Wide receiver
A wide receiver referred to as wideouts or receivers, is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, is a key player. They get their name because they are split out "wide". Wide receivers are among the fastest players on the field; the wide receiver functions as the pass-catching specialist. The wide receiver's principal role is to catch passes from the quarterback. On passing plays, the receiver attempts to avoid, outmaneuver, or outrun defenders in the area of his pass route. If the receiver becomes open, or has an unobstructed path to the destination of a catch, he may become the quarterback's target. Once a pass is thrown in his direction, the receiver's goal is to first catch the ball and attempt to run downfield; some receivers are perceived as a deep threat because of their flat-out speed, while others may be possession receivers known for not dropping passes, running crossing routes across the middle of the field, converting third down situations. A receiver's height contributes to their expected role.
A wide receiver has two potential roles during running plays. In the case of draw plays and other trick plays, he may run a pass route with the intent of drawing off defenders. Alternatively, he may block for the running back. Well-rounded receivers are noted for blocking defensive backs in support of teammates in addition to their pass-catching abilities. Sometimes wide receivers are used to run the ball in some form of an end-around or reverse; this can be effective because the defense does not expect them to be the ball carrier on running plays. For example, wide receiver Jerry Rice rushed the ball 87 times for 645 yards and 10 touchdowns in his 20 NFL seasons. In rarer cases, receivers may pass the ball as part of a trick play. A receiver can pass the ball so long as they receive the ball behind the line of scrimmage, in the form of a handoff or backwards lateral; this sort of trick play is employed with a receiver who has past experience playing quarterback at a lower level, such as high school, or sometimes, college.
Antwaan Randle El threw a touchdown pass at the wide receiver position in Super Bowl XL playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Seattle Seahawks. Antwaan Randle El played quarterback for four years at Indiana University. Wide receivers also serve on special teams as kick returners or punt returners, as gunners on kick coverage teams, or as part of the hands team during onside kicks. On errant passes, receivers must play a defensive role by attempting to prevent an interception. If a pass is intercepted, receivers must use their speed to chase down and tackle the ball carrier to prevent him from returning the ball for a long gain or a touchdown. In the NFL, wide receivers can use the numbers 10–19 and 80–89; the wide receiver grew out of a position known as the end. The ends played on the offensive line next to the tackles. By the rules governing the forward pass and backs are eligible receivers. Most early football teams used the ends as receivers sparingly, as their position left them in heavy traffic with many defenders around.
By the 1930s, some teams were experimenting with moving one end far out near the sideline, to make them more open to receive passes. These split ends became the prototype for the modern wide receiver. Don Hutson, who played college football at Alabama and professionally with the Green Bay Packers, was the first player to exploit the potentials of the split end position, is credited as inventing the wide receiver position; as the passing game evolved, a second wide receiver position was added. While it is possible to move the opposite end out wide for a second split end position most teams preferred to leave that end in close to provide extra blocking protection on the quarterback's blind side; that player was playing the modern day tight end position. Instead of moving the blind side end out, one of the three running backs was split wide instead, creating the flanker position; the flanker lined up off the line of scrimmage like a running back or quarterback, but split outside like a split end.
Lining up behind the line of scrimmage gave flankers some advantages. Flankers have more "space" between themselves and a pressing defensive back, so cornerbacks can not as "jam" them at the line of scrimmage; this is in addition to being eligible for motion plays, allowing for the flanker to move laterally before and during the snap. Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch is one of the earliest players to exploit the potentials of the flanker position as a member of the Los Angeles Rams during the 1950s. While some teams did experiment with more than two wide receivers as a gimmick or trick play, most teams used the pro set as the standard set of offensive personnel. An early innovator, coach Sid Gillman used 3+ wide receiver sets as early as the 1960s. In sets that have three, four, or five wide receivers, extra receivers are called slot receivers, as they play in the "slot" between the furthest receiver and the offensive line. In most situations, the slot receiver lines
Dennis Green
Dennis Earl Green was an American football coach. During his National Football League career, Green coached the Minnesota Vikings for 10 seasons, he coached the Vikings to eight playoff appearances in nine years, despite having seven different starting quarterbacks in those postseasons. He was inducted into the Minnesota Vikings Ring of Honor in 2018. Green was the Vikings head coach from 1992 to 2001, his best season in Minnesota was in 1998, when the Vikings finished 15–1 and set the NFL record for most points in a season at the time. However, the Vikings would be upset by the Atlanta Falcons in that year's NFC Championship Game. Following his first losing record in 2001, he was fired just before the final game of the season. Green was hired by the Cardinals to serve as the head coach for the 2004 season, a franchise then-noted for its futility, which had posted only one winning season in a quarter-century. In Arizona, Green was unable to match his success in Minnesota, his poor win-loss record with the Cardinals was similar to that of his predecessors in Arizona.
