The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League (NFL), and the first season of the 21st century. The league permanently moved the first week of the regular season to the weekend following Labor Day. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the NFL's week 2 games (September 16 and 17) were postponed and rescheduled to the weekend of January 6 and 7, 2002. To retain the full playoff format, all playoff games, including Super Bowl XXXVI, were rescheduled one week later. The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, defeating the St. Louis Rams 20–17 at the Louisiana Superdome.
This was the last season with 31 teams as the Houston Texans were introduced as an expansion team the following season. It was also the final season to feature the AFC Central and NFC Central divisions, as they were realigned into the AFC North, AFC South, NFC North, and NFC South the following season. It also was (to date) the last time the regular NFL season was interrupted as many games were pushed to the next week following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Player movement Transactions July 27: The San Francisco 49ers sign quarterback Ricky Ray. Ray would go on to a career in the Canadian Football League.
Trades July 20: The New Orleans Saints trade Robert Arnaud to Washington. Retirements April 9, 2001: Three-time Super Bowl champion Troy Aikman announces his retirement, after failing to find another team. After the 2000 season, defensive end Reggie White retired after spending his last season in Carolina. After the 2000 season, Eddie Murray, who had played in 3 stints (1980–1995, 1997, 1999–2000) and Irving Fryar, who entered the NFL in 1984, decided they had played their final NFL games in Washington. Warren Moon and Al Del Greco, two players who entered the NFL in 1984, retired after spending their last seasons in Kansas City and Tennessee, respectively.
Jessie Tuggle, who entered the NFL in 1987, retired after spending all 14 of his seasons with the Falcons.
Draft The 2001 NFL draft was held from April 21 to 22, 2001, at New York City's Theater at Madison Square Garden. With the first pick, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Michael Vick from Virginia Tech.
Officiating changes
Mike Pereira became the league's director of officiating, succeeding Jerry Seeman, who had served the role since 1991. Pereira was a side judge in 1996 and 1997 before joining the league office, where he was groomed as Seeman's successor over the next three seasons.
Bill Leavy and Terry McAulay were promoted to referee. Phil Luckett returned to back judge, while another officiating crew was added in 2001 in preparation for the Houston Texans expansion team, the league's 32nd franchise, in 2002.
Due to labor dispute, the regular NFL officials were locked out prior to the final week of the preseason. Replacement officials who had worked in college football or the Arena Football League officiated NFL games during the last preseason week and the first week of the regular season. A deal was eventually reached before play resumed after the September 11 attacks.
Major rule changes Fumble recoveries will be awarded at the spot of the recovery, not where the player's momentum carries him. This change was passed in response to two regular season games in 2000, Atlanta Falcons–Carolina Panthers and Oakland Raiders–Seattle Seahawks, in which a safety was awarded when a defensive player's momentum in recovering a fumble carried him into his own end zone. Taunting rules and roughing the passer will be strictly enforced. 2001 deaths Jim Benton: A member of the National Football League 1940s All-Decade Team, Benton died on March 28, 2001 Don Boll: A draft pick of the Washington Redskins, Boll died on December 29, 2001. Jim Cain: A member of the Detroit Lions team that won the 1953 NFL Championship Game Sam Claphan: Chargers tight end from 1980 to 1987, Claphan died on November 26, 2001. Neal Colzie: Defensive back for the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Colzie died on August 20, 2001. L.G. Dupre: Part of the 1958 NFL Championship Game against the New York Giants, he died after a lengthy battle with cancer on August 9, 2001. Dan Edwards: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1st round (9th overall) of the 1948 NFL draft, Edwards died on August 7, 2001. Homer Elias: Lions guard from 1978 to 1984, he died of a heart attack on October 3, 2001. Bob Gaona: NFL offensive lineman who also played defense and special teams, he died on May 23, 2001. Hank Gremminger: Defensive back for the Packers from 1956 to 1965 and the Los Angeles Rams in 1966, he died of cardiac arrest on November 2, 2001. Harvey Martin: The co-MVP of Super Bowl XII, he died of pancreatic cancer on December 24, 2001. Martin was the first Super Bowl MVP to pass away. Full of joy] Dan Nugent: Redskins guard from 1976 to 1980, Nugent died on October 18, 2001. Dwayne O'Steen: Part of the Oakland Raiders Super Bowl XV winning team, O'Steen died on September 21, 2001, of an apparent heart attack. Don Paul: was selected to four Pro Bowls, one as a member of the Cardinals and three as a member of the Browns died on September 7, 2001. Pete Perreault: A member of the 1968 Cincinnati Bengals season, their inaugural season, Perreault died on December 8, 2001) Dick Rehbein: Longtime NFL coach who had become Patriots quarterbacks coach in 2000, Rehbein died of cardiomyopathy on August 6, 2001. Bo Roberson: Roberson caught three passes for eighty-eight yards in the Bills' 23–0 defeat of the Chargers in the 1965 American Football League Championship Game. He died on April 15, 2001. Tony Samuels: Drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round of the 1977 NFL draft, Samuels died on September 12, 2001. Paul Seiler: Former player for the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders, he died of colon cancer on September 25, 2001. Billy Ray Smith Sr.: A member of the Baltimore Colts teams that participated in Super Bowl III and Super Bowl V, he died from cancer on March 23, 2001. His son, Billy Ray Smith Jr., was a linebacker for the San Diego Chargers from 1983-92. Korey Stringer: Tackle for the Minnesota Vikings died from a heat stroke August 1, 2001, during training camp. The Vikings wore a 77 patch on their jerseys to commemorate Stringer. His number 77 was retired by the Vikings on November 19 during a Monday night game against the New York Giants.
