1987 NFL season: Difference between revisions

The '''1987 NFL season''' was the 68th [[regular season]] of the [[National Football League]] (NFL). This season featured games predominantly played by [[replacement playersplayer]]s, as the [[National Football League Players Association]] (NFLPA) players were [[National Football League Players Association#1987 strike|on strike]] from weeks four to six with week three being cancelled in its entirety. This remains the last NFL season in which regular-season games were impacted by a labor conflict (as well as the last season when non-union players were used as strike-breaking competitors).

*On October 31, 1987, the Los Angeles Rams traded [[Eric Dickerson]] to the Indianapolis Colts in a three team trade involving the Buffalo Bills. The Rams sent Dickerson to the Colts for six draft choices and two players. Buffalo obtained the rights to [[Cornelius Bennett]] from Indianapolis. Buffalo sent running back [[Greg Bell (Americanrunning footballback, born 1962)|Greg Bell]] and three draft choices to the Rams, while Indianapolis added [[Owen Gill]] and three of their own draft picks to complete the deal with the Rams.<ref>NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, {{ISBN|0-7611-2480-2}}, p.286</ref>

[[Chuck Heberling]] retired during the 1987 off-season. He joined the NFL in 1965 as a line judge before being promoted to referee in 1972. Games that he officiated include the [[Hail Mary pass|Hail Mary Game]] and [[The Drive (American football)|The Drive]]. [[Fred Silva]], who was a swing official in 1986, was given his own crew again.

*Revenue sharing was changed so that NFL players received a portion of the ticket revenue, while the owners kept the revenue generated by skybox rentals. This led to many teams pushing for new stadiums which lowered many skybox suites from the less-desirable outer rim of a stadium to more desirable locations closer to the field (typically, the midsection or lower) so that the owners could charge more money for the suites, while similarly reducing the ticket revenue by replacing the higher-priced seats with lower-priced “nose"nose bleed”bleed" seats. Overall, the number of available general admission seating was also reduced in favor of larger suites.

A 24-day [[National Football League Players Association#Gene Upshaw era (1983–2008)|players' strike]] was called after Weekweek 2. The games that were scheduled for the [[Cancelled NFL games|third week of the season were cancelled]], reducing the 16-game season to 15, but the games for Weeks 4, 5 and 6 were played with [[replacement players]]. The NFLPA actually ended the strike before the Weekweek 6 slate of games, but the NFL owners' unanimously nixed their return that week because the union had missed an owner-mandated deadline that week to be eligible to return, and would have to wait until Weekweek 7 to resume playing. Approximately 15% of the NFLPA’sNFLPA's players chose to cross picket lines to play during the strike; prominent players who did so included New York Jets defensive end [[Mark Gastineau]], Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle [[Randy White (American football)|Randy White]], San Francisco 49ers quarterback [[Joe Montana]], Los Angeles Raiders defensive end [[Howie Long]], 49ers running back [[Roger Craig (American football)|Roger Craig]], New England Patriots quarterback [[Doug Flutie]] and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver [[Steve Largent]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Merrill|first1=Elizabeth|title=NFL replacements part of history|url=http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=6642330|publisher=ESPN|access-date=September 16, 2017|date=June 9, 2011}}</ref> The replacement players were mostly those left out of work by the recent folding of the [[Canadian Football League]]’s's [[Montreal Alouettes]] and the 1986 dissolution of the [[United States Football League]], as well as others who had been preseason cuts, had long left professional football or were other assorted oddities (such as cinematographer [[Todd Schlopy]], who, despite never playing professional football before or after the strike, served as placekicker for his hometown Buffalo Bills for three games). The replacement players, called to play on short notice and having little chance to jellgel as teammates, were widely treated with scorn by the press and general public, including name-calling, [[public humiliation|public shaming]] and accusations of being [[strikebreaker|scabs]]. The games played by these replacement players were regarded with even less legitimacy – attendance plummeted to under 10,000 fans at many of the games in smaller markets and cities with strong union presence, including a low of 4,074 for the lone replacement game played [[Veterans Stadium|in Philadelphia]]) — but nonetheless were counted as regular NFL games.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Farnsworth|first1=Clare|title=NFL crossed the line on Replacement Sunday|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/NFL-crossed-the-line-on-Replacement-Sunday-1097669.php|access-date=September 16, 2017|newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|date=October 3, 2001}}</ref> Final television revenues were down by about 20%, a smaller drop than the networks had expected.<ref>{{cite news|title=N.F.L. TV Ratings Drop|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/09/sports/nfl-tv-ratings-drop.html|access-date=September 16, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 9, 1987}}</ref> The defending [[Super Bowl]] champion New York Giants went 0–3 in replacement games, ultimately costing them a chance to make the playoffs and to repeat their championship. The final replacement game was a [[Monday Night Football]] matchup on October 19, 1987, with [[1987 Washington Redskins season|the Washington Redskins]] at [[1987 Dallas Cowboys season|the Dallas Cowboys]]. Along with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Redskins were the only other NFL team not to have any players cross the picket line and were surprising 13–7 victors over the Cowboys who had plenty of big name players cross the picket line.

A series of [[National Football League]] [[National Football League exhibition season|pre-season exhibition games]] that were held at sites outside the United States, the only American Bowl game in 1987 was held at London’sLondon's Wembley Stadium.

*[[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]]: [[Leeman Bennett]] was fired and replaced by [[Alabama Crimson Tide football|Alabama]] coach [[Ray Perkins]], who previously coached the [[New York Giants]] from 1979-82 to 1982.

* The [[Buffalo Bills]] switched from blue face masks to white.

* The [[Indianapolis Colts]] began wearing their white pants with their blue jerseys, discontinuing their gray pants, which had been worn since 1982.
* The [[Miami Dolphins]] introduced a redesigned jersey to coincide with the opening of [[Hard Rock Stadium|Joe Robbie Stadium]]. The stripes on the sleeves were pared down from five to three to make way for the helmet logo on the sleeves; the TV numbers moved from the sleeves to the shoulders; and the numbers changed to a new Dolphins-specific font.

CBS fired [[Jimmy Snyder (sports commentator)|"Jimmy the Greek" Snyder]] on January 16, 1988, a few days before the NFC Championship Game, after he made several questionable comments about [[African American]]s during an interview with Ed Hotaling, producer-reporter for [[Washington, D.C.]] NBC-owned station [[WRC-TV]].<ref>{{cite webnews|last=Solomon|first=George |title='Jimmy the Greek' Fired by CBS for His Remarks |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/01/17/jimmy-the-greek-fired-by-cbs-for-his-remarks/27536e46-3031-40c2-bb2b-f912ec518f80/|worknewspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 17, 1988}}</ref>