However, some commentators describe Green's Arizona as an inflection point in the history of the Cardinals, arguing that the culture of the team changed under Green, noting that the core of the personnel in the Cardinals' 2008 Super Bowl run was acquired by Green. Green grew up in a working class household in Pennsylvania, his father was his mother a beautician. His father died when Green was 11 and his mother died when he was 13. Green has said that he was in attendance at the March 2, 1962 NBA game in Hershey, Pennsylvania where Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points. Green attended John Harris High School in Harrisburg, graduated cum laude from the University of Iowa with a BA in finance. According to Green, he was planning to be a high school teacher if his football career didn't pan out. In college, he started as halfback in each of his three seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Green played for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League in 1971 worked as an assistant coach at the University of Dayton, University of Iowa and Stanford University under Bill Walsh.
In 1981, Green was named the head coach of Northwestern University, a school that had gone 1-31-1 in its last 33 games. In 1981, he was only the second African American head coach in Division I-A history. Green was named the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year, as chosen by writers and broadcasters, in 1982 at Northwestern, he left Northwestern in 1985, doing a stint as receivers coach for the San Francisco 49ers under his former boss at Stanford, Bill Walsh. In 1989, Green took the head coaching position at Stanford University, inheriting a team that had graduated 17 of its 21 starters from 1988. Green led the Cardinal from 1989 to 1991. During that time, his teams finished with an overall record of 16–18, a.471 winning percentage, going 3–0 in the Big Game against the California Golden Bears. In 1990, his Stanford team defeated top-ranked Notre Dame in Indiana, his tenure culminated with an 8–3 record. A loss to Washington in the opening game of the season was the deciding factor for the Pac-10 championship.
The Cardinal made an appearance in the 1991 Aloha Bowl, where his team lost to Georgia Tech on a last-minute touchdown. Green was a disciple of Bill Walsh's West Coast offense and was touted by Walsh and other NFL pundits as a candidate to be the second African-American head coach in the NFL. On January 10, 1992, Green was named 5th head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, replacing the retiring Jerry Burns; the day he was introduced as the Vikings' head coach, he announced that there was a "new sheriff in town". He would be only the second African American head coach after Art Shell in the modern NFL era and the first to do so without playing in the NFL, he was only the third of all time after Fritz Shell. Through his first six years with the team, Green never posted a losing record and the team failed to qualify for the playoffs only once. Green earned widespread praise for turning around what had been a lackluster franchise. However, as the team's fan-base grew accustomed to regular season success, Green came under criticism for failing to advance the team deeper into the playoffs.
In 1996, two members of the Vikings' ownership board, Wheelock Whitney and Jane Dyer contacted Lou Holtz, the coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team and former coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. They wanted to bring Holtz in to replace Green. Holtz abruptly announced his retirement in 1996, rumors surrounded the reasons, one of, the possible Vikings head coaching position. In 1997, Green published his autobiography No Room For Crybabies, in which he responded to the criticism and perceived personal vendettas by Twin Cities sports writers Bob Sansevere, Dan Barreiro, Patrick Reusse, he threatened to sue the team as his response to the Lou Holtz rumors. The high point of Green's Vikings career was the 1998 season, when the team went 15–1 and set the NFL record for the most points scored in a season; the Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship game, losing to the Atlanta Falcons after Atlanta's Morten Andersen made a field goal in overtime. In 2001, the Vikings finished with a losing record for the first time in Green's decade with the team.
