NFL New Rules

[combatbengal]

Slowly but surely, they are taking the fun and excitement out of the game. How in the world does this hurt this celebration game? And what's next, 15 yard penalty for throwing your arms up in the air after you make a sack? http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/beware--jimmy-graham--nfl-outlaws-dunking-over-the-goal-post-172314789.html

[HoosierCat]

Via PFT, here are the full results from the owners' meeting (my comments in italic):

Rule change proposals:

1. Move the kickoff to the 40-yard line. FAILED good

2. Expand instant replay to include personal foul penalties. FAILED meh

3. Eliminate overtime in the preseason. TABLED better idea: eliminate preseason all together, expand regular season to 18 games

4. Extend the uprights to make them five feet taller. PASSED meh

5. Move the line of scrimmage for one-point extra point kicks to the defensive team’s 25-yard line. Two-point conversion attempts would still be snapped from the 2-yard line. TABLED. (League will experiment with longer extra points in the preseason.) I don't have a problem with the "automatic" extra point and think this whole issue is a manufactured bunch of crap

6. Put six cameras on all boundary lines — sideline, goal line, end line, to guarantee coverage for replay reviews. TABLED cheap f*ckers, buy the cameras!

7. Permit a coach to challenge any official’s decision, except scoring plays which are automatically reviewed. FAILED seems like it would simplify things to me

8. Protect players from getting the sides of their legs rolled up on — the rule already says a blocker can’t hit an opponent in the back of the legs, this proposal will add “or side” to the rule. PASSED fine

9. Allow the referee to consult with members of the NFL officiating department during replay reviews. The referee would be able to speak with the command center in New York to help in reviewing a play. PASSED good idea

10. Re-organize the rules about what can be reviewed and what cannot be reviewed, including making the recovery of a loose ball in the field of play reviewable. (This is referred to as the NaVorro Bowman rule, after a controversial call in the NFC Championship Game.) PASSED fine

11. Don’t stop the clock on a sack. PASSED interesting. this will make sacks more valuable.

12. Modify pass interference so that it can be called within one yard of the line of scrimmage. TABLED never was sure how this was supposed to work, sounds like a bad idea to me

13. Enforce defensive fouls behind the line of scrimmage from the previous spot, rather than from the end of the run or from the spot of the foul. PASSED whatever

Bylaw proposals:

1. Raise the number of active players on game day from 46 to 49 for regular-season games played on a day other than Sunday or Monday, excluding Week One. TABLED good idea but why not just eliminate the whole "inactive" bit, period?

2. Raise the practice squad limit from eight players to 10 players. TABLED yawn

3. Permit clubs to trade players prior to the start of the league year. TABLED yawn

4. Eliminate the cut-down to 75 players during training camp and instead just have one cut-down from 90 players to 53 players. FAILED Zzzzzzzz...

5. Permit more than one player to return to the active list from injured reserve so that any player on injured reserve could return after six weeks. FAILED So a DL, right?

6. Permit each club to time and test up to 10 draft-eligible players at its facility, and allow any club that wishes to attend timing and testing at another team’s facility. TABLED yawn

7. Adjust the time of the roster reduction from 53 after the fourth preseason game from 6 p.m. Eastern to 4 p.m. Eastern. All teams would have to have their list of final cuts in by 4 p.m. PASSED clearly will save the future of football

Resolution proposal:

1. Permit a home team with a retractable roof to open or close its roof at halftime, instead of having to determine at the start of the game whether it is open or closed. TABLED can't say I care

[Walrus]

11. Don’t stop the clock on a sack. PASSED interesting. this will make sacks more valuable.

I assume this doesn't apply to sacks generated when the QB runs out of bounds (aka, the "Dalton").

13. Enforce defensive fouls behind the line of scrimmage from the previous spot, rather than from the end of the run or from the spot of the foul. PASSED whatever

Seems like a bit of a disincentive to deep passing plays that draw PI way down field. Would this have any other impact? Would it apply to returns?

[ArmyBengal]

It's not like my opinion matters in the least, but in regards to some of these:

I don't like all the moving of kickoffs, extra points or anything of that nature. It's fine, leave it alone.

