1995 NFL season
The 1995 NFL season was the 76th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 30 teams with the addition of the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The two expansion teams were slotted into the two remaining divisions that previously had only four teams : the AFC Central and the NFC West.
Meanwhile, the two teams in Los Angeles relocated to other cities: the Rams transferred to St. Louis and the Raiders moved back to Oakland; this would be the start of a 20-year absence for the NFL in Los Angeles. During the course of the season it emerged that the Cleveland Browns would relocate to Baltimore for the 1996 season. The Raiders’ move was not announced until after the schedule had been announced, which resulted in a problem in the third week of the season when both the Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers had games scheduled to air on NBC which ended up overlapping each other. The Raiders game was rescheduled for 10:00 AM PDT in case they were to relocate and NBC was given the doubleheader so that both Bay Area teams had their games televised locally.
The season ended with Super Bowl XXX, when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27–17 at the Sun Devil Stadium. They became the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in four years. This season was legendary Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula’s last season as coach.
Draft
The 1995 NFL Draft was held from April 22 to 23, 1995 at New York City's Theater at Madison Square Garden. With the first pick, the Cincinnati Bengals selected running back Ki-Jana Carter from Penn State University.New referees
and Walt Coleman were promoted to referee. Dale Hamer had to sit out the 1995 season to recover from open heart surgery, while league expansion from 28 to 30 teams required an additional officiating crew.Major rule changes
- An eligible receiver forced out of bounds by a defensive player may return to the field and automatically become eligible to legally be the first player to touch a forward pass.
- Quarterbacks may now receive communications from the bench from a small radio receiver in their helmets, partly repealing a rule that had been in force since 1956.
Final regular season standings
Tiebreakers
- Indianapolis finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on head-to-head sweep.
- San Diego was the first AFC Wild Card based on head-to-head victory over Indianapolis.
- Cincinnati finished ahead of Houston in the AFC Central based on better division record.
- Seattle finished ahead of Denver and Oakland in the AFC West based on best head-to-head record.
- Denver finished ahead of Oakland in the AFC West based on head-to-head sweep.
- Philadelphia was the first NFC Wild Card ahead of Detroit based on better conference record.
- San Francisco was the second NFC playoff seed ahead of Green Bay based on better conference record.
- Atlanta was the third NFC Wild Card ahead of Chicago based on better record against common opponents.
- St. Louis finished ahead of Carolina and New Orleans in the NFC West based on best head-to-head record.
- Carolina finished ahead of New Orleans in the NFC West based on better conference record.
Playoffs
Milestones
The following players set all-time records during the season:Statistical leaders
Team
Individual
The 1995 season produced four of the top eleven highest single-season totals for receiving yards. The top two receiving yard totals of all time – Jerry Rice's 1,848 & Isaac Bruce's 1,781 – were recorded in 1995. Detroit Lions receiver Herman Moore gained 1,686 yards and Dallas Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin gained 1,603 yards.Awards
Coaching changes
Offseason
- Denver Broncos: Mike Shanahan replaced the fired Wade Phillips
- Carolina Panthers: Dom Capers became this expansion team's first head coach.
- Houston Oilers: Jeff Fisher became the permanent head coach. Fisher served as interim for the final six games of 1994 after Jack Pardee was fired.
- Jacksonville Jaguars: Tom Coughlin became this expansion team's first head coach.
- Oakland Raiders: Mike White replaced the fired Art Shell for the Raiders' first season since returning to Oakland.
- Philadelphia Eagles: Ray Rhodes replaced the fired Rich Kotite.
- New York Jets: Rich Kotite replaced the fired Pete Carroll.
- Seattle Seahawks: Dennis Erickson replaced the fired Tom Flores.
- St. Louis Rams: Rich Brooks replaced the fired Chuck Knox for the Rams's first season in St. Louis.
In-season
- Buffalo Bills: Elijah Pitts served as interim for three games while Marv Levy recovered from prostate cancer surgery.
Stadium changes
- Carolina Panthers: The expansion Panthers played their first season at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina to their new stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina remained under construction
- Green Bay Packers: This is the first season since 1932 that the Packers played full time in Green Bay, no longer playing select games in Milwaukee
- Jacksonville Jaguars: The expansion Jaguars moved into Jacksonville Municipal Stadium on the site of the former Gator Bowl Stadium
- Oakland Raiders: The relocated Raiders moved back from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
- St. Louis Rams: The relocated Rams initially moved from Anaheim Stadium to Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The Trans World Dome then opened for their fifth regular season home game, with Trans World Airlines acquiring the naming rights
- San Francisco 49ers: Candlestick Park was renamed 3Com Park after the digital electronics manufacturer 3Com acquired the naming rights
Uniform changes
- The inaugural Carolina Panthers uniforms featured gray helmets, blue trim, black jerseys with white numbers and gray pants, and white jerseys with black numbers and white pants. The helmet logo featured a black panther head with blue trim.
- The Dallas Cowboys wore a navy blue version of the white "Double-Star" alternate jerseys they wore in 1994, with blue sleeves and white star logos on the shoulders. The white "Double Star" jersey was discontinued due to a since-repealed NFL policy which allowed teams only one colored jersey and one white jersey except for special occasions.
- The Houston Oilers began wearing their white pants with their white jerseys, discontinuing their blue pants. This was the first time the Oilers wore white pants with white jerseys for a full season since 1980.
- The Indianapolis Colts experimented with wearing blue pants with their white jerseys for their first three games.
- The inaugural Jacksonville Jaguars uniforms featured black helmets, teal jerseys with white numbers, white jerseys with teal numbers, and white pants. The helmet logo featured a jaguar head with a teal tongue.
- The New England Patriots switched from block numbers to a rounded number font with a drop shadow. The "Flying Elvis" helmet logo was repeated on the shoulders, and TV numbers moved to the sleeves.
- The Philadelphia Eagles removed the black trim from their jersey numbers and nameplates.