The Vikings bought out Green's contract on January 4, 2002. Assistant coach Mike Tice led the team in their final regular season game against the Baltimore Ravens, was hi
Dan Reeves
Daniel Edward Reeves is a former American football running back and coach in the National Football League. Over the course of his 38 years in the NFL, Reeves participated in a combined nine Super Bowls as player and coach, the second-most in league history behind Bill Belichick's eleven, he served as a head coach for 23 seasons with the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons. As a player, he spent the entirety of his eight-season career with the Dallas Cowboys. Reeves made his first two Super Bowl appearances during his playing career, winning one in VI, he began his coaching career as an assistant coach for Cowboys, where he made three more championship appearances and was part of the team that won XII. As the head coach of the Broncos for 12 seasons, Reeves led the team to three Super Bowls in XXI, XXII, XXIV, each of which ended in defeat. Following four seasons as the head coach of the New York Giants, Reeves served as the Falcons' head coach for seven seasons. With the Falcons, he led the franchise to their first championship appearance in XXXIII, in which he was defeated by his former team, the Broncos.
As a head coach, Reeves is only one of six to lead two different franchises to a Super Bowl appearance, has the most Super Bowl appearances without a victory at four, along with Bud Grant and Marv Levy. He is tied with Jeff Fisher for the NFL record of most regular-season losses as a head coach at 165, although both have overall winning records. Born in Rome, Reeves grew up in Americus, Georgia, he attended Americus High School, where he participated in football and basketball. After he missed four games with a broken collarbone during his senior season, only the University of South Carolina was interested enough to offer him a football scholarship; the interest from other schools came when he won the MVP trophy at the Georgia High School football All-star game, but he decided to stay with his first choice. He was selected to the All-state basketball team in 1961. Reeves played college football at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where he was a three-year starter at quarterback from 1962 through 1964.
He became the starting quarterback during his sophomore year in 1962 and was named second-team All-conference after his junior and senior years. Reeves was more comfortable running than throwing, but was effective enough to set 10 school records and in 1964 against a strong Nebraska team, champion of the Big Eight, he passed for 348 yards in a 28–6 loss in Lincoln. Though he only compiled an 8–21–4 record, he ended his college career as the leading passer in Gamecock history, accumulating 2,561 yards passing, to go along with 16 touchdowns and 3 games with 100-yards rushing. Reeves became a good baseball prospect as a right fielder for the Gamecocks. In 1977, he was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2006, he was inducted into the State of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. Although he went undrafted after graduation, he received professional sports offers from the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League, the San Diego Chargers in the American Football League and the Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball.
Reeves signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 1965 to play the safety position, but was moved to halfback, after a series of injuries depleted the team's depth during training camp. His rookie year was spent on the kickoff and punt units. In 1966, Tom Landry looking for more speed at running back, shifted All-Pro safety Mel Renfro to offense. Renfro was hurt in the opening game against the New York Giants, Reeves took advantage of his opportunity by having a break out season leading the team in rushing with 757 yards and in scoring with 96 points, while finishing second in receiving with 557 yards, his performance helped the Cowboys take some of the running load from fullback Don Perkins and reach its first championship game. Reeves set a franchise record with 16 touchdowns, had over 1,300 all-purpose yards, was sixth in the NFL in rushing, first in touchdowns and sixth in scoring, he was voted to The Sporting News All-Pro team at the end of the year. In 1967, he posted back-to-back seasons with more than 600 rushing yards, ranking second on the team in rushing with 603 yards and third in receiving with 490 yards.
In the week 8 game against the Atlanta Falcons, he set a franchise record after scoring 4 touchdowns. In the week 13 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he scored touchdowns running and passing in the same game. During the first half of his NFL career, he became a multi-talented running back and displayed the ability to make big plays, he remained a starter until the week 4 of the 1968 season, when he tore ligaments in his right knee and was lost for the season. The injury ended up limiting his abilities. Head coach Tom Landry started playing him in spots and asked him to become a player-coach, while being passed on the depth chart by Calvin Hill and Duane Thomas, he remained in that role for three years, until the end of the 1972 season when he retired to become a full-time assistant coach. Reeves played eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, collected 1,990 rushing yards, 1,693 receiving yards and 42 touchdowns; the Cowboys made the playoffs every year, reaching the Super Bowl twice and culminating in a 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI following the 1971 season.
