2010 NFL season

The 2010 NFL season was the 91st regular season of the National Football League.

The regular season began with the NFL Kickoff game on NBC on Thursday, September 9, at the Louisiana Superdome as the New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl XLIV champions, defeated the Minnesota Vikings 14–9.

Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, was named MVP for the 2010 season. In Super Bowl XLV, the League's championship game played at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31–25 to win their fourth Super Bowl. This season also marked the first full-length season in which a team with a losing record made the playoffs, when the Seattle Seahawks won the NFC West with a 7–9 record.

Schedule
The 2010 regular season is the first year that the league will use a modified version of the scheduling formula that was first introduced in, in which all teams will play each other at least once every four years, and will 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). Under the original 2002 formula, since the pairings were strictly based on alphabetical order, those teams scheduled to play all the AFC West clubs had to travel to both Oakland and San Diego in the same season, while those clubs playing the entire NFC West had to make their way to both San Francisco and Seattle. In, the New England Patriots and New York Jets each had to make cross-country trips to all four of the aforementioned West Coast teams. In an effort to relieve east coast teams from having to travel to the West Coast multiple times during the same season, clubs would only have to visit one West Coast team (AFC West or NFC West), plus one western team from the same division closer to the Midwest, under the 2010 modified formula. Specifically, those clubs traveling to Oakland will now also play at Denver, while those playing at San Diego will also play at Kansas City. For teams scheduled to play the NFC West, those travelling to San Francisco will also go to Arizona, while those scheduled to play in Seattle will also go to St. Louis.

For the 2010 season, the intraconference and interconference matchups are: Intraconference Interconference
 * AFC East vs. AFC North
 * AFC West vs. AFC South
 * NFC East vs. NFC North
 * NFC West vs. NFC South
 * AFC East vs. NFC North
 * AFC West vs. NFC West
 * AFC North vs. NFC South
 * AFC South vs. NFC East

The entire 2010 regular-season schedule was unveiled at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 20. Additionally, schedule release shows aired on both the NFL Network and as a SportsCenter special on ESPN2.

Draft
The league's 75th annual selection meeting, more commonly known as the NFL Draft, took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City from April 22–24, the first time that the draft was held over three days instead of the normal two.

Preseason
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game was held on Sunday, August 8, 2010 on NBC, with the Dallas Cowboys defeating the Cincinnati Bengals, 16–7 at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The remainder of the preseason game matchups were announced March 31, 2010. Highlights, among others, include the New York Giants and New York Jets facing off in the first-ever game at Meadowlands Stadium on ESPN. The preseason game in the Bills Toronto Series featured the host Bills defeating the Indianapolis Colts in Toronto on Thursday, August 19 by a score of 34–21. Exact dates and times for most games were announced in April, shortly after the regular season games were announced.

Opening weekend
The NFL Kickoff Game, the first game of the season, took place on Thursday, September 9, 2010, with the Super Bowl XLIV champion New Orleans Saints hosting the Minnesota Vikings, in a rematch of the 2009 NFC Championship Game. The Saints won 14–9. Like in previous years, the opening week's prime-time games were expected to be announced at the NFL's annual owners meetings in late March, but that wasn't the case this year, with the schedule announced on April 20.

On March 15, 2010, the NFL announced that both the New York Giants and New York Jets will play at home during the opening weekend to open New Meadowlands Stadium. The Giants played on Sunday with a 1 PM EDT kickoff against the Carolina Panthers and the Jets opened ESPN's Monday Night Football schedule against the Baltimore Ravens the next night. For the nightcap, the San Diego Chargers traveled to play their division rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, marking the first time that a team from outside the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones has played in, or hosted, the "late" (10:15 p.m. ET) game. The game started at 9:15 p.m. Kansas City time (Central).

No undefeated teams after Week Five
While the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints had both started the year before 13–0 (with the Colts even going 14–0), on October 10, the Kansas City Chiefs became the last undefeated team to lose, losing to the Colts 19–9. It would mark the first time that no NFL team reached 4–0 since 1970, when the Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, and Los Angeles Rams started the season 3–0 but all lost in Week 4.

International play
The 2010 season featured one International Series game, played at Wembley Stadium in London. The teams for this game were confirmed on January 15, 2010, with the San Francisco 49ers playing host to the Denver Broncos on October 31, 2010. The 49ers won 24–16, scoring 21 points in the 4th quarter. CBS televised this game on a regional basis, as the Broncos were the "visiting" team. The Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks, who had expressed interest in previous games, were a possible matchup for a second NFL game (with the Seahawks as the home team), but league officials dropped a plan for two games in the UK, citing the economy and ongoing labor negotiations.

