The 2012 NFL season was the 93rd season of the National Football League (NFL) and the 47th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, with the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants falling to the Dallas Cowboys in the 2012 NFL Kickoff game at MetLife Stadium, and ended with Super Bowl XLVII, the league's championship game, on Sunday, February 3, 2013, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, with the Jim Harbaugh-coached San Francisco 49ers facing the John Harbaugh-coached Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens won the game 34–31, which marked the first time two brothers were head coaches for opposing teams in the championship game.
Referee labor dispute
In 2005, the NFL and NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) agreed to a contract that would last through the 2011 season. In 2011, the officials' union had planned to use a contract clause to reopen negotiations a year early, but this failed to occur due to the 2011 NFL lockout.
By June 2012, the league and the officials' union had not yet come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, thus failing to resolve the labor dispute. The main issues between the union and the league were changes to the retirement plan, salaries, and personnel. On June 4, 2012, the NFL announced it would begin hiring replacement officials.
On September 26, 2012, an agreement was reached to end the lockout after increasing criticism of the NFL and the performance of the replacement officials. The contentious nature of the replacement officials' decision at the end of the Green Bay Packers–Seattle Seahawks game two days earlier was widely considered to have been the tipping point that finally led to an agreement. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged that the game "may have pushed the parties further along" in negotiations.
Player movement The 2012 NFL League year and trading period began at 4pm EST on March 13 2012, which marked the start of the league's free agency period. The per-team salary cap was set at US$120,600,000, marginally increased from US$120,000,000 the previous year.
Free agency Notable players to change teams during free agency included:
Quarterbacks Jason Campbell (Oakland to Chicago), Matt Flynn (Green Bay to Seattle), Chad Henne (Miami to Jacksonville), Peyton Manning (Indianapolis to Denver) and Kyle Orton (Kansas City to Dallas) Running backs Cedric Benson (Cincinnati to Green Bay), Michael Bush (Oakland to Chicago) and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (New England to Cincinnati) Fullbacks Le'Ron McClain (Kansas City to San Diego) and Mike Tolbert (San Diego to Carolina) Wide receivers Pierre Garcon (Indianapolis to Washington), Vincent Jackson (San Diego to Tampa Bay), Jacoby Jones (Houston to Baltimore), Brandon Lloyd (St. Louis to New England), Mario Manningham (New York Giants to San Francisco), Robert Meachem (New Orleans to San Diego), Laurent Robinson (Dallas to Jacksonville) and Eddie Royal (Denver to San Diego) Tight ends Martellus Bennett (Dallas to New York Giants), Kevin Boss (Oakland to Kansas City), John Carlson (Seattle to Minnesota), Dallas Clark (Indianapolis to Tampa Bay) and Jacob Tamme (Indianapolis to Denver) Offensive tackles Demetress Bell (Buffalo to Philadelphia) and Eric Winston (Houston to Kansas City) Guards Mike Brisiel (Houston to Oakland), Ben Grubbs (Baltimore to New Orleans), Steve Hutchinson (Minnesota to Tennessee) and Carl Nicks (New Orleans to Tampa Bay) Centers Jeff Saturday (Indianapolis to Green Bay) and Scott Wells (Green Bay to St. Louis) Defensive ends Mark Anderson (New England to Buffalo), Mario Williams (Houston to Buffalo) and Kamerion Wimbley (Oakland to Tennessee) Defensive tackles Brodrick Bunkley (Denver to New Orleans), Kendall Langford (Miami to St. Louis) and Cory Redding (Baltimore to Indianapolis) Linebackers David Hawthorne (Seattle to New Orleans), Jarret Johnson (Baltimore to San Diego) and Curtis Lofton (Atlanta to New Orleans) Cornerbacks Ronald Bartell (St. Louis to Oakland), Brandon Carr (Kansas City to Dallas), Cortland Finnegan (Tennessee to St. Louis), Richard Marshall (Arizona to Miami), Tracy Porter (New Orleans to Denver), Stanford Routt (Oakland to Kansas City) and Eric Wright (Detroit to Tampa Bay) Safeties Mike Adams (Cleveland to Denver) and LaRon Landry (Washington to New York Jets).
Trades The following notable trades were made during the 2012 league year:
March 14: Miami traded WR Brandon Marshall to Chicago in exchange for third-round selections in the 2012 and 2013 drafts. March 21: Houston traded LB DeMeco Ryans and their third-round selection to Philadelphia for their third- and fourth-round selections in the 2012 draft. March 26: Denver traded QB Tim Tebow and their seventh-round selection to New York Jets in exchange for fourth- and sixth-round selections. April 12: Cincinnati traded LB Keith Rivers to New York Giants in exchange for a fifth-round selection. April 26: Philadelphia traded CB Asante Samuel to Atlanta in exchange for a seventh-round selection. August 27: Miami traded CB Vontae Davis to Indianapolis in exchange for a second-round selection and a conditional sixth-round selection in 2013. November 1: Tampa Bay traded CB Aqib Talib and a seventh-round selection to New England for a fourth-round selection.