In Super Bowl V with the Cowboys and Colts tied at 13 in the last 2 minutes, he let a pass go through his hands, intercepted, setting up the Colts in Dallas territory. The Colts won the game on a 32-yard field goal from Jim O'Brien with five seconds left, he threw a touchdown pass in
Gregg Williams
Gregg Williams is an American football coach, the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets of the National Football League. He was head coach of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League, defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints with whom he won Super Bowl XLIV, the Cleveland Browns, acting as an interim head coach in the 2018 season. Williams is known for running aggressive, attacking 4–3 schemes that put heavy pressure on opposing quarterbacks and for his key role in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. In March 2012, Williams was suspended from the NFL as a result of his admitted involvement in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, under which bounties were paid for causing injuries that would take targeted players on opposing teams out of games. Williams' suspension was lifted a year and he returned to the NFL. Gregg Williams was a head coach for the Class 5 Belton High School Pirate football team in Belton, Missouri, he attended Northeast Missouri State University in Missouri.
Williams was an assistant coach for the University of Houston under former Redskins head coach, Jack Pardee. In 1990, Williams became the Special Teams coach of the Houston Oilers under defensive coordinator, Buddy Ryan. From 1994–1996, Williams was the linebackers coach for the Oilers. From 1997–2000, Williams was promoted to defensive coordinator of the now Tennessee Titans after the Oilers moved out of Houston; as the defensive coordinator, the Titans led the league in total defense and only gave up 191 points, the third fewest in the NFL since the league adopted the 16-game schedule in 1978. The defense helped lead the Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV where they lost to the St. Louis Rams. Williams joined the Buffalo Bills as head coach in 2001 along with new team President and general manager Tom Donahoe. After three seasons in which the team compiled records of 3–13, 8–8, 6–10 under his leadership, Williams' contract was not renewed after the 2003 season. After his release from Buffalo, Williams was at the top of several NFL teams' list for the position of defensive coordinator.
Williams signed with the Washington Redskins, the only team with which he interviewed, because Head Coach Joe Gibbs offered him total autonomy over his defensive players and defensive coaching staff. In Washington, with Williams' aggressive defensive scheme, the Redskins' defense ranked third in the NFL in 2004 and ninth in 2005. On January 3, 2006, Williams signed a three-year extension to remain with the Redskins, which made him the highest paid assistant coach in the NFL, his defense struggled at one point ranked 30th in the League. However, the 2007 season was a vast improvement for Williams; the defense ranked within the top ten in the NFC, the team finished 9–7, with a loss in the wildcard round to the Seattle Seahawks. Williams had established a close relationship with 24-year-old free safety Sean Taylor, calling him "the best player coached." When Taylor was murdered mid-season on November 27, 2007, Williams was affected. In tribute to Taylor, Williams called a defensive play with only ten men for the first play of the Redskins' first game after the tragedy, a November 30, 2007 game against the Buffalo Bills.
For the remainder of the season, Williams ran an inspired defense which performed, along with the rest of the team, to honor Taylor's memory, highlighted by holding star running back Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings to 27 yards on December 23, 2007, allowing a franchise-low one yard rushing to the Dallas Cowboys on December 30, 2007, sealing a playoff seed. After Joe Gibbs retired, Williams was considered to be the most popular candidate to take over as Head Coach of the Washington Redskins, he interviewed four times with team owner Daniel Snyder. However, on January 26, 2008, Williams was fired, along with offensive coordinator Al Saunders, with Jim Zorn getting the job. On February 6, 2008, Williams became the defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars; the position was vacated by Mike Smith, hired to coach the Atlanta Falcons. Williams was hired by the New Orleans Saints on January 15, 2009. Head coach Sean Payton, involved in the effort to recruit Williams to the team, raved about Williams "because he was so impressive and prepared" in his interview.
In fact, Williams was so impressive that Payton offered and took a voluntary $250,000 cut in salary to help facilitate his signing with the team. He took over a Saints defense ranked 23rd in the NFL in yards allowed and tied for 26th in points allowed in 2008. Williams' approach yielded immediate results, as the 2009 Saints recorded 35 defensive takeaways, second in the league, the aggressive defense played an integral role in the Saints' run to their first Super Bowl championship. However, in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, the defense failed to repeat its turnover successes; the Saints were knocked out of the 2011 playoffs in a 36–32 loss to San Francisco, in which the defense played well for most of the game but twice failed to hold a Saints lead during the last four minutes. At that time, the relationship between Williams and Payton deteriorated, with Payton regarding Williams as a "rogue coach". Williams' departure from the Saints was publicized not as a dismissal since his contract was expiring, however Loomis and Payton fired Williams telling him "There's no place for this in this organization or this league" after the NFL informed the Saints that it had reopened its investigation in the illegal bounty fund.