The following week, the third regular-season game of the Bills Toronto Series featured the Buffalo Bills hosting the Chicago Bears at Toronto's Rogers Centre on November 7, marking the first time that the regular-season portion of the series has taken place during the Canadian Football League season and the first time an NFC opponent played in the series.

NFL vs. World Series Game 4
On the same day that the Broncos and 49ers played in London, the Saints hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers on NBC's Sunday Night Football. This game was televised opposite Game Four of the World Series on Fox, a practice the league had traditionally avoided. The Saints won this game 20–10.

Thanksgiving and Christmas
The Thanksgiving games took place on Thursday, November 25, 2010, with the Detroit Lions falling to the visiting New England Patriots, 45–24. The second game featured the Dallas Cowboys giving up a late lead to the New Orleans Saints. New Orleans won 30–27 when Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw a go-ahead touchdown to Lance Moore with less than two minutes remaining. In the prime-time NFL Network game, the New York Jets defeated the visiting Cincinnati Bengals, 26–10.

Both the Saints and Bengals made their first appearance in a Thanksgiving game; in the case of the Bengals, it also marked the first appearance of an AFC North team on Thanksgiving since 1998, when the Pittsburgh Steelers of what was known as the AFC Central played the Detroit Lions.

Additionally, since Christmas Day fell on a Saturday in 2010, the NFL scheduled a Christmas game between the Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona on December 25 on NFL Network. The Cowboys came back from a 21–3 deficit behind third-string quarterback Stephen McGee to take a 26–24 lead late in the fourth quarter, but kicker David Buehler missed an extra point, allowing the Cardinals to win the game 27–26 on a last-second Jay Feely field goal.

Week 17: Division games only
The entire Week 17 schedule, played on January 2, 2011, consisted solely of divisional contests, in an attempt to increase competition after several cases over the last few seasons of playoff-bound teams resting their regular starters and playing their reserves.

Scheduling changes

 * The Eagles–Bears and Buccaneers–Ravens games in Week 12 were moved from 1:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. EST.
 * The Falcons–Buccaneers game in Week 13 was moved from 1:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. EST.
 * The Patriots–Bears game in Week 14 was moved from 1:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. EST
 * The Week 14 game between the Vikings and the Giants was changed from Sunday, December 12 at 12:00 p.m. EST to Monday, December 13 at 7:20 p.m. EST because of the collapse of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome's roof. (See "Stadiums" below.)
 * By way of flexible scheduling, three game times were changed in Week 16: The Vikings–Eagles game, originally scheduled for 1:00 p.m. EST on Fox, was flexed into the 8:20 p.m. time slot on NBC's Sunday Night Football. The originally-scheduled NBC Sunday Night game between the Chargers–Bengals was changed to a 4:05 p.m. EST kickoff on CBS. The Seahawks–Buccaneers game was moved from 1:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. EST.
 * The Vikings-Eagles game was then postponed to Tuesday, December 28 at 8 p.m. due to public safety concerns resulting from an anticipated snowstorm in Philadelphia, even though no snow had fallen at the time of the postponement. The resulting game was the first Tuesday NFL game since 1946.
 * By way of flexible scheduling, the following Week 17 games were changed: The Rams-Seahawks game, originally scheduled at 4:15 p.m. EST, was moved onto Sunday Night Football.  Also, the Jaguars-Texans, Titans-Colts, Bears-Packers, Cowboys-Eagles and Giants-Redskins matches were all rescheduled from 1:00 p.m. to the 4:15 p.m. slot.  Except for Cowboys-Eagles, all these games carried playoff implications. (Per its flexible scheduling rules for Week 17, the league had to commit to move these games a full six days in advance before the aforementioned Week 16 Vikings-Eagles game eventually played out on that Tuesday night. Had Philadelphia won that game instead of Minnesota, they would have still been in contention for a first round playoff bye. )

Regular season standings
''Playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green


 * Tie-breakers
 * Pittsburgh clinched the AFC North title instead of Baltimore based on division record (5–1 to Baltimore's 4–2).
 * Houston finished ahead of Tennessee in the AFC South based on division record (3–3 to Tennessee's 2–4).
 * Philadelphia clinched the NFC East title based on a head-to-head sweep over New York.
 * Dallas finished ahead of Washington in the NFC East based on division record (3–3 to Washington's 2–4).
 * Detroit finished ahead of Minnesota in the NFC North based on division record (2–4 to Minnesota's 1–5).
 * Seattle clinched the NFC West title instead of St. Louis based on division record (4–2 to St. Louis' 3–3).
 * Indianapolis clinched the AFC #3 seed instead of Kansas City based on a head-to-head victory.
 * Green Bay clinched the NFC #6 seed based on better strength of victory (.486) than the N.Y. Giants (.400) or Tampa Bay (.368).

