2004 NFL season

Transactions

• February 24, 2004, The Washington Redskins released Bruce Smith, the NFL's all-time sack leader, saving $6.5 million in salary cap space.

Draft

The 2004 NFL draft was held from April 24 to 25, 2004, at New York City's Theater at Madison Square Garden. With the first pick, the San Diego Chargers selected quarterback Eli Manning from the University of Mississippi.

Referee changes

Ron Blum returned to line judge (where he officiated Super Bowl XXIV and Super Bowl XXVI), and Bill Vinovich was promoted to take his place as referee.

Midway through the season, Johnny Grier, the NFL's first African-American referee, suffered a leg injury that forced him to retire, and became an officiating supervisor for the NFL the following season. He was permanently replaced by the back judge on his crew, Scott Green, who had previous experience as a referee in NFL Europe.

Rule changes

• Due to several incidents during the previous year, 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.
• Timeouts can be called by head coaches.
• The league's jersey numbering system was modified to allow wide receivers wear numbers 10–19, in addition to 80–89.
• 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.
• The one-bar facemask was outlawed. The few remaining players who still used the one-bar facemask at the time were allowed to continue to use the style for the remainder of their career under a grandfather clause. (Scott Player was the last player to wear the one-bar facemask in ).

2004 deaths

• Pat Tillman former safety for the Arizona Cardinals was killed during incident during the war in Afghanistan.
• Reggie White former defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Carolina Panthers unexpectedly died on December 26, 2004, just seven days after his 43rd birthday from complications of sleep apnea.

Final regular season standings

Conference standings

Playoffs

Main article: 2004–05 NFL playoffs

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

Bracket

Milestones

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

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. Despite throwing for 49 touchdown passes, Peyton Manning attempted fewer than 500 passes for the first time in his NFL career. 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

Individual

Awards

Head coach/front office changes

;Head coach

;Front office

Stadium changes

• Carolina Panthers: Ericsson Stadium was renamed Bank of America Stadium after Bank of America acquired the naming rights.
• Minnesota Vikings: The AstroTurf at the Metrodome was replaced with a new FieldTurf field.
• Oakland Raiders: Network Associates Coliseum was renamed McAfee Coliseum to reflect naming right holder, Network Associates, changing its name to McAfee.
• San Francisco 49ers: Monster Cable acquired the naming rights to Candlestick Park, renaming it merely to "Monster Park" without any qualifier. This eventually results in confusion among fans who erroneously think the name instead refers to Monster.com or Monster Energy.
• Seattle Seahawks: Seahawks Stadium was renamed Qwest Field after telecommunications carrier Qwest acquired the naming rights.

New uniforms

• The Atlanta Falcons switched the primary and alternate jerseys, making the red ones the primary and the black ones the alternate.
• The Baltimore Ravens added black third alternative uniforms.
• The Cincinnati Bengals introduced new uniforms, featuring black jerseys with orange tiger-striped sleeves, white jerseys with black tiger striped sleeves, and orange third alternate uniforms. A new logo featuring an orange "B" with black tiger stripes was also unveiled.
• The Chicago Bears added orange third alternate uniforms.
• The Indianapolis Colts switched from blue face masks and white shoes to gray facemasks and black shoes
• The Jacksonville Jaguars made modification to their white uniforms, changing the teal number with black and gold trim to black numbers with gold and teal trim. Also introduced were new black pants with the Jaguars logo on hip.
• The New York Giants added red third alternate uniforms.
• The San Diego Chargers returned to navy pants with their white jerseys.

Television

This was the seventh year under the league's eight-year broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, Fox, and ESPN to televise Monday Night Football, the AFC package, the NFC package, and Sunday Night Football, respectively.

At CBS, Jim Nantz and Greg Gumbel swapped roles. Nantz replaced Gumbel as CBS's lead play-by-play announcer while Gumbel took Nantz's hosting duties on The NFL Today. Shannon Sharpe also joined The NFL Today as an analyst, replacing Deion Sanders who was let go due to salary disputes, and returned to playing with the Baltimore Ravens from 2004-2005. Former quarterback Steve Beuerlein joined CBS as a color commentator following his retirement after the 2003 NFL season and worked the #7 broadcast team. As well as Dan Dierdorf doing play by play for the first time since the 1980’s for the Titans Dolphins matchup week 1 with Todd Blackledge as the game was moved to Saturday due to Hurricane Ivan.

ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Patrick missed the first few broadcasts to recover from heart bypass surgery. Pat Summerall filled in those weeks for Patrick.

Starting this season CBS, Fox, ABC, and ESPN started broadcasting regular season games in High Definition. CBS would do select games weekly, while Fox, ABC, and ESPN broadcast every game weekly.

Notes

References

• NFL Record and Fact Book ()
• NFL History 2001– (Last accessed October 17, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League ()
• Celebration penalty among rules changes (Last accessed October 17, 2005)

References

1. (February 24, 2004). "Redskins cut four, including Smith". ESPN Sports.
2. Strauss, Chris. (November 16, 2014). "The Oakland Raiders are officially eliminated from playoff contention". USA Today.
3. (2005). "2005 NFL Record and Fact Book". NFL.
4. (2007). "Numbelievable!". Triumph Books.
5. (2007). "Numbelievable!". Triumph Books.
6. (December 10, 2003). "Reeves beats owner to the punch".
7. Hill, Clarence E. Jr.. (January 20, 2005). "Mora, Falcons prove they were a ready-made fit". [[Fort Worth Star-Telegram]].
8. "Dick Jauron Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks".
9. (February 16, 2015). "Exploring the legacy of former coach Jim Fassel".
10. (January 2004). "Raiders Officially Fire Callahan".
11. "Bucs give McKay permission to leave".
12. Gardner, Jim. (November 28, 2005). "Fans unclear on main Monster in 49ers lineup".