2004 NFL season

2004 National Football League season
Regular season
Duration	September 9, 2004 – January 2, 2005
Playoffs
Start date	January 8, 2005
AFC Champions	New England Patriots
NFC Champions	Philadelphia Eagles
Super Bowl XXXIX
Date	February 6, 2005
Site	ALLTEL Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida
Champions	New England Patriots
Pro Bowl
Date	February 13, 2005
Site	Aloha Stadium
National Football League seasons  < 2003 2005 >

The 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League.

With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005. Hurricanes forced the rescheduling of two Miami Dolphins home games: the game against the Tennessee Titans was moved up one day to Saturday, September 11 to avoid oncoming Hurricane Ivan, while the game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, September 26 was moved back 7½ hours to miss the eye of Hurricane Jeanne.

The playoffs began on January 8, and eventually New England repeated as NFL champions when they defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX, the Super Bowl championship game, at ALLTEL Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida on February 6.

Major rule changes

• Due to several incidents during the 2003 NFL season, officials are authorized to penalize excessive celebration. The 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty will be marked off from the spot at the end of the previous play or, after a score, on the ensuing kickoff. If the infraction is ruled flagrant by the officials, the player(s) are ejected.
• Due to several instances during the 2003–04 playoffs, officials are instructed to strictly enforce illegal contact, pass interference, and defensive holding.
• Timeouts can be called by head coaches.
• In addition to the numbers 80–89, wide receivers will now be allowed to use numbers 10–19.
• A punt or missed field goal that is untouched by the receiving team is immediately dead once it touches either the end zone or any member of the kicking team in the end zone. Previously, a punt or missed field goal that lands in the end zone before being controlled by the kicking team could be picked up by a member of the receiving team and immediately run the other way.
• Teams will be awarded a third instant replay challenge if their first two are successful. Previously, teams were only limited to two regardless of what occurred during the game.

2004 NFL Changes

• Baltimore Ravens – Added third alternative uniforms. Black.
• Cincinnati Bengals – New Uniforms.
• Indianapolis Colts – Grey facemask. Black shoes.

• Jacksonville Jaguars – New road uniforms. White uniforms, black numbers with gold and teal trim. New black pants with Jaguars logo on hip.
• New York Giants – Added third alternative uniforms. Red.
• Minnesota Vikings – New FieldTurf field.
• Chicago Bears – Added third alternative uniforms. Orange.

Coaching changes

• Arizona Cardinals – Dennis Green replaced Dave McGinnis
• Atlanta Falcons – Jim Mora, Jr. replaced Dan Reeves
• Buffalo Bills – Mike Mularkey replaced Gregg Williams
• Chicago Bears – Lovie Smith replaced Dick Jauron
• Oakland Raiders – Norv Turner replaced Bill Callahan
• New York Giants – Tom Coughlin replaced Jim Fassel
• Washington Redskins – Joe Gibbs replaced Steve Spurrier

Final regular season standings

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

Clinched playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green. No ties occurred this year.

Tiebreakers

• ^a Indianapolis clinched the AFC #3 seed instead of San Diego based on better head-to-head record (1–0).
• ^b N.Y. Jets clinched the AFC #5 seed instead of Denver based on better record in common games (5–0 to 3–2).
• ^c St. Louis clinched the NFC #5 seed instead of Minnesota or New Orleans based on better conference record (7–5 to Minnesota's 5–7 to New Orleans' 6–6).
• ^d Minnesota clinched the NFC #6 seed instead of New Orleans based on better head-to-head record (1–0).
• ^e N.Y. Giants finished ahead of Dallas and Washington in the NFC East based on better head-to-head record (3–1 to Dallas' 2–2 to Washington's 1–3).
• ^f Dallas finished ahead of Washington in the NFC East based on better head-to-head record (2–0).

Playoffs

Playoff seeds
Seed	AFC	NFC
1	Pittsburgh Steelers (North winner)	Philadelphia Eagles (East winner)
2	New England Patriots (East winner)	Atlanta Falcons (South winner)
3	Indianapolis Colts (South winner)	Green Bay Packers (North winner)
4	San Diego Chargers (West winner)	Seattle Seahawks (West winner)
5	New York Jets (wild card)	St. Louis Rams (wild card)
6	Denver Broncos (wild card)	Minnesota Vikings (wild card)
For details on the NFL playoff format, see National Football League playoffs#Current playoff system.