Postseason
The 2010–11 NFL playoff tournament began January 8–9, 2011 with wild card weekend. Following that, the divisional playoffs set the matchups for the NFC Championship Game, to be played at 3:00 PM EST on January 23, and the AFC Championship Game, to be played at 6:30 PM EST.

After a backlash from players and critics about the previous season's Pro Bowl being played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida in the contiguous United States, the 2011 Pro Bowl was played at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Honolulu, Hawaii. The date was January 30, 2011, the week before the Super Bowl. An NFL spokesman stated that "Plans for future Pro Bowls are not final." Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian has stated his objections to the format, and is in favor of returning the game to after the Super Bowl as in previous years.

The annual Pro Bowl had previously been played in Hawaii for 30 consecutive seasons from 1980 to 2009. However, the NFL and State of Hawaii officials only agreed to a two-year deal to hold the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium in 2011 and 2012. This gives the option of playing the Pro Bowl in Hawaii on a rotational basis with the mainland, so it both maintains the traditional ties of holding it on the islands and providing accessibility to fans when played in the contiguous 48 states.

Super Bowl XLV, was held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on February 6, 2011, and was the NFL's final event of the 2010 season.

Labor issues
NFL owners voted in 2008 to opt out of their collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) as of the end of the 2010 season. (The vote was 23 in favor, 9 against; the extension measure needed 24 to pass, which would have set the CBA to expire after the 2012 season). Since a new CBA was not reached with the NFLPA, 2010 was an uncapped season, meaning that there was no salary cap or salary floor between which teams had to operate. Also, the uncapped season limited unrestricted free agency only to players with at least six years of experience, as opposed to four under a capped season. The final eight teams alive in the 2009–10 NFL playoffs (Arizona, Dallas, Minnesota and New Orleans in the NFC; and Baltimore, Indianapolis, the New York Jets and San Diego in the AFC) were restricted in the free agents they would be able to sign.

The 2011 NFL season will have a work stoppage if there is no new CBA. In February 2011, just weeks before the existing CBA was set to expire, the NFL and the NFLPA announced that they would enter mediation in an attempt to reach a new CBA in time to avoid a work stoppage.

Rule changes
The following rule changes were passed at the league's annual owners meeting in March:


 * The overtime procedure for postseason games has changed. Instead of a straight sudden death, the game will not immediately end if the team that wins the coin toss only scores a field goal on its first possession (they can still win the game if they score a touchdown). Instead, the other team gets a possession. If the coin toss loser then scores a touchdown, it is declared the winner. If the score is tied after both teams had a possession, then it goes back to sudden death. These changes were passed in response to recent statistics that show that since 1994, teams that win the coin toss have won overtime 59.8 percent of the time, and won 34.4 percent of the time on the first possession. This included the 2009 NFC Championship Game between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints where the Saints won the overtime coin toss and scored a field goal on their first possession to win the game. In May, the league decided against applying these overtime rule changes to regular season games as well. As all of the 2010–2011 playoff games ended in regulation, the new rule wasn't tested during its first year of use.


 * The definition of a "defenseless receiver" (where a receiver cannot be hit in the head or neck area by an opponent who launches himself and makes contact with his helmet, shoulder, or forearm) will now apply to every defenseless player.


 * A play will now immediately be whistled dead once a ball carrier's helmet is knocked off.


 * The position of the umpire has been moved from behind the defensive linebackers (except in the last two minutes of the first half, the last five minutes of the second half, and anytime the offense is inside the defense's five-yard-line) to the offensive backfield opposite the throwing arm of the quarterback in order to reduce the numerous times that the official has been run over during plays.


 * During field goal and extra point attempts, defenders cannot line up directly across from the long snapper.


 * Dead ball 15-yard personal fouls that are committed on the final play of either the second or fourth quarters will be assessed on the second half or overtime kickoff, respectively. Previously, such penalties during those situations were not enforced.


 * Punt returners who make a fair catch signal but then muff the ball are now entitled with the opportunity to catch the ball before it hits the ground without interference. If there is interference during such a scenario, the receiving team would be awarded the ball at the spot of the foul, but no penalty yardage would be assessed.


 * The 2009 temporary modification to the rules regarding balls in play that strike an object such as a video board or a guide wire has been made permanent. Prior to 2009, only the down was replayed. The 2009 modification added resetting the game clock to the time when the original play was snapped. This amendment was originally passed in response to a punt hitting the center-hung video display boards of Cowboys Stadium during a 2009 pre-season game.


