The 2005 NFL football season passed with new all time records being set, with
everything from Shaun Alexanders record breaking 28 touchdowns in one season to
Nathan Vashers longest return of a missed field goal at an incredible 108 yards
(also the longest play of any kind in NFL history) to the Seattle Seahawks
amazing regular season performance and loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super
Bowl XL.
Super Bowl XL was the 40th Super Bowl. The game was played on February 5,
2006 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, following the regular football season
of 2005. The American Football Conference (AFC) champions, the Pittsburgh
Steelers, defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champions, the Seattle
Seahawks, 21–10. Although the Seahawks won the turnover battle, 2-1, and
outgained the Steelers by 57 yards, Pittsburgh won on the strength of three big
plays converted for touchdowns. The Seahawks were plagued by controversial
penalties, dropped balls, poor clock management, and a game-ending interception
on a drive deep into Steelers’ territory. This was the Steelers fifth Super Bowl
win, and with this victory the Steelers join the Dallas Cowboys and the San
Francisco 49ers for the most Super Bowl wins by a team.
The upcoming 2006 NFL season will be the 87th season of the National Football
League. This season is scheduled to begin on September 7 and the opening kickoff
game will feature the Miami Dolphins playing the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz
Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 8:30 pm Eastern time (ET). The regular
series of games start on Sunday, September 10, with the Indianapolis Colts
playing the New York Giants in New York. Then on Monday Night, September 11,
there will be a doubleheader: the Minnesota Vikings at the Washington Redskins
at 7 pm ET, followed by the San Diego Chargers at the Oakland Raiders at 10:15
pm ET.
Three games are scheduled to be played on Thanksgiving Day. In addition to
the traditional annual Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys home games during that
day (who will host the Miami Dolphins at 12:30 pm ET and the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers at 4:15 pm ET, respectively), the Denver Broncos will travel to face
the Kansas City Chiefs at 8 pm ET.
The season will conclude on New Years Eve, December 31. Super Bowl XLI, the
Super Bowl championship game for the 2006 season, will be held on February 4,
2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Lakes, Florida, and the post-season will
conclude with the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.
Based on the NFLs scheduling formula, the intraconference and
interconference matchups for 2006 will be:
Intraconference
AFC East v AFC South
AFC North v AFC West
NFC East
v NFC South
NFC North v NFC West
Interconference
AFC East v NFC North
AFC North v NFC South
AFC
South v NFC East
AFC West v NFC West
2006 will be the first year that the NFL will use a "flexible-scheduling"
system for the last seven weeks of the regular season. The system is designed so
that the league has the flexibility in selecting games to air on Sunday night
that will feature the current hottest, streaking teams. This systems primary
purpose is to prevent games featuring losing teams from airing during primetime
late in the season, while at the same time allowing surprise, playoff-potential
teams a chance to play at night. During the previous 2005 season, a December 19
Monday Night game featured the 4-9 Baltimore Ravens versus the 3-10 Green Bay
Packers, while hot, streaking teams such as the Cincinnati Bengals, Tampa Bay
Buccaneers, and the Jacksonville Jaguars had little or no primetime games.
Because Christmas Eve (December 24) falls on a Sunday during the 2006 season,
the flexible-scheduling will actually occur in seven of the last eight weeks.
Instead of a Sunday night game on Christmas Eve, two games will be held on
Monday, Christmas Day: The Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas at 5 pm ET, and the New
York Jets at Miami at 8:30 pm ET. Therefore, the first real test of the new
flexible scheduling will come with the 2007 season, with the final seven weeks
scheduled to begin on November 18 of that year.
Under the flexible-scheduling system, all Sunday games in the affected weeks
will have the start time of 1pm ET/10am PT, except those played in the Pacific
or Mountain Time zones who will have a start time of 4 pm ET/1pm PT (or 4:15 PM
ET/1:15 PM PT if it is a doubleheader weekend). On the Tuesday 12 days before
the games, the league will move one game to the primetime slot, and possibly
move one or more 1 pm slotted games to the 4 pm slots. During the last week of
the season, the league could re-schedule games as late as six days before the
contests so that all of the television networks will be able to broadcast a game
that has playoff implications.
The 2006 NFL football season is sure to be full of new records, surprising
stories, and incredible sports gambling action.
Natalie Aranda writes on sports and entertainment. The 2006 NFL football
season is sure to be full of new records, surprising stories, and incredible
sports gambling action. As football fans across the US count down to the opening
day of the 2006 NFL Regular Season Kickoff, BetUS.com Sportsbook has launched its 2006 NFL football betting
portal for all football betting enthusiasts everywhere. Throughout the preseason
and regular season youll have the opportunity to extend your sports betting
winnings and grab the excitement of another incredible football season.
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