The Miami Dolphins were the first team to be eliminated from the playoff race, having reached a 1-9 record by week 11.^[1]

Bracket

	Jan. 9 – RCA Dome					Jan. 16 – Gillette Stadium
	6	Denver	24
						3	Indianapolis	3
	3	Indianapolis	49								Jan. 23 – Heinz Field
						2	New England	20
						AFC
	Jan. 8 – Qualcomm Stadium										2	New England	41
						Jan. 15 – Heinz Field
											1	Pittsburgh	27
	5	N.Y. Jets	20*								AFC Championship
						5	N.Y. Jets	17
	4	San Diego	17													Feb. 6 – Alltel Stadium
						1	Pittsburgh	20*
	Wild Card Playoffs
						Divisional Playoffs
	Jan. 8 – Qwest Field															A2	New England	24
						Jan. 15 – Georgia Dome
																N1	Philadelphia	21
	5	St. Louis	27													Super Bowl XXXIX
						5	St. Louis	17
	4	Seattle	20								Jan. 23 – Lincoln Financial Field
						2	Atlanta	47
						NFC
	Jan. 9 – Lambeau Field										2	Atlanta	10
						Jan. 16 – Lincoln Financial Field
											1	Philadelphia	27
	6	Minnesota	31								NFC Championship
						6	Minnesota	14
	3	Green Bay	17
						1	Philadelphia	27

* Indicates overtime victory

Milestones

The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season:

Record	Player/Team	Date/Opponent	Previous Record Holder[2]
Longest Interception Return	Ed Reed, Baltimore (106 yards)	November 7, at Cleveland	Tied by 2 players (103)
Most Touchdown Passes, Season	Peyton Manning, Indianapolis (49)	N/A	Dan Marino, Miami, 1984 (48)
Highest Passer Rating, Season	Peyton Manning, Indianapolis (121.1)		Steve Young, San Francisco, 1994 (112.8)
Most Interception Return Yards Gained, Season	Ed Reed, Baltimore (358)		Charlie McNeil, San Diego, 1961 (349)
Most First Downs by a Team, Season	Kansas City (398)		Miami, 1994 (387)
Most Consecutive Games Won	New England	October 24, vs. N.Y. Jets	Chicago, 1933–34 (17)
Most Passing Touchdowns by a Team, Season	Indianapolis (51)	N/A	Miami, 1984 (49)

The Colts led the NFL with 522 points scored. The Colts tallied more points in the first half of each of their games of the 2004 NFL season (277 points) than seven other NFL teams managed in the entire season.^[3] Despite throwing for 49 touchdown passes, Peyton Manning attempted fewer than 500 passes for the first time in his NFL career.^[4] The San Francisco 49ers record 420 consecutive scoring games that had started in Week 5 of the 1977 season ended in Week 2 of the season.

Statistical leaders

Team

Points scored	Indianapolis Colts (522)
Total yards gained	Kansas City Chiefs (6,695)
Yards rushing	Atlanta Falcons (2,672)
Yards passing	Indianapolis Colts (4,623)
Fewest points allowed	Pittsburgh Steelers (251)
Fewest total yards allowed	Pittsburgh Steelers (4,134)
Fewest rushing yards allowed	Pittsburgh Steelers (1,299)
Fewest passing yards allowed	Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2,579)

Individual

Scoring	Adam Vinatieri, New England (141 points)
Touchdowns	Shaun Alexander, Seattle (20 TDs)
Most field goals made	Adam Vinatieri, New England (31 FGs)
Passing	Daunte Culpepper, Minnesota (4717 yards)
Passing Touchdowns	Peyton Manning, Indianapolis (49 TDs)
Passer Rating	Peyton Manning, Indianapolis (121.1 rating)
Rushing	Curtis Martin, New York Jets (1,697 yards)
Rushing Touchdowns	LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego (17 TDs)
Receptions	Tony Gonzalez, Kansas City (102)
Receiving yards	Muhsin Muhammad, Carolina (1,405)
Punt returns	Eddie Drummond, Detroit (13.2 average yards)
Kickoff returns	Willie Ponder, New York Giants (26.9 average yards)
Interceptions	Ed Reed, Baltimore (9)
Punting	Shane Lechler, Oakland (46.7 average yards)
Sacks	Dwight Freeney, Indianapolis (16)

Awards

Most Valuable Player	Peyton Manning, Quarterback, Indianapolis
Coach of the Year	Marty Schottenheimer, San Diego
Offensive Player of the Year	Peyton Manning, Quarterback, Indianapolis
Defensive Player of the Year	Ed Reed, Safety, Baltimore
Offensive Rookie of the Year	Ben Roethlisberger, Quarterback, Pittsburgh
Defensive Rookie of the Year	Jonathan Vilma, Linebacker, New York Jets
NFL Comeback Player of the Year	Drew Brees, Quarterback, San Diego

External links

• Football Outsiders 2004 Team Efficiency Ratings

Notes

References

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 2001– (Last accessed October 17, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
• Celebration penalty among rules changes (Last accessed October 17, 2005)

2004 NFL season AFC East North South West East North South West NFC Buffalo Baltimore Houston Denver Dallas Chicago Atlanta Arizona Miami Cincinnati Indianapolis Kansas City NY Giants Detroit Carolina St. Louis New England Cleveland Jacksonville Oakland Philadelphia Green Bay New Orleans San Francisco NY Jets Pittsburgh Tennessee San Diego Washington Minnesota Tampa Bay Seattle 2004 NFL Draft NFL Playoffs Pro Bowl Super Bowl XXXIX

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