 * The replay system will now also be allowed to cover whether there was some sort of interference with the ball during a play.


 * If the clock is stopped in the final minute of either half for a replay review, but would not have stopped without the review, there will be a 10-second runoff (similar to when the offensive team commits a penalty inside of one minute in order to preserve time). As with any other 10-second runoff, teams are permitted to take a timeout instead.

Crackdown on illegal hits
After several violent hits throughout the NFL made the news in Week 3, the league announced that it would consider suspending players for illegal hits, such as helmet-to-helmet hits or other blows to the head. (Previously, players could only be fined for such hits.) The league also instructed all officials and referees to have an even higher level of attention toward flagrant hits. Game officials were also instructed to err on the side of safety, and throw flags even when in doubt.

The crackdown has been controversial. Many defensive players have complained that the league is being too strict in their interpretation of what constitutes an "illegal hit", and that it forces them to behave significantly different than how they were taught to play the game. Another concern is the league's instructions to game officials to err on the side of caution, since questionable calls late in close games significantly affect their outcome. However, the medical community has supported the move, believing that it would help reduce concussions and other head injuries.

The league did not end up suspending any players for violent or illegal hits, however several players were fined for these types of hits within the first few weeks of the crackdown.

Super Bowl and conference logo, trophy changes
Starting with Super Bowl XLV, the template of all Super Bowl logos will virtually remain the same. The only differences from year to year will be the stadium backdrop and the Roman numerals for the game as well as colors of the area. For Super Bowl XLV, Cowboys Stadium is featured and "XLV" signifying the forty-fifth Super Bowl game.

The NFL also introduced new Lamar Hunt and George Halas trophies for the AFC and NFC Championship games. The trophies were changed from a brown base with an 'A' or 'N' on top of it surrounded by players layered on a frieze upon a wall, to silver trophies in the make of a football. Additionally, both the NFC and AFC logos were revamped and recolored to reflect the current shield adopted two years earlier and with four stars running down the inside on both logos top to bottom from left to right instead of the six surrounding the AFC and three down the side of the NFC logo as each conference has four divisions. In addition, all event and playoff logos have undergone a complete makeover in a new logo system.

Uniforms
In the 2010 season, the Washington Redskins were the only team who made a major change to their main uniforms, wearing gold pants with their burgundy jerseys, and except for a game against the Packers, wore them for home games instead of their white jerseys and red pants. The white pants were not abandoned entirely, and would be worn together with the burgundy jerseys for the two away games ( and one home game ) in which their opponent wore white at home. This was made possible with a sleeve modification, in which the broad yellow and white stripes were severely shrunken on an elastic band (same for white jerseys) so that when wearing the gold pants, the team also wore the retro style socks that had a different stripe pattern matching the sleeves of the day, so there is no longer a stripe design conflict.

The Green Bay Packers became the first team to officially unveil a third uniform for 2010, a throwback uniform based on their 1929 uniforms when they won their first NFL championship. The throwbacks are as accurate as possible while complying with current NFL guidelines, with a brown modern-shell helmet in place of the leather helmets of 1929, along with blue jerseys and gold circles with the jersey numbers nested within the circles, and brown pants. Like throwbacks worn in recent seasons by the San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, and the archrival Minnesota Vikings, these throwbacks will be a permanent addition to the Packers uniforms, unlike throwbacks worn by the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers that were intended as one-time deals but made permanent, as well as several one-shot throwbacks in recent years. The new Packers throwbacks replace the previous throwbacks (which comprised the current helmets with the "G" logo and stripes removed, white jerseys with plain green lettering, and tan pants) worn sporadically since the early 2000s.

Also going the throwback route were the Chicago Bears, who harkened back to the Sid Luckman era with a 1940's set, replacing the pumpkin orange third jerseys, and the Indianapolis Colts, who will wear throwbacks as well. Since the Colts only have two colors, they only have previously worn a throwback jersey once in their history, in. The difference between the 2004 throwback and the 2010 throwback is the helmet color, which reverses the 2004 scheme.

The Arizona Cardinals, who were the only team to not wear a third jersey in any form since the NFL allowed third jerseys in, unveiled a black third jersey to be worn in 2010.

The Philadelphia Eagles have adopted their championship uniforms that were worn September 12 against the Packers, the team they beat to win their last championship in celebration of the 50th anniversary of that game.

The Tennessee Titans returned to using navy blue jerseys as their third jersey, after a one-year hiatus in which they wore light blue Houston Oilers throwback jerseys in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the American Football League, but did not wear them for any game in 2010.

