2005 NFL season
The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League. Regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006. The regular season also saw the first ever regular season game played outside the United States, as well as the New Orleans Saints being forced to play elsewhere due to damage to the Superdome and the entire New Orleans area by Hurricane Katrina. The playoffs began on January 7. The New England Patriots' streak of 10 consecutive playoff wins and chance at a third straight Super Bowl title was ended  in the Divisional Playoff Round by the Denver Broncos, and eventually the NFL title was won by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who defeated the Seattle Seahawks 21–10 in Super Bowl XL at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan on February 5 for their fifth Super Bowl win. This also marked the first time that a sixth-seeded team, who by the nature of their seeding would play every game on the road, would advance to and win the Super Bowl. The season formally concluded with the Pro Bowl, the league's all-star game, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii on February  12. Draft. The 2005 NFL Draft was held from April 23 to 24, 2005 at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. With the first pick, the San Francisco 49ers selected quarterback Alex Smith from the University of Utah. Regular season. First regular season game played outside the United States. The 2005 season also featured the first ever regular season game played outside the United States when a San Francisco 49ers – Arizona Cardinals game was played at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on October 2 (the Cardinals won 31–14). The game drew an NFL regular season record of  103,467 paid fans. It was a home game for the Cardinals, mostly because the team rarely sold out at their then-home field, Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. This season was the last year that the Cardinals played at Sun Devil Stadium; the team then moved to their new Cardinals Stadium in nearby Glendale. Effect of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Effect of Hurricane Katrina. Due to the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina to the Louisiana Superdome and the greater New Orleans area, the New Orleans Saints' entire 2005 home schedule was played at different venues while the Saints  set up temporary operations in San Antonio, Texas. The Saints' first home game scheduled for September 18 against the New York Giants was moved to September 19 at Giants Stadium, where the Giants won 27–10. The impromptu "Monday Night doubleheader" with the game already scheduled (Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys) was a success, and was made a permanent part of the schedule the next year when Monday Night Football made the move to ESPN. As a result of the unscheduled doubleheader, the NFL designated its second weekend, September 18 and 19, as "Hurricane Relief Weekend', with fund raising collections at  all of the league's games. The Saints' remaining home games were split between the Alamodome in San Antonio and Louisiana State University's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Being forced to travel to 13 of their 16 games (only 3 of their games were actually played in the same city where they practiced) and practice in substandard facilities and conditions in San Antonio, the Saints finished 3–13, their worst season since 1999. The last time an NFL franchise had to play at an alternate site was in 2002, when the Chicago Bears played home games in Champaign, Illinois , 120 miles (200 km) away, due to the reconstruction of Soldier Field. The last NFL team to abandon their home city during a season was the hapless 1952 Dallas Texans, whose franchise was returned to the league after drawing several poor crowds at the Cotton Bowl. They played their final "home" game at the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio, against the Bears on Thanksgiving; the Texans stunned the Bears, 27–23, in front of a crowd estimated at 3,000, for their only win of the season. Effect of Hurricane Wilma. The Sunday, October 23 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and  the Miami Dolphins at Dolphins Stadium was rescheduled to Friday, October 21 at 7:00 pm EDT to beat Hurricane Wilma's arrival to the Miami, Florida area. The Chiefs won the game, 30–20, and became the first visiting team to travel and play on the same day. Since the game was planned for Sunday afternoon, it is one of the few times in history that the Dolphins wore their road jerseys in a home game played at night. Milestones. The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season: Stadiums. The New Orleans Saints played in Baton  Rouge's Tiger Stadium for four games and in San Antonio's Alamodome for three games due to Louisiana Superdome damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Tiger Stadium's goalposts did not conform to NFL standards due to (a) two supports instead of one and (b) white paint instead of gold. The NFL granted the Saints dispensation to keep LSU's goalposts in place for their games. In addition, with the RCA and Edward Jones domes both removing their AstroTurf surfaces in favor of the newer next-generation FieldTurf surface, the old first-generation AstroTurf surface ceased to be used in the  NFL. Pro Player Stadium was renamed Dolphins Stadium. Pro Player's parent Fruit of the Loom had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection back in 1999, and the Pro Player label was discontinued, but that stadium name was kept for several more years. Television. This marked the final season that ABC held the rights to televise "Monday Night Football" after thirty-six years of airing the series. When the TV contracts were renewed near the end of the season, the rights to broadcast "Monday Night Football" were awarded to Disney-owned corporate sibling ESPN. NBC bought the right to televise  Sunday Night Football, marking the first time that the network broadcast NFL games since Super Bowl XXXII in 1998. Meanwhile, CBS and Fox renewed their television contracts to the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference packages, respectively.