Notable retirements
Robert Smith Troy Aikman Andre Reed Thurman Thomas Jim Harbaugh Warren Moon Jessie Tuggle George Koonce Bryce Paup Mike Tomczak Ben Coates Bruce Armstrong Cornelius Bennett Chris Howard Eric Rhett Andre Rison Stoney Case Ken Norton Jr. Kimble Anders Dermontti Dawson Tim Grunhard Barry Minter Irving Fryar Napoleon Kaufman Alfred Pupunu Reggie White Courtney Hawkins Natrone Means Eric Swann Curtis Enis Al Del Greco
Regular season Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day. With Super Bowls XXXVI–XXXVII already scheduled for fixed dates, the league initially decided to eliminate the Super Bowl bye weeks for 2001 and 2002 to adjust.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the games originally scheduled for September 16 and 17 were postponed and rescheduled to the weekend of January 6 and 7. To retain the full playoff format, all playoff games, including the Super Bowl, were rescheduled one week later. The season-ending Pro Bowl was also moved to one week later. This was the last season in which each conference had three divisions, as the conferences would be realigned to four divisions for the 2002 NFL season.
Canceling the games scheduled for September 16 and 17 was considered and rejected since it would have canceled a home game for about half the teams (15 of 31). It would have also resulted in an unequal number of games played: September 16 and 17 was to have been a bye for the San Diego Chargers, so that team would still have played 16 games that season and each of the other teams would have played only 15 games (the Chargers ultimately finished 5–11, making any competitive advantages to playing an extra game irrelevant).
As a result of rescheduling Week 2 as Week 17, the Pittsburgh Steelers ended up not playing a home game for the entire month of September (their only home game during that month was originally scheduled for September 16). The ESPN Sunday Night Football game for that week was also changed. It was originally scheduled to be Cleveland at Pittsburgh, but it was replaced with Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, which was seen as a more interesting matchup. Ironically, the Eagles and Buccaneers would both rest their starters that night, and would meet one week later in the playoffs. In recognition of this, when NBC began airing Sunday Night Football in , there would be no game initially scheduled for Weeks 11 to 17 – a game initially scheduled in the afternoon would be moved to the primetime slot, without stripping any teams of a primetime appearance. This way of "flexible scheduling" would not be used at all in 2007, and since 2008, it is only used in the final week, except for the 2017 season, when no primetime game was scheduled for Week 17 due to that Sunday falling on New Year's Eve.
The games that eventually made up Week 17 marked the latest regular season games to be played during what is traditionally defined as the "NFL season" (under the format at the time, the regular season could not end later than January 3 in any given year; this changed in 2021, as the NFL expanded to 17 games with the end of the regular season pushed back one week as a result; the 2021 regular season ended on January 9, and under the new format, the latest the regular season could end is January 10).
Another scheduling change took place in October, when the Dallas at Oakland game was moved from October 21 to 7 to accommodate a possible Oakland Athletics home playoff game on October 21. The rescheduling ended up being unnecessary as the Athletics would not make it past the Division Series round.
Scheduling formula Inter-conference AFC East vs NFC West AFC Central vs NFC Central AFC West vs NFC East
Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 22, featuring Green Bay at Detroit and Denver at Dallas, with Green Bay and Denver winning.
Final regular season standings
Tiebreakers New England finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on better division record (6–2 to Dolphins' 5–3). Cleveland finished ahead of Tennessee in the AFC Central based on better division record (5–5 to Titans' 3–7). Jacksonville finished ahead of Cincinnati in the AFC Central based on head-to-head sweep (2–0). N.Y. Giants finished ahead of Arizona in the NFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2–0). New Orleans finished ahead of Atlanta in the NFC West based on better division record (4–4 to Falcons' 3–5). Baltimore was the second AFC Wild Card above N.Y Jets based on better record against common opponents (3–1 to Jets' 2–2). Green Bay was the first NFC Wild Card above San Francisco based on better conference record (9–3 to 49ers' 8–4).
Playoffs
Milestones The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season:
RecordPlayer/teamPrevious record holder Most sacks, season* Michael Strahan, New York Giants (22.5) Mark Gastineau, New York Jets, 1984 (22.0) Most consecutive games lost, season Carolina (15) Tied by 4 teams (14) * – Sack statistics have only been compiled since 1982.
Statistical leaders
Team Points scoredSt. Louis Rams (503)Total yards gainedSt. Louis Rams (6,930)Yards rushingPittsburgh Steelers (2,774)Yards passingSt. Louis Rams (4,903)Fewest points allowedChicago Bears (203)Fewest total yards allowedPittsburgh Steelers (4,504)Fewest rushing yards allowedPittsburgh Steelers (1,195)Fewest passing yards allowedDallas Cowboys (3,019)
Individual