The Pittsburgh Steelers wore their throwbacks against the Cleveland Browns on October 17 and against the New England Patriots on November 14.

The Seattle Seahawks have retired the neon green uniform worn for one game in against Chicago, which was in turn an offshoot from a April Fools Day joke written about by Uni Watch founder Paul Lukas that year.

Media
This is the fifth season under the current television contracts with the league's television partners: CBS (all AFC Sunday afternoon away games and one Thanksgiving game), Fox (all NFC Sunday afternoon away games and one Thanksgiving game), NBC (17 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's NFL Sunday Ticket package. These contracts run through at least 2013.

In national radio, this is the second year on Westwood One's most recent contract extension. The network also agreed to a four-year extension on December 23, 2010.

Nielsen Ratings for the fall 2010 television season have shown viewership increases of up to 10 percent for most of the NFL's broadcast partners; eighteen of the twenty most watched television broadcasts of the season have so far been NFL games.

Stadiums
New Meadowlands Stadium opened in 2010, replacing Giants Stadium as the home of both the New York Giants and the New York Jets. The new stadium is located a few hundred feet away from the old building in the parking lot of Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Unlike Giants Stadium (in which the Giants were the sole NFL tenant until the 1984 season), the new Meadowlands Stadium will be a 50/50 partnership between both New York teams. The Giants played their first regular season game on September 12 against the Carolina Panthers, while the Jets played the following night against the Baltimore Ravens in the first game of a Monday Night Football doubleheader.

Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs since 1972, underwent a two-year $375 million renovation project which was completed and unveiled in July 2010. The stadium hosted the second game of the Monday Night Football opening weekend doubleheader when the Chiefs played the San Diego Chargers.

M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, installed FieldTurf prior to the 2010 season. The field had been Sportexe Momentum Turf since 2002 and grass before that.

Prior to Week 14, the inflatable roof of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, home of the Minnesota Vikings, buckled and tore as a result of heavy snowfall in Minneapolis, spilling snow onto Mall of America field and rendering the stadium unusable for the remainder of the Vikings' season. The Vikings' scheduled home game against the New York Giants was moved to Detroit's Ford Field and postponed to a 7:20 p.m. EST kickoff on Monday. Though stadium workers were initially "optimistic" that the roof could be repaired before the Vikings faced the Chicago Bears on December 20, stadium officials determined that such a repair would not be possible in that time frame and the game was moved to TCF Bank Stadium.

Records
Passing
 * Consecutive passes without an interception: 335, Tom Brady (Bernie Kosar, 308)
 * Consecutive games with no interceptions, 2+ touchdowns: 9, Tom Brady (Don Meredith, 6)

Starts
 * Consecutive starts by a quarterback: 297, Brett Favre
 * Consecutive starts to start a career: 208, Peyton Manning (Gene Upshaw)

Turnovers
 * Number of times sacked, career: 525, Brett Favre (John Elway, 516)
 * Fumbles, career: 166, Brett Favre (Warren Moon, 161)
 * Fewest turnovers by a team, season: 10, New England Patriots (13, 2008 Miami Dolphins and 2008 New York Giants)

Special Teams
 * Kicks returned for touchdowns, career: 14, Devin Hester (Brian Mitchell, 13)

Playoff records
 * Worst record to make the playoffs: 7–9, 2010 Seattle Seahawks (1982 Cleveland Browns and 1982 Detroit Lions, 4–5)

Milestones

 * Brett Favre became the first quarterback to throw for 70,000 career yards.
 * Brett Favre became the first quarterback to throw for 500 career touchdowns.
 * Brett Favre became the first quarterback to attempt 10,000 career passes.
 * Brett Favre became the second non-kicker to play in 300 games. (First was Jerry Rice)
 * DeSean Jackson became the first player in NFL history to end a game by scoring on a punt return as time expired.
 * The Oakland Raiders became the first team since the 1970 AFL–NFL merger to go unbeaten in their division and miss the playoffs.
 * The Seattle Seahawks became the first team to win a division with a losing record (7–9).
 * The Seattle Seahawks became the first team to win a playoff game with a losing record.
 * Defensive end Osi Umenyiora set the NFL Record for forced fumbles in a season, with 10.
 * The Green Bay Packers became the first team since the 1962 Detroit Lions to never trail a single game by more than 7 points at any time.
 * The Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first team since the merger to start 10 rookies and still complete a winning season (10–6). The Buccaneers would however go on to miss the playoffs.

Players of the Week
The following were the players of the week during the 2010 season: