• August 25, 1982: Quarterback Ken Stabler, winner of Super Bowl XI with the Oakland Raiders, signed with the New … See more

• The penalty for incidental grabbing of a facemask that is committed by the defensive team changed from five yards and an automatic first down to only five yards with no automatic first down. The incidental f… See more

For the first time all Sunday afternoon games began in one of two windows: 1:00 p.m. ET/noon CT for early games, or 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT for late games. From 1970 to 1981, most games began at 1 p.m. local time r… See more

Each of the first three rounds of the playoffs was pushed back one week in order to make room for the new week 17, which was originally scheduled as the Wild Card weekend. This was possible because there was an idl… See more

• Baltimore Colts: Frank Kush replaced the fired Mike McCormack.
• Chicago Bears: Mike Ditka replaced the fired Neill Armstrong.
• New England Patriots: Ron Meyer replaced the fired Ron Erhardt.… See more