Horn, Barry (March 10, 2009). "Networks vie for Dallas Cowboys' home opener". Dallasnews.com: Dallas Morning News website. Belo Corp. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
  16. ^ "Buccaneers, Patriots picked by NFL to face off in London next year". NFL.com. December 1, 2008.
  17. ^ Cotsonika, Nicholas J. (January 31, 2009). "Lions will host Turkey Day game again in '09, but blackout policy will remain the same". Freep.com: the Detroit Free Press website.
  18. ^ Warner, Gene (December 11, 2008). "Bills' Toronto venture fails to rouse passions of Canadian fans". The Buffalo News. Retrieved December 21, 2008.
  19. ^ a b c "2010 Pro Bowl moving to Miami, will be played before Super Bowl". NFL.com. December 30, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  20. ^ "Pro Bowl to precede Super Bowl". December 30, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  21. ^ "NFL laying off about 150". ESPN.com. December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 21, 2008.
  22. ^ "FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - Broncos to hire Pats' McDaniels". Msn.foxsports.com. Associated Press. Retrieved February 13, 2009.
  23. ^ Ourand, John (December 22, 2008). "NFL mulls rare shift of radio partnership". SportsBusinessJournal.com.
  24. ^ Ourand, John (February 9, 2009). "Spinning its dials: NFL still looking for 2009-10 radio partner". SportsBusinessJournal.com.
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