It was reported that Williams would leave the Saints to become defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams, under their new head coach Jeff
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, it opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings and Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins, Memorial Stadium, the former home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. The Metrodome was the home of the Vikings from 1982 to 2013, the Twins from 1982 to 2009, the National Basketball Association's Minnesota Timberwolves in their 1989–90 inaugural season, the Golden Gophers football team until 2008 and the Golden Gophers baseball team from 2004 to 2012, it was the home of the Minnesota Strikers of the North American Soccer League in 1984. On January 18, 2014, the Metrodome roof was deflated; the Vikings played at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium for the 2014 and 2015 NFL seasons, ahead of the planned opening of U. S. Bank Stadium in 2016; the stadium had a fiberglass fabric roof, self-supported by air pressure and was the third major sports facility to have this feature.
The Metrodome was similar in design to the former RCA Dome and to BC Place, though BC Place was reconfigured with a retractable roof in 2010. The Metrodome was reputedly the inspiration for the Tokyo Dome in Japan; the stadium was the only facility to have hosted a Super Bowl, World Series, MLB All-Star Game and NCAA Division I Basketball Final Four. The Metrodome had several nicknames such as "The Dome", "The Thunderdome", "The Homer Dome." Preparation for the demolition of the Metrodome began the day after the facility hosted the final home game for the Minnesota Vikings on December 29, 2013, with actual demolition beginning on January 18, 2014. The Metrodome was torn down in sections while construction of U. S. Bank Stadium began. By the early 1970s, the Minnesota Vikings were unhappy with Metropolitan Stadium's small capacity for football. Before the AFL-NFL merger, the NFL had declared that stadiums with a capacity smaller than 50,000 were not adequate for their needs; the biggest stadium in the area was the University of Minnesota's Memorial Stadium, but the Vikings were not willing to be tenants in a college football stadium and demanded a new venue.
Supporters of a dome believed that the Minnesota Twins would benefit from a climate-controlled stadium to insulate the team from harsh Minnesota weather in the season. The Met would have needed to be replaced in any event, as it was not well maintained. Broken railings and seats could be seen in the upper deck by the early 1970s, by its final season they had become a distinct safety hazard. Construction success of other domed stadiums the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit, paved the way for voters to approve funding for a new stadium. Downtown Minneapolis was beginning a revitalization program, the return of professional sports from suburban Bloomington was seen as a major success story. A professional team hadn't been based in downtown Minneapolis since the Minneapolis Lakers left for Los Angeles in 1960. Construction on the Metrodome began on December 20, 1979, was funded by a limited hotel-motel and liquor tax, local business donations, payments established within a special tax district near the stadium site.
Uncovering the Dome by Amy Klobuchar describes the 10-year effort to build the venue. The stadium was named in memory of former mayor of Minneapolis, U. S. Senator, U. S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who died in 1978; the Metrodome itself cost $68 million to build—significantly under budget—totaling around $124 million with infrastructure and other costs associated with the project added. It was a somewhat utilitarian facility. One stadium official once said that all the Metrodome was designed to do was "get fans in, let'em see a game, let'em go home."The Metrodome is the only venue to have hosted a MLB All-Star Game, a Super Bowl, an NCAA Final Four, a World Series. The 1985 MLB All-Star Game, several games of the 1987 and the 1991 World Series, Super Bowl XXVI in 1992, the 1998–99 NFC Championship all were held at the Metrodome; the NCAA Final Four was held at the Metrodome in 1992 and 2001. The Metrodome served as one of the four regional venues for the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship in 1986, 1989, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009.
The dome held first- and second-round games in the NCAA Basketball Tournament in addition to regionals and the Final Four, most in 2009. The Metrodome was recognized as one of the loudest venues in which to view a game, due in part to the fact that sound was recycled throughout the stadium because of the fabric domed roof. Stadium loudness is a sports marketing issue, as the noise lends the home team a home advantage against the visiting team; until its demolition, the Metrodome was the loudest domed NFL stadium. During the 1987 World Series and 1991 World Series, peak decibel levels were measured at 125 and 118 comparable to a jet airliner—both close to the threshold of pain; the 1991 World Series is considered one of the best of all time. The blue colored seat back and bottom where Kirby Puckett's 1991 World Series Game 6 walk off home run landed in Section 101, Row 5, Seat 27, is now in the Twins archives, along with the gold colored back and bottom that replaced it for a number of years.
