Katana VentraIP

1988 NFL season

The 1988 NFL season was the 69th regular season of the National Football League. The Cardinals relocated from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Phoenix, Arizona, area becoming the Phoenix Cardinals but remained in the NFC East division. The playoff races came down to the regular season's final week, with the Seattle Seahawks winning the AFC West by one game, and the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers winning their respective divisions in a five-way tie, with the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants losing the NFC Wild Card berth to the Los Angeles Rams on tiebreakers.

Regular season

September 4 – December 19, 1988

December 24, 1988

Cincinnati Bengals

San Francisco 49ers

January 22, 1989

Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami

San Francisco 49ers

January 29, 1989

Aloha Stadium

1988 marked the final seasons for legendary head coaches Tom Landry of Dallas and Bill Walsh of San Francisco as well as the final full year for commissioner Pete Rozelle.


The season ended with Super Bowl XXIII when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 20–16 at the Joe Robbie Stadium in Florida.

January 19, 1988: The Pittsburgh Steelers announce that and John Stallworth have retired from professional football.[1]

Donnie Shell

Officiating changes[edit]

Johnny Grier became the first African-American in NFL history to be promoted to referee.[2] Grier replaced long time referee Bob Frederic, who retired in the offseason. Grier was the field judge in the previous season's Super Bowl XXII, which was the same game that Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins became the first African-American quarterback to win the Super Bowl.

A standard system of two time intervals between plays are established (and would be timed using the play clock): For normal plays, the offensive team has 45 seconds to snap the ball after the previous play is signaled dead. After time outs and other administrative stoppages, the time limit is 30 seconds beginning after the Referee signals that the ball is ready to resume play.

If a fumble occurs during an attempt, only the fumbling player can recover and/or advance the ball. This change closes a loophole in the "Stabler Fumble Rule" that was enacted during the 1979 NFL season in reaction to the Holy Roller Game.

extra point

The penalty for running into the kicker was changed from five yards and an automatic first down to just five yards.

: Having played for the Baltimore Colts in the 1950s, he died of a heart attack on August 8, 1988, at age 55 at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, a few days after undergoing another heart bypass surgery.[3][4]

Alan Ameche

Steve Chomyszak

: The Atlanta Falcons cornerback died on October 10 after a cocaine overdose.[5]

David Croudip

Hall Haynes

Clarke Hinkle

Joe Don Looney

Nick Pietrosante

: The Pittsburgh Steelers founding owner died on August 25 following complications from a stroke.[6]

Art Rooney

Joey Sternaman

Preseason[edit]

American Bowl[edit]

A series of National Football League pre-season exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States, the only American Bowl game in 1988 was held at London's Wembley Stadium.

: Two games were played on Thursday, November 24, featuring Minnesota at Detroit and Houston at Dallas, with Minnesota and Houston winning.

Thanksgiving

: Forrest Gregg left to join the SMU Mustangs. Lindy Infante was named as Gregg's replacement.

Green Bay Packers

: Tom Flores stepped down to move to the team's front office. Mike Shanahan was named as the team's new head coach.

Los Angeles Raiders

Stadium changes[edit]

The relocated Phoenix Cardinals moved from Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona

Referees were outfitted with white hats while all other officials wore black hats, matching the standard practice in college and high school football. From 1979 through 1987, the reverse convention was used, with referees wearing black hats with all other officials wearing white hats.

The removed the elliptical green circles with the player's number from the hip area of the pants, also removing the gold stripe in the middle, one of the additions made in 1984 by former coach Forrest Gregg; the team also added a small gold stripe on their socks.

Green Bay Packers

The dropped the red road pants they had worn since 1984; the red pants would return in 1990.

New England Patriots

The switched to a darker shade of blue on their jerseys, from gold to blue face masks, and from gold to white lightning bolts. The helmets remained unchanged until a complete redesign in 2007.

San Diego Chargers

Television[edit]

This was the second year under the league's three-year broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, NBC, and ESPN to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, the AFC package, and Sunday Night Football, respectively. Joe Theismann took over as lead color commentator in ESPN's booth, replacing Roy Firestone, while the weekly "guest color commentator" spot was discontinued. Meanwhile, Dick Butkus joined The NFL Today as analyst, alongside host Brent Musburger and Irv Cross.[7]


A number of NBC's regular NFL commentators were temporarily replaced while they called the network's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea from September 17 to October 2. Among them, Len Berman returned to the NFL on NBC pregame show to fill-in for host Bob Costas, while Curt Gowdy, Ray Scott, Chuck Thompson, Marty Glickman, Merle Harmon, and Al DeRogatis filled-in on the network's various broadcast crews.

NFL Record and Fact Book ( 1-932994-36-X)

ISBN

(Last accessed December 4, 2005)

NFL History 1981–1990

Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League ( 0-06-270174-6)

ISBN