Draft The 2012 NFL draft was held from April 26 to 28, 2012 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. With the first pick, the Indianapolis Colts selected quarterback Andrew Luck from Stanford.
Referee change Bill Vinovich returned to the field as a substitute referee, working several games during the season. He was originally promoted to referee in 2004, but had to leave the field in 2007 because of a heart condition. During his recovery, he served as a replay official.
Rule changes The following rule changes have been approved by the competition committee for the 2012 season:
The Replay Booth can initiate replay reviews on turnover plays at any time during the game, similar to a change made in the 2011 season regarding booth reviews on scoring plays outside of the final 2:00 of the game or in overtime. The penalty for throwing a challenge flag immediately after such "unchallengable" plays was also modified: in addition to the 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the Replay Booth will automatically rule that the call will stand without initiating a replay review. This part of the rule was repealed prior to the 2013 season. Instant Replay is also expanded to include the following situations A Ruling of "runner out of Bounds" when there is a Fumble and a recovery following that fumble A Ruling of "incomplete Forward Pass" when there is a Backward Pass and a recovery following the backward pass The penalty for 12 men on the field (not in the huddle) is changed from a live-ball foul to a dead-ball foul, with the whistle being blown if the defense has 12 men on the field and the "snap is imminent". Adding anyone who is subject to a crack-back block to the list of defenseless players.NFL passes overtime rules to reflect postseason, all turnovers now reviewed. CBS Sports. Retrieved March 28, 2012. Last names on uniforms can now include generational suffixes such as Roman numerals (in the case of Robert Griffin III), Junior (Jr.), and Senior (Sr.) designations.Robert Griffin III will be first NFL player with Roman Numerals on his jersey . Yahoo!. Retrieved May 24, 2012. Officials no longer could wear white knickers with their uniforms. The full length black pants with a white stripe down the side, worn for cold weather games since 2006, became mandatory for all games. The overtime rules in the playoffs (adopted for the 2010 season) would be extended to the pre-season and regular season. Instead of a straight sudden death, the game will not immediately end if the team that receives the ball first scores a field goal on its first possession (they can still win the game if they score a touchdown and the game will end if the defense scores a safety). Instead, the other team gets a possession. If the second team on offense then scores a touchdown, it is declared the winner. If the score is tied after both teams had a possession, whether both teams kicked a field goal or neither team scored, then it goes to sudden death. If the score remains tied at the end of overtime, the game ends in a tie. The first regular season game that the new overtime rules were used was a Week 1 contest between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota took the opening kickoff of overtime and scored on a field goal, then stopped Jacksonville on fourth down. The first regular season game where both teams scored a field goal on their respective first possessions of overtime was the Week 11 game between the Jaguars and the Houston Texans. The Texans then won the game, becoming the first NFL team to score twice in overtime under the new format.
Other changes On August 30, 2012, the owners and NFLPA agreed to the following changes regarding player movement: The trade deadline has been set as the Tuesday following week 8 of the season. Previously, the trade deadline was the Tuesday following week 6. The deadline was moved back another two days to November 1 due to potential complications regarding Hurricane Sandy as league offices were closed due to the storm. Teams may designate one player who had been placed on injured reserve prior to the start of the season to return to the 53-man roster later in the season and play. That player is eligible to return to practice after week 6 and to play after week 8.
Regular season
Late doubleheader kickoff time change The league announced on June 28 that all late Sunday doubleheader games will be moved ten minutes later from 4:15 p.m. ET to 4:25 p.m. Late games broadcast on the single game network will still remain at 4:05 p.m. The league cited 44 early games from the 2009 to 2011 seasons in which part of the audience had to be switched immediately to the kickoff of their home team's doubleheader game, and thus miss the end of the first game. The late Dallas Thanksgiving game's kickoff time was also moved from 4:15 p.m. ET to 4:30 p.m. ET. The 4:15 p.m. late doubleheader kickoff time dates back to the 1998 season when the NFL moved it from 4:05 p.m. for the same reason.
Matchups As per the NFL's scheduling formula, the intraconference and interconference matchups were:
Intraconference AFC East vs. AFC South AFC North vs. AFC West NFC East vs. NFC South NFC North vs. NFC West
Interconference AFC East vs. NFC West AFC North vs. NFC East AFC South vs. NFC North AFC West vs. NFC South
Other highlights Highlights of the 2012 schedule include: NFL Kickoff Game: The 2012 regular season began on Wednesday, September 5, as the defending Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants hosted the Dallas Cowboys, and the Cowboys beat the Giants 24–17. The game was moved from its usual Thursday slot to avoid conflict with the last day of the Democratic National Convention. More Thursday night games: On February 3, 2012, commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the number of Thursday night games on the NFL Network will increase from eight to 13 games from weeks 2 through 15, excluding Week 12 (the Thanksgiving night game will now air on NBC). This will ensure that every team will have at least one prime time game.