2016 NFL season
The 2016 NFL season was the 97th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL) and the 51st of the Super Bowl era. The season began on September 8, 2016, with the defending Super Bowl 50 champion Denver Broncos defeating the Carolina Panthers in the NFL Kickoff Game in a rematch of the Super Bowl. The season concluded with Super Bowl LI, the league's championship game on February 5, 2017, at NRG Stadium in Houston with the New England Patriots defeating the Atlanta Falcons. For the first time since the 2003 NFL season, neither of the previous season's Super Bowl participants made the playoffs.[1]
This article is about the American football season in the United States. For the Gaelic football season in Ireland, see 2016 National Football League (Ireland).Regular season
September 8, 2016 – January 1, 2017
January 7, 2017
February 5, 2017
January 29, 2017
The former St. Louis Rams moved out of St. Louis, Missouri and returned to the Los Angeles metropolitan area, its home from 1946 to 1994.[2][3] This was the first time an NFL team relocated to another state since the Houston Oilers relocated to Tennessee in 1997.[note 1]
After playing in San Diego for 56 years, the 2016 season was the last season for the San Diego Chargers before their return to the city of Los Angeles for 2017, where the franchise was based for their first season in 1960.
This would be the first season in which the Super Bowl went into overtime, and the last until 2023.
The following rule changes were approved for the 2016 NFL season at the owners' meeting on March 22:[19]
The following changes were approved for only the 2016 NFL season at the owners' meeting on March 23. Both were subject to become permanent rules or scrapped for 2017.
The following changes to instant replay rules were approved for the 2016 NFL season at the owners' meeting on May 24:[22]
Additional rule updates made for the 2016 season include:
Notable events[edit]
Deflategate[edit]
On April 25, 2016, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension for the 2016 regular season related to Deflategate; Brady dropped his appeal shortly thereafter and declined to take his case to the Supreme Court.[40][41]
Stadiums[edit]
Atlanta Falcons[edit]
The Atlanta Falcons played their 25th and final season at the Georgia Dome, with the team's new home field, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, opened in 2017.[142]
Minnesota Vikings[edit]
The Minnesota Vikings played their first season at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. Construction on the team's new home field in downtown Minneapolis wrapped up at the start of the 2016 season. The new stadium was built on the site of the Vikings' former home, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, which was demolished after the 2013 season.[143]
After a trial run in 2015, the NFL Color Rush program returned for 2016 with all 32 NFL teams required to participate.[165] To prevent issues with color blindness from the previous season, the NFL is scheduled match-ups and where color blindness would not be an issue. The Color Rush games were during the Thursday Night Football contests.[166]
Media[edit]
Broadcast rights[edit]
This was the third season under the league's broadcast contracts with its television partners. This included "cross-flexing" (switching) Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox before or during the season, regardless of whether the visiting team is in the AFC (which CBS normally airs) or the NFC (which is normally carried by Fox). NBC continued to air Sunday Night Football, the annual Kickoff game, and the primetime Thanksgiving game. ESPN continued airing Monday Night Football and the Pro Bowl. During the postseason, ABC simulcasted one AFC Wild Card game with ESPN. One NFC Wild Card game was broadcast on NBC. Coverage of the AFC playoff games was split between CBS and NBC, while the remainder of the NFC playoff games was broadcast by Fox. CBS had exclusive coverage of the AFC Championship Game. Fox had exclusive coverage of the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LI, and it was also on Fox Deportes.
Flexible scheduling[edit]
A change to the flexible scheduling rule takes effect for the 2016 season: in week 17, any game can be flexed into Sunday Night Football, regardless of how many times a team had been featured on a primetime game that season. This change can, theoretically, allow a game with playoff implications in the final week of the season to be moved to primetime for greater prominence.[175] As in 2015, the NFL will continue the "suspension" of its blackout policy, meaning that all games will be broadcast in their home markets regardless of ticket sales; Goodell stated that the league needed to continue investigating the impact of removing the blackout rules before such a change is made permanent.[176]
Thursday Night Football[edit]
The league's contract with CBS for Thursday Night Football expired after the 2015 season and was placed back up for bids.[177] On February 1, 2016, the NFL announced that Thursday Night Football would be shared between CBS, NBC, and NFL Network for the 2016 season. CBS and NBC will each air five games, which will be simulcast by NFL Network, along with an additional eight games exclusively on NFL Network, the production of which will be split between the two networks. Commissioner Roger Goodell that the league was "thrilled to add NBC to the Thursday Night Football mix, a trusted partner with a proven track record of success broadcasting NFL football in primetime, and look forward to expanding with a digital partner for what will be a unique tri-cast on broadcast, cable and digital platforms."[178] On April 5, 2016, it was announced that Twitter had acquired non-exclusive worldwide digital streaming rights to the 10 broadcast television TNF games, including to mobile devices (this is the first time any NFL games have been made available to mobile devices not subscribed to Verizon Wireless, whose NFL Mobile app holds exclusive rights to all other games). This partnership will also include content for Twitter's live streaming service Periscope, such as behind-the-scenes access.[179]
Internet streaming for International Series[edit]
After 2015's Bills–Jaguars International Series contest was a modest success, the league was initially expected to make all three of the 2016 London games exclusive to the Internet. Yahoo! Screen, which carried the 2015 contest, shut down in January 2016;[180] the bidders on the three games (which may or may not go to the same broadcaster) included YouTube and Apple TV, both of which bid on the 2015 game but were passed up in favor of Yahoo!'s bid.[181] Ultimately, the league decided not to make the International Series games Web-exclusive, instead focusing its efforts on the Thursday Night Football partnership with Twitter.[182]
Personnel changes[edit]
Mike Tirico, the lead play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football, announced his departure from ESPN on May 9, 2016; he joins NBC, where he was originally designated to lead the network's broadcast team for Thursday Night Football telecasts. Replacing Tirico on MNF is Sean McDonough.[183] The move was initially reported in April but not confirmed until the next month.[184] However, shortly before the start of the regular season, the league exercised a clause in its television contract with NBC demanding that any broadcast team that calls Sunday Night Football also call Thursday Night Football as well, effectively forcing Al Michaels to call both packages unless he and Tirico also split Sundays (this was the scenario that was ultimately chosen; on most weeks when Michaels calls a Thursday game, Tirico will call Sundays).[185] Tirico eventually got his chance the next season, when NBC announced he would replace Michaels after the NFL waived its broadcast team clause.
Tirico's colleague at ESPN, Heather Cox, was also hired by NBC as their sideline reporter for Thursday Night Football, after Michele Tafoya opted out to spend more time with family, and to focus on SNF.
This is also the final season Chris Berman serves as a studio analyst for ESPN's NFL programming; Berman has been with ESPN since the network's inception in 1979.[186]
This would also end up being Phil Simms' last season as lead color commentator for the NFL on CBS. Tony Romo, who would retire at the end of this season, would replace Simms as lead color commentator on CBS. Simms will join The NFL Today next season.
This would also lead to Tony Gonzalez and Bart Scott, leaving The NFL Today. Gonzalez will now be on Fox NFL Kickoff. Replacing Gonzalez and Scott will be Simms and Nate Burleson, who comes over from NFL Network's football morning talk show, Good Morning Football, although he will remain with the show.
This would also be the last season for Solomon Wilcots at CBS. James Lofton from Westwood One, will replace Wilcots next season.
Meanwhile, at Fox, this would be the last season for John Lynch, who would leave to be the next general manager of the San Francisco 49ers. Replacing Lynch next season, would be Charles Davis who would move up from the #4 team at Fox to join Kevin Burkhardt.