The Twins reinstalled a blue seat back and bottom as well as Puckett's #34 on the seat where it remained until the final Vi
AFC Championship Game
The AFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the American Football Conference and one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League, the largest professional American football league in the United States. The game is played on the penultimate Sunday in January by the two remaining playoff teams, following the AFC postseason's first two rounds; the AFC champion advances to face the winner of the National Football Conference Championship Game in the Super Bowl. The game was established as part of the 1970 merger between the NFL and the American Football League, with the merged league realigning into two conferences. Since 1984, each winner of the AFC Championship Game has received the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after the founder of both the AFL and the Kansas City Chiefs, Lamar Hunt; the first AFC Championship Game was played following the 1970 regular season after the merger between the NFL and the American Football League. The game is considered the successor to the former AFL Championship, its game results are listed with that of its predecessor in the annual NFL Record and Fact Book.
Since the pre-merger NFL consisted of six more teams than the AFL, a realignment was required as part of the merger to create two conferences with an equal number of teams: The NFL's Baltimore Colts, the Cleveland Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers joined the ten former AFL teams to form the AFC. Every AFC team except the Houston Texans has played in an AFC Championship Game at least once; the Seattle Seahawks, who have been members in both the AFC and the NFC, hold the distinction of appearing in both conference title games, a loss in the AFC conference title game to the Los Angeles Raiders for Super Bowl XVIII and, in their first appearance in a NFC conference title game, a win over the Carolina Panthers for Super Bowl XL. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most appearances in the AFC Championship Game at 16, with 11 of those games being in Pittsburgh, the most for either conference; the New England Patriots have won the most AFC Championships at 11, have played in a record eight straight AFC title games.
At the end of each regular season, a series of playoff games involving the top six teams in the AFC are conducted. In the current NFL playoff structure, this consists of the four division champions and two wild card teams; the two teams remaining following the Wild Card round and the divisional round play in the AFC Championship game. The site of the game was determined on a rotating basis. Since the 1975–76 season, the site of the AFC Championship has been based on playoff seeding based on the regular season won-loss record, with the highest surviving seed hosting the game. A wild card team can only host the game if both participants are wild cards, in which case the fifth seed would host the sixth seed; such an instance has never occurred in the NFL. Beginning with 1984–85 season, the winner of the AFC Championship Game has received the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named after the founder of the AFL; the original trophy consisted of a wooden base with a sculpted AFC logo in the front and a sculpture of various football players in the back.
For the 2010–11 NFL playoffs, the Lamar Hunt Trophy and the George Halas Trophy, awarded to the NFC Champion, were redesigned by Tiffany & Co. at the request of the NFL, in an attempt to make both awards more significant. The trophies are now a new, silver design with the outline of a hollow football positioned on a small base to more resemble the Vince Lombardi Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl. In recent years Conference championship rings are awarded to members of the team who wins the AFC or NFC championship since they are the winners of the conference though they may not follow it up with a win in the Super Bowl. Numbers in parentheses in the table are AFC Championships. Bold indicates. Numbers in parentheses in the city and stadium column is the number of times that metropolitan area and stadium has hosted an AFC Championship, respectively.^ a: Overtime ^ b: The Seahawks were members of the NFC in 1976 and members of the AFC from 1977 to 2001, before rejoining the NFC in 2002.
Including their appearances in the NFC Championship Game, they hold a combined 3–1 record between both Conference Championship Games.^ c: The Buccaneers were members of the AFC in 1976 before moving to the NFC in 1977.^ d: Includes appearances during their first tenure in Oakland, where they went 2–5 in AFC Championship Games. Since moving to Indianapolis in 1984, the Colts are 2–3 in AFC Championship Games^ f: Includes appearances as the Houston Oilers, where they went 0–2 in AFC Championship Games. Since moving to Tennessee in 1997, they are 1–1 in AFC Championship Games. Most victories: 11**.
