The 1987 NFL season is still remembered for a player strike, three weeks of football with replacement players and Washington’s blowout win over Denver in the Super Bowl, but so much more was noteworthy.

Washington, the only team with no NFL players crossing the picket lines to play in the mid-season games populated mostly with replacement players, won all three of those games, but still would have won the NFL East without those wins. Quarterback Doug Williams started only two games in the regular season, but all three in the post-season and threw four TD passes in the 42-10 destruction of Denver, with the more-celebrated quarterback, league MVP John Elway.

The strike had an impact nonetheless: Nine of the 10 playoff teams were at least 2-1 in those games.  Minnesota (8-7) lost all three and still made the playoffs, thanks to WR Anthony Carter’s league-best 24.3 yards per catch and RB Darrin Nelson’s league-best 4.9 yards per carry. DE Chris Doleman had 11 sacks in 12 games and Doug Martin had nine.

San Francisco (13-2) had the best record, the highest-scoring team (459 points), the best point-differential (+206) and the dynamic duo of QB Joe Montana and WR Jerry Rice. Montana led the NFL with 66.8% completions, 31 TD passes and a 102.1 passer rating. Rice led with an astonishing 22 TD receptions in 12 games.

Coach of the Year Jim Mora led New Orleans to a 12-3 mark following a 7-9 season in 1986. Chicago won the NFC Central with 11 wins; Denver the AFC West with a 10-4-1 mark, Cleveland the AFC Central at 10-5 with the second-best defense (239 points) and point differential (+151) and Indianapolis won the AFC East at 9-6 with the fewest points allowed (238).

Individually, there were other stars everywhere:

QB: Houston’s Warren Moon and Minnesota’s Wade Wilson each passed for 15 yards per completion, production unheard of today. St. Louis’ Neil Lomax led with 3,387 yards while throwing for 24 TDs in 12 games.

RB: Eric Dickerson, playing for both Indy and the Rams, ran for 1,288 yards at a league-best 107.3 yards per game. Rookie Bo Jackson’s 91-yard run for the Raiders boosted his eye-opening 6.8 yards per carry. The Jets’ Johnny Hector ran for 11 TDs in 11 games. The Rams’ Charles White played in all 15 games, led with 1,374 yards and tied Hector for the lead with 11 rushing TDs.

WR: St. Louis’ J.T. Smith played in all 15 games and led with 91 catches and 1,117 yards. Philadelphia’s Mike Quick had 11 TD receptions in 12 games, averaging more than 17 yards per catch. Washington’s Gary Clark and KC’s Carlos Carson sat out the strike games and still had more than 1,000 yards receiving.

OTHER: Defensive Player of the Year Reggie White had an amazing 21 sacks in 12 games for Philadelphia. Chicago’s Richard Dent, Buffalo’s Bruce Smith and the Giants’ Lawrence Taylor all averaged at least a sack per game.

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