1977 NFL season

The 1977 NFL season was the 58th regular season of the National Football League. The Seattle Seahawks were placed in the AFC West while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were slotted in the NFC Central.

Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving Day game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys, the league scheduled a Miami Dolphins at St. Louis Cardinals contest. This would be only the second season since 1966 that the Cowboys did not play on that holiday.

This was the last NFL regular season with 14 games. The regular season was expanded to 16 games in 1978, with the preseason reduced from six games to four.

The season ended with Super Bowl XII when the Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos.

Major rule changes

• The head slap is outlawed. This change is referred to as the "Deacon Jones Rule"; the Rams defensive end frequently used this technique.
• Any shoe worn by a player with an artificial limb must have a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe. Informally referred to as the "Tom Dempsey Rule." Dempsey is a record-breaking placekicker whose modified shoe (having a flattened and enlarged toe area) on his deformed kicking foot generated controversy during his career.
• Defenders are only permitted to make contact with receivers once.
• Defenders are not allowed to make contact with an opponent above the shoulders with the palms of their hands, except to ward him off the line.
• Offensive linemen are not allowed to thrust their hands to a defender's neck, face, or head.
• Wide receivers are not allowed to clip defenders.

Division races

Tampa Bay and Seattle continued as "swing" teams that didn't participate in regular conference play. Every other NFL team played a home-and-away series against the other members in its division, three interconference games, and the remainder of their 14 game schedule against other conference teams. Tampa Bay switched to the NFC and played the other 13 members of the conference, while Seattle did the same in the AFC. The teams met in Week Five, with Seattle winning 30-23.

Starting in 1970, and until 2002, there were three divisions (Eastern, Central and Western) in each conference. The winners of each division, and a fourth "wild card" team based on the best non-division winner, qualified for the playoffs. The tiebraker rules were changed to start with head-to-head competition, followed by division records, common opponents records, and conference play.

National Football Conference

* other teams with same W-L record

American Football Conference

* other teams with same W-L record

Final standings

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

  x  - clinched wild card berth,   y  - clinched division title

Tiebreakers

• Baltimore finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on better conference record (9-3 to Dolphins' 8-4).
• Buffalo finished ahead of N.Y. Jets in the AFC East based on better strength of schedule (.582 to Jets' .536).
• Cincinnati finished ahead of Houston in the AFC Central based on better division record (6-3 to Oilers' 5-4).
• Minnesota finished ahead of Chicago in the NFC Central based on fewer losses by common opponents (11 losses to 14 losses by the Bears' opponents).
• Chicago won the NFC Wild Card over Washington based on better net points in conference games (48 to Redskins' 4).
• Philadelphia finished ahead of N.Y. Giants in the NFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2-0).

Playoffs

*Denver (the AFC 1 seed) did not play Oakland (the 4 seed) in the Divisional playoff round because both teams were in the same division.

References

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1971-1980 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
• 1977 season in details
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)