NFL official season starts tonight

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San Antonio.- America’s favorite sport (see Harris Poll at www.laprensasa.com/NFLnews) roars back into action Wednesday night (NBC, 8:30 p.m. ET) in the first game of NFL Kickoff 2012 Weekend. The five-month season officially opens with Super Bowl champions NEW YORK GIANTS hosting division rival DALLAS COWBOYS at MetLife Stadium tonight. Special thank you to the NFL and Terence Malangone for all the stats and data. Click on the headline for all the info!

By Angela Covo, angela.covo@gmail.com 

Tonight it’s back to football and a whole new unpredictable season. And every NFL team enters the new season with hope.

Last year, nearly 67 percent of the games were within one score (eight points or fewer) in the fourth quarter. And for the 16th consecutive year, at least five teams made the playoffs after missing out the year before. The 2012 season promises more of the same.

CAN SUPER BOWL CHAMPION GIANTS REPEAT?

It’s happened only eight times since the first Super Bowl in 1967. But the Giants are up for the challenge. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we can repeat,” Giants linebacker MATHIAS KIWANUKA said.

The New York team has every intention of meeting the challenge and becoming the fifth franchise to win three Super Bowls in a six-season span.

NEW RECORDS WITHIN REACH IN 2012:

Records are made to be broken…So what records will be set this year? 

Denver QB PEYTON MANNING can become the first quarterback with 12 4,000-yard seasons and needs 22 passing TDs and 286 completions to move into second place all-time…

New Orleans QB DREW BREES (43 games) needs to throw a TD pass in each of his next five games to surpass Johnny Unitas (47) for the most consecutive games with a passing TD…

St. Louis RB STEVEN JACKSON needs 1,000 rush yards to become the sixth player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in eight consecutive seasons…

San Francisco WR RANDY MOSS is tied for second in NFL history with 153 receiving TDs and can move into sole possession of second…

Atlanta TE TONY GONZALEZ needs 50 receptions to join Jerry Rice as the only players in NFL history with 15 50-catch seasons…Green Bay CB CHARLES WOODSON needs one interception-return TD (11) to tie Rod Woodson (12) for the most all-time…

And Chicago’s DEVIN HESTER needs one return TD (18) to tie Deion Sanders (19) for the most in NFL history.

NEW COACHES/PLAYERS IN NEW PLACES

Seven new head coaches were hired to lead teams in 2012 – DENNIS ALLEN in Oakland, ROMEO CRENNEL in Kansas City (interim for three games in 2011), JEFF FISHER in St. Louis, MIKE MULARKEY in Jacksonville, CHUCK PAGANO in Indianapolis, JOE PHILBIN in Miami and GREG SCHIANO in Tampa Bay.

Lots of well-known players moved to new teams, including PEYTON MANNING with the Broncos; MARIO WILLIAMS & MARK ANDERSON with the Bills; BRANDON MARSHALL, MICHAEL BUSH & JASON CAMPBELL with the Bears; VINCENT JACKSON, CARL NICKS & DALLAS CLARK with the Buccaneers; MATT FLYNN & BRAYLON EDWARDS with the Seahawks; RANDY MOSS with the 49ers; TIM TEBOW & LA RON LANDRY with the Jets; ASANTE SAMUEL with the Falcons; BEN GRUBBS & CURTIS LOFTON with the Saints; BRANDON CARR & KYLE ORTON with the Cowboys; DE MECO RYANS with the Eagles; and JEFF SATURDAY & CEDRIC BENSON with the Packers.

UPDATE ON NEW SAFETY RULES:

Unnecessary roughness: Existing unnecessary roughness rules were adjusted to expand protections for defensive players with regard to crackback blocks. All players who are protected from crackback blocks will now be considered defenseless players. In addition to contact below the waist, it will be illegal to forcibly block these players in the head or neck area or make forcible contact with the crown or forehead hairline part of the helmet to any part of body. All unnecessary roughness violations will result in a 15-yard penalty. Protections for recipients of blindside blocks have also been clarified. Prior to 2012, a blindside block occurred when the blocker was moving towards his own end line and approached his opponent from behind or from the side. This season, the definition was expanded to include situations where a blocker moves parallel with his own end line.

Instant replay: Only a replay official can initiate a review of certain turnovers, providing more flexibility to coaches in the use of their challenges: when a play results in an interception, if a fumble or backward pass is recovered by an opponent or goes out of bounds through the end zone or if a muffed scrimmage kick is recovered by the kicking team (successful onside kick).

Too many men in the formation:In the interest of competitive fairness, penalties for too many men in the formation were changed to dead-ball fouls from live-ball infractions that did not prevent the snap. If a 12th player is not in the formation, game officials will permit the snap and the penalty will be enforced after the play. Violations of this rule result in five-yard penalties.

Overtime procedures for the preseason and regular season were adjusted to be in line with the modified sudden-death system used for playoffs the past two seasons.

New points of emphasis on several existing rules this season (although the rules themselves have not changed) to encourage player safety will be strictly enforced. These include unnecessary roughness fouls resulting from blows to the head by offensive and defensive linemen during close line play, horse-collar tackles, roughing the passer and hits on defenseless receivers. The focus is to eliminate these tactics from the game.

Officials will pay close attention when a runner declares himself down by falling to the ground or kneeling and making no effort to advance the ball, thereby ending the play. A runner who goes to the ground untouched will be considered to have declared himself down if he does not make an immediate attempt to advance. If a runner makes an immediate effort to advance the ball, play will be allowed to continue.

WEEK ONE: NFL KICKOFF 2012 SCHEDULE