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Twenty teams have already made their peace with 2003, and as the 12 playoff teams continue their trek toward Houston and Super Bowl XXXVIII let's not forget what the league's 84th season gave us:
• Thirteen teams won at least 10 games, the most ever to do so in a season in NFL history.
• Scoring averaged 40.0 points per game (41.7) for the 10th consecutive season.
• Almost a quarter of the games (22 percent) were decided in the last two minutes of regulation or in overtime.
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• There were 23 OT games this year, second-most all-time to last year
(25).
• There was at least one overtime game in 11 consecutive weeks from Weeks 2-12, the longest such streak in history.
• The Carolina Panthers became the first team in history to win three OT games on the road in a season.
• The rate of returns of kickoffs (88.7 percent) was the highest it has been in 24 years (89.2 in 1979).
• There were 151 100-yard individual rushing games, the most in history.
• There were six 1,500-yard rushers and four 1,600-yard rushers -- also the most ever in a season.
• And for only the second time in history (1998), there were two 1,800-yard rushers (Jamal Lewis and Ahman Green).
• Five players went over 2,000 scrimmage yards, the most ever in a season.
• The Philadelphia Eagles became only the ninth club in history to win 12 games after starting 0-2. The Eagles won four games in a row in which they overcame second-half deficits of at least three points in Weeks 7-10, tying for the longest such streak in history.
• The Cincinnati Bengals became the fourth team since the 16-game schedule began in 1978 to improve from 14 losses to at least eight wins the following year.
• Seven of the Panthers' 10 victories came by three or fewer points (tying the 1998 Cardinals' record), and eight came in the final two minutes or overtime.
• The New England Patriots (12) and Eagles (nine) combined for 21 consecutive wins, only the seventh time in history that two teams won at least a combined 20 games in a season.
• Week 7 produced the most touchdowns of 65 yards or longer in history -- 12.
• All 16 games in Week 12 were decided by 13 points or fewer, the most games with an under-two-TD margin in history. Twelve of those games were decided by seven points or fewer, tying the record for most such games in a week (Dec. 11-13, 1993).
• Paid attendance for regular-season games increased in 2003 to an all-time record of 66,329 per game. The previous record was set in 2000 with an average of 66,078 tickets per game.
• Total paid attendance for the 2003 regular season increased to 16,913,944, topping last year's all-time mark of 16,833,310.
• The NFL Network cable and satellite channel launched Nov. 4, bringing NFL programming to fans 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Week 17 games were the top-rated TV program in all 30 NFL markets, the first time NFL games led the ratings in all markets. For the season, NFL games were the top-rated program in local markets a record 73 percent of the time, which compares to 69 percent last year and 55 percent in 2001.
• For the second year in a row, a record 90 percent of games were sold out in advance of the local 72-hour blackout deadline.
• Since Thanksgiving weekend, the 12 playoff teams are a combined 42-18 -- and 136-56 for the season.
• Of the teams still playing, seven are winners of the past eight Super Bowls -- every Super Bowl since 1995 except for Tampa Bay last year. Those teams: New England, Baltimore, St. Louis, Denver (twice), Green Bay and Dallas.
• Three of these teams -- Green Bay, New England and St. Louis -- also played in a second Super Bowl. And Tennessee played in Super Bowl XXXIV.
• Seven of this year's playoff teams have had 11 of the 16 Super Bowl appearances of the past eight seasons.
Indeed it was a year to remember. And here's to an even better 2004.
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