2011 NFL season

In May 2008 the owners decided to opt out of the 1993 arrangement and play the 2010 season without an agreement in place.[9] Some of the major points of contention included openness of owners' financial books, the rookie pay scale, a proposed 18 percent reduction in the players' share of revenues, forfeiture on bonus payments for players who fail to perform, players' health and retirement benefits, details of free agency, the cost and benefit of new stadiums, players' salaries, extending the regular season to 18 games, and the revenue-sharing structure.[9] By March 2011, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) and the NFL had not yet come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), thus failing to resolve the labor dispute. Accordingly, the NFLPA informed the league and the clubs that the players had voted to have the NFLPA renounce its bargaining rights.[10] After the renunciation of collective bargaining rights, quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees joined seven other NFL players and filed an antitrust suit to enjoin the lockout.[11][10][12]

Following the settlement of the Brady et al. v. NFL antitrust suit on July 25, 2011, a majority of players signed union authorization cards approving the NFL Players Association to act as their exclusive collective bargaining representative.[13] The NFL officially recognized the NFLPA's status as the players' collective bargaining representative on July 30.[14] The NFL and NFLPA proceeded to negotiate terms for a new collective bargaining agreement, and the agreement became effective after ratification by the players on August 4.[15] The new collective bargaining agreement ran through 2021.[16]

The 2011 NFL Draft was held from April 28 to 30, 2011 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. With the first pick, the Carolina Panthers selected quarterback Cam Newton from Auburn.

Free agency began on July 25, 2011 following the end of the 2011 NFL lockout.

The following are rule changes that were passed at the league's annual owners meeting in March. All changes went into effect once the labor dispute was resolved.

• Changes were made regarding kickoffs to limit injuries. First, kickoffs will be moved from the 30 to the 35-yard line, repealing a 1994 rule change. In addition, players on the kickoff coverage team cannot line up more than 5 yards behind the kickoff line, minimizing running starts and thus reducing the speed of collisions.[29] Other changes were also proposed, but a number of players and coaches expressed concern they would actually significantly reduce, if not eliminate, the number of kickoff returns.[30][31] Proposals that would have brought touchbacks out to the 25 instead of the 20, and eliminated all wedge blocks were not adopted.[29] Despite this rule, the Bears kicked off from the 30-yard line twice in their preseason game against the Bills.
• All replay reviews of scoring plays during the entire game can now be initiated by the replay booth official. Coaches will no longer have to use one of their challenges if a scoring play occurs outside of the two-minute warning.[29][30] Because the play is now "unchallengeable" by coaches, attempting to do so will result in a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which several coaches were flagged for during the season.
• Nicknamed the "Boise State Rule", all playing fields must remain green, and not be in another color like the blue turf at Boise State's Bronco Stadium, unless approval is granted by the league. This was passed in response to a few sponsors who requested to change the colors in a few stadiums.[32]

The following rule changes were adopted at the NFL Owners' Meeting on May 24, 2011:

• Hits to the head of a passer-by an opponent's hands, arms or other parts of the body will not be fouls unless they are forcible blows, modifying the existing rule that any contact to a passer's head, regardless of the reason, is penalized as a personal foul (15 yards).
• Players will be prohibited from "launching" (leaving both feet prior to contact to spring forward and upward into an opponent or using any part of the helmet to initiate forcible contact against any part of the opponent's body) to level a defenseless player, as well as "forcibly hitting the neck or head area with the helmet, facemask, forearm or shoulder regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the defenseless player by encircling or grasping him.", and lowering the head and make forcible contact with the top/crown or forehead/"hairline" parts of the helmet against any part of the defenseless player's body. Offenders will be penalised 15 yards for unnecessary roughness plus risking immediate disqualification if the contact is deemed flagrant.

A "defenseless player" is defined as a:

• Player in the act of or just after throwing a pass.
• Receiver attempting to catch a pass or one who has not completed a catch and hasn't had time to protect himself or hasn't clearly become a runner. If the receiver/runner is capable of avoiding or warding off the impending contact of an opponent, he is no longer a defenseless player.
• Runner whose forward progress has been stopped and is already in the grasp of a tackler.
• Kickoff or punt returner attempting to field a kick in the air.
• Player on the ground at the end of a play.
• Kicker/punter during the kick or return.
• Quarterback any time after a change of possession (i.e. turnover).
• Player who receives a "blindside" block when the blocker is moving toward his own end-line and approaches the opponent from behind or the side.[33]

The league has instructed game officials to "err on the side of caution" when calling such personal foul penalties, and that they will not be downgraded if they make a mistake so that they will not hesitate on making these kinds of calls.[34]

The preseason schedule was released April 12, 2011. The Hall of Fame Game, had it been played, would have featured the Chicago Bears against the St. Louis Rams in only the second time since 1971 that the game would have featured two teams from the same conference.[36] Instead, the preseason began with the San Diego Chargers hosting the Seattle Seahawks on August 11; the remainder of the preseason and all other games was played as originally scheduled (with the exception of the preseason New York Jets-New York Giants game, which was postponed two days due to Hurricane Irene).

The 2011 season began on Thursday, September 8, 2011 at Lambeau Field, with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers hosting the New Orleans Saints in the kickoff game; the last regular season games were held on Sunday, January 1, 2012. The playoffs started on Saturday, January 7, 2012, and ended with Super Bowl XLVI, the league's championship game, on February 5, 2012 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Under the NFL's scheduling formula, intraconference and interconference matchups were:

When the league was arranging the schedule in spring 2011, it added some cushion in case the labor dispute lasted into September and the planned start of the regular season. For example, every contest in Week 3 had teams which shared the same bye week later in the season, which would have allowed these games to be made up on what were originally the teams' byes. Weeks 2 and 4 were set up so that there were neither any divisional rivalry games nor teams on bye in those weeks, and every team with a home game in Week 2 was on the road in Week 4 and vice versa. This would have kept the season as fair as possible if those games had to be canceled.[37] These scheduling changes, along with eliminating the week off before the Super Bowl and moving the Super Bowl back a week, would have allowed the NFL to play a 14-game schedule beginning in mid-October while still having the Super Bowl in mid-February.

This season's International Series game featured the Chicago Bears and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium in London on October 23, with the Buccaneers serving as the home team.[38] The Bears won 24–18.[39] It marked the Bears' second game played outside the United States in as many years, as they were a part of the Bills Toronto Series in 2010. The Buccaneers previously appeared in the International Series in 2009. One week later on October 30, the Buffalo Bills defeated the Washington Redskins in the Bills' annual game at Rogers Centre in Toronto by a score of 23–0. Although this was within the bounds of the 2011 CFL season, neither of the two Southern Ontario CFL teams was playing on the same day, and both played away games that weekend. The 2011–12 season also marked the 20th anniversary of the Bills and Redskins meeting in Super Bowl XXVI.

The Detroit Lions hosted their first Monday Night Football game since 2001, when they faced the Chicago Bears on Columbus Day/Canadian Thanksgiving (the Detroit-Windsor market straddles the U.S.–Canada border).[40] The Lions defeated the Bears 24–13 for the team's fifth straight win, the most Lions wins to start a season since the team's glory years in the 1950s, continuing a streak that has been seen as a pleasant surprise for Lions fans, after over a decade of mediocrity.[41]

The 2011 Thanksgiving Day slate featured the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers winning 27–15 on the road against the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys coming back to defeat the Miami Dolphins 20–19 at home. The Thanksgiving nightcap on the NFL Network showed the Baltimore Ravens defeating the San Francisco 49ers 16–6 at home; this was the first Thanksgiving game for the 49ers since 1972, the first ever for the Ravens, and a game that put first-year 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh against his brother, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.

Christmas Day fell on Sunday. The TV contracts stated that the majority of afternoon games would be played on Christmas Eve (Saturday) and only one game was held over for Sunday night. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Chicago Bears, 35–21, on Christmas evening on NBC.

New Year's Day 2012 consequently also fell on a Sunday, and the NFL played its entire Week 17 schedule that day. The major college bowl games usually played on New Year's Day, as well as the NHL Winter Classic, were instead played on Monday, January 2. For the second straight year, Week 17 only featured divisional match-ups.

The New York Giants visited the Washington Redskins on September 11, 2011, the first Sunday of the regular season, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks in which Washington, D.C. and New York City were both targeted, as well as the first such anniversary since the killing of Osama bin Laden in May.[42] Due to the proximity of Baltimore with Washington as well as the proximity of Pittsburgh with the site where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed, the Pittsburgh Steelers visited the archrival Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. It marked the first time the two teams played in a season-opening game since 2003, as their heated rivalry usually prompts their games to be scheduled later in the season. There had been some speculation that the Giants and their same-city rival, the New York Jets, could have played each other that day since the two were scheduled to play each other in 2011; the Jets were the designated home team at MetLife Stadium in the matchup which had been predetermined due to the NFL's scheduling formula.[43] However, the Jets instead hosted the Dallas Cowboys.[44]

• Most points in the Kickoff Game, single team: 42, Green Bay (vs. New Orleans, September 8, 2011)
• Most points in the Kickoff Game, total: 76, Green Bay (42) and New Orleans (34) – September 8, 2011
• Longest kick return (tie): 108 yards, Randall Cobb (Green Bay vs. New Orleans – September 8, 2011)
• Longest field goal (tie): 63 yards, Sebastian Janikowski (Oakland vs. Denver – September 12, 2011)[51]
• Most combined passing yards in a single game, broken twice:
  • 933, Tom Brady (New England, 517) and Chad Henne (Miami, 416) – September 12, 2011[51]
  • 1,000, Matthew Stafford (Detroit, 520) and Matt Flynn (Green Bay, 480) – January 1, 2012
• Most yards thrown by a rookie quarterback in his first game: 422, Cam Newton (Carolina vs. Arizona)[52]
• Most passing yards, rookie, season: 4,051, Cam Newton, Carolina
• Most yards thrown by a quarterback, first two games of the season, broken twice:
  • 854 yards, Cam Newton (September 18, 2011), Carolina, stands as record for a rookie[53]
  • 940 yards, Tom Brady (September 18, 2011), New England Patriots[53]
• Most consecutive second-half drives to end in touchdowns: 5, Buffalo (vs. Oakland, September 18, 2011)[54]
• Largest point margin prior to a successful comeback in consecutive games, modern era, broken twice:
  • 18, Buffalo (18 vs. Oakland, 21 vs. New England)[55]
  • 20, Detroit (20 vs. Minnesota, 24 vs. Dallas)
• Most field goals of 50 or more yards, single game (tied twice):
  • 3, Sebastian Janikowski, Oakland (54, 55, and 50; vs. Houston, October 9, 2011)[56]
  • 3, Josh Scobee, Jacksonville (54, 54, and 51; vs. Baltimore, October 24, 2011)
• Highest net punting average for a season: 43.99 yards, Andy Lee, San Francisco[57]
• Longest game-winning punt return touchdown in overtime: 99 yards, Patrick Peterson, Arizona (vs. St. Louis, November 6, 2011)[58]
• Most punt returns in a season for touchdown (tied): 4, Patrick Peterson, Arizona
• Most punt return yards by a rookie in a season: 699, Patrick Peterson, Arizona
• Most field goals in a season: 44, David Akers, San Francisco
• Most points in a season without a touchdown: 166, David Akers, San Francisco[57]
• Most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season: 14, Cam Newton, Carolina
• Most passing yards in a season: 5,476, Drew Brees, New Orleans.[59]
  • Tom Brady, New England (5,235) and Matthew Stafford, Detroit (5,038) also passed for more than 5,000 yards marking the 4th and 5th times an individual has reached that milestone in NFL history, and the first time more than one person has done it in a single season.
• Fewest turnovers in a season (tied): 10, San Francisco[57]
• The 2011 Saints broke many offensive records on January 1, 2012:[60]
  • Most net yardage of offense in a season: 7,474
  • Most net yards passing: 5,347
  • Most completions: 472
  • Highest completion percentage (team) for the season: 71.3
  • Fewest fumbles in a season: 6
  • Most first downs for the season: 416
  • Most passing first downs in a season: 280
  • Most kick-offs resulting in a touchback, season: 62
  • Highest third down conversion percentage: 57.9%
• The 2011 Raiders also broke a few records:
  • Most penalties, season: 163
  • Most yards penalized, season: 1,358
• Most all purpose yards in a season: 2,696, Darren Sproles, New Orleans
• Most receiving yards by a tight end in a season, broken twice:
  • 1310, (Jimmy Graham, New Orleans vs. Carolina)
  • 1327, (Rob Gronkowski, New England vs. Buffalo)
• Most games, 300+ yards passing, season: 13, Drew Brees, New Orleans
• Most consecutive 300+ yards passing games: 7, Drew Brees, New Orleans
• Punt return touchdowns, career: 12, Devin Hester, Chicago
• Most consecutive games, 100+ passer rating, season: 12, Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay
• Highest passer rating, season: 122.5, Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay
• Most field goals of 50 or more yards, season, all teams: 90
• Highest field goals of 50 or more yards percentage, season, all teams: 63.8
• Highest completion percentage (individual), season: 71.2, Drew Brees, New Orleans
• Longest pass completion (tied twice):
  • 99, Tom Brady, New England (vs. Miami, September 12, 2011)
  • 99, Eli Manning, New York Giants (vs. New York Jets, December 24, 2011)
• Most consecutive games, 2+ touchdown passes (tied): 13, Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay
• Most times finished in the first place: 23, New York Giants

The first Sunday of the season fell on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. To commemorate that event players, coaches, game officials and sideline personnel all wore a special stars and stripes ribbon bearing the dates "9/11/01" and "9/11/11" as a patch or pin. Players were also allowed to wear special red, white and blue gloves and shoes.[141]

The Buffalo Bills introduced redesigned uniforms on June 24, 2011. Early rumors fueled by a Madden NFL 12 trailer featuring a Bills throwback uniform had indicated the team would be adopting the uniforms the team wore between 1975 and 1983;[142] the final product indeed resembled those uniforms, with some minor adjustments.[143] The new uniforms (which marked the first redesign since 2002) were unveiled at a fan appreciation event at Ralph Wilson Stadium.[144] The Bills wore their white "away" uniforms in their week nine home game against the New York Jets as part of a whiteout promotion; the last time the team had worn their white uniforms at home was in 1986.[145]

The New England Patriots' uniforms bore a patch bearing the initials "MHK" in honor of team owner Robert Kraft's wife Myra Kraft who died of cancer in July.[146] The Patriots wore their red throwback uniforms in their week five game against the New York Jets. They wore their white jerseys at home against the Dallas Cowboys in week six, thus forcing the Cowboys to use their navy jerseys for the only time all season and the first time since 2009.[147] As per tradition, the Cowboys wore their throwbacks on Thanksgiving Day (November 24) at home against the Miami Dolphins.[147]

The St. Louis Rams wore their throwback uniforms in week 8 against the New Orleans Saints; the date was determined by fan voting.[148]

The Baltimore Ravens wore their black alternative jerseys twice in 2011: with black pants against the Jets and with white pants against the 49ers.[149]

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers wore their orange throwback uniforms during week 13 against Carolina.[150]

The Oakland Raiders wore stickers featuring "AL" on their helmets after owner Al Davis died on October 8, 2011.[151]

This season was the last in which the Denver Broncos wore their navy blue jerseys as their primary jersey, as the team has designated their orange jerseys—the team's alternate home jersey since 2002—as their new primary home jersey color, beginning with the 2012 season. The move was made due to overwhelming fan support to return to using orange as the team's primary home jersey color, which harkens back to the days of the Orange Crush Defense, as well as John Elway's return to the organization as the team's executive vice president of football operations. The team had considered making the switch for the 2011 season, but were too late to notify the NFL of the changes.[152] The team's navy blue jerseys, which had been their primary home jersey since they were first introduced in 1997, will become the alternate jerseys which will be worn in one or two home games each year.[153]

This season was the last in which the Seattle Seahawks wore their pacific blue (or "Seahawks blue") jerseys as the team's home jersey, as the team changed their home jersey color to dark navy for the 2012 season.[154]

This was the sixth season under the television contracts with the league's television partners: CBS (all AFC afternoon away games), Fox (all NFC afternoon away games), NBC (17 Sunday Night Football games and the kickoff game), ESPN (17 Monday Night Football games over sixteen weeks), NFL Network (eight late-season games on Thursday night and Saturday nights), and DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket package. These contracts originally ran through at least 2013.

ESPN extended its contract for Monday Night Football on September 8, during the opening week of the season. This new contract, valued between $14.2 billion and $15.2 billion, extended ESPN's rights for eight seasons until 2021. It also gave them rights to expanded highlights, international and digital rights, the Pro Bowl beginning with the 2015 installment, and possibly a Wildcard playoff game.[156] The league also signed a nine-year extension with CBS, Fox and NBC on their current contracts starting with the 2014 season through 2022.[157]

The 2011 NFL season version of "musical chairs" brought some changes. At CBS, Dick Enberg officially retired (he broadcast San Diego Padres games for Fox Sports San Diego and its predecessor, 4SD until he retired in 2016; he died in 2017), and Marv Albert replaced him, coming over from Westwood One radio. Gus Johnson has also departed CBS and will begin calling play-by-play for Fox, mostly college games as well on FX. ESPN lost both of their sideline reporters from 2010: Michele Tafoya to NBC, where she replaced the departing Andrea Kremer, and Suzy Kolber reduced the number of games she covers to work on ESPN2's new NFL32 show, which she is hosting. ESPN, who had reduced the roles of its sideline reporters in recent years in response to NFL rule changes, used only one sideline reporter for each game of the 2011 season; among the rotating reporters include Kolber, Wendi Nix, Ed Werder, Sal Paolantonio, and Rachel Nichols. At NFL Network, Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock became its new broadcasting crew, replacing Bob Papa, Matt Millen, and Joe Theismann.

On December 22, 2010, the league announced that its national radio contract with Westwood One, which was acquired by Dial Global in the 2011 offseason, had been extended through 2014.[158] The league also extended its contract with Sirius XM Radio through 2015.[159] In addition to these contracts, and in a first for an NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys signed a deal to allow for nationwide broadcasts of all of its home and away games broadcast on Compass Media Networks, in addition to its existing local radio network. Compass also acquired exclusive national broadcast rights to both the International Series and Toronto Series contests.[160]

The league did not announce plans to compensate their media partners had the season been shortened or canceled as a result of the work stoppage. NBC had ordered several low-cost reality television shows for the 2011–12 TV season in the event that Sunday Night Football could not be played, but other networks had not made public any contingency plans in the event NFL games could not be televised (in the case of CBS and Fox, the Sunday afternoon time slots could have been left unfilled and turned over to the affiliates, likely to be used for time buys by minor and extreme sports organizations, or locally programmed infomercials or movies as they are during the offseason). A work stoppage could have potentially cost these networks billions of dollars in ad revenue and other entertainment platforms that depend on the games being played. (Under the NFL's television contracts, the networks must still pay the league a rights fee regardless of whether or not the league plays any games; a March 2 ruling states that this money must be put into escrow and not be spent.)[161] Meanwhile, the United Football League had set aside a portion of their television contract for their 2011 UFL season, as a potential package of replacement programs for the networks;[162] while CBS and Fox briefly negotiated with the UFL regarding the package, neither network committed to carrying the games, forcing the UFL to postpone its season by a month.

• Football Outsiders: Final 2011 DVOA Ratings
• Zimmer, John; Marini, Matt, eds. (2011). Official 2011 National Football League Record & Fact Book (PDF). New York: National Football League. ISBN 978-1-603-20887-1. Retrieved October 29, 2013.