If they are going to allow for calling back to New Your for reviews, wouldn't adding cameras help ?? Not like the league can't afford that.

I like not stopping the clock on a sack. They don't for running plays that don't go out of bounds. Makes sense to me.

HATE pass interference that close to the line of scrimmage. It's already pass happy enough and getting through jams at the line is huge for a WR.

I like having more players able to be active and more on the practice squads.

I would like to see a team have more protection against teams pilfering their practice squad. Fragel comes to mind quickly.

[HoosierCat]

11. Don’t stop the clock on a sack. PASSED interesting. this will make sacks more valuable.

I assume this doesn't apply to sacks generated when the QB runs out of bounds (aka, the "Dalton").

13. Enforce defensive fouls behind the line of scrimmage from the previous spot, rather than from the end of the run or from the spot of the foul. PASSED whatever

Seems like a bit of a disincentive to deep passing plays that draw PI way down field. Would this have any other impact? Would it apply to returns?

Good question on the sack-out-of-bounds. I don't think that generally counts as a sack, does it? Just a loss of yardage.

The way I read 13 is that any defensive penalties committed in the backfield are enforced from the line of scrimmage and not where they were committed in the backfield. But reading it again, the "rather than from the end of the run" part seems odd. So if Gio picks up 20 yards on a run and there's a face mask on Dalton in the backfield, that penalty is no longer tacked on to the end of the run? Or they can take the penalty but move the ball back five yards? That seem weird. Maybe PFT got this tangled up...?

[Scottishbengal]

where do all these changes originate from?? Are fans across the USA clamouring for all these rule amendments, are they driven by the players/players union, is it the tv companies wanting more input to the "product" or officials within the League trying to justify jobs????

I come from the school of thought that if it ain't broke don't fix it .... i'm sure some changes are required/justified, but it seems like some are hogwash ideas

[Walrus]

Good question on the sack-out-of-bounds. I don't think that generally counts as a sack, does it? Just a loss of yardage.

I believe it does. This is why the Bengals OL stats get jacked up when Dalton runs out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage without throwing the ball away.

NFL Guide for Statisticians, p16

When the quarterback or a teammate, makes an apparent attempt to pass at anytime before he

or a teammate is tackled, steps out of bounds, or fumbles behind or at the statistical line of

scrimmage, the play is scored as a sack and any yards lost attempting to pass. (Should he

advance the ball across the statistical line of scrimmage, it is a rushing play.)

[HoosierCat]

Interesting. Thanks, walrus.

[HoosierCat]

Speaking of rules, let's meet one of the folks voting on them:

INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts owner Jim Irsay had $29,000 in cash and bottles of prescription drugs in his vehicle when he was arrested this month on suspicion of intoxicated driving, according to a police arrest report.

The cash was contained in Irsay's briefcase, wallet and two laundry bags, the report said. The report said bottles containing pills of various colors were stored in the metal briefcase and in bags on the floor of the passenger side.

...

The report said an officer pulled over Irsay's slow-moving SUV after it stopped twice on a city street for no apparent reason and failed to use a turn signal. Police said Irsay told the officer that he sometimes has trouble finding his home. The Star reported that Irsay had bought a home less than a half-mile from where he was stopped in late February.

"I observed the vehicle come to a complete stop on W. Main Street for no apparent reason. ... As I was approaching the vehicle it began to slowly move eastbound and came to another complete stop in the lane of travel for no apparent reason. ... I asked him if he knew why I had pulled him over. Irsay advised that he was trying to find his house and gets confused with what road it is located on," the officer wrote in the report.

Seriously, WTF? Owner's driving around hopped up on painkillers with 29 grand stuffed in a couple laundry bags -- and they're worried about a player dunking a ball or saying "nigger"?

[ArmyBengal]

That's just crazy right there.

[kingwilly]

Speaking of rules, let's meet one of the folks voting on them:

INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts owner Jim Irsay had $29,000 in cash and bottles of prescription drugs in his vehicle when he was arrested this month on suspicion of intoxicated driving, according to a police arrest report.

The cash was contained in Irsay's briefcase, wallet and two laundry bags, the report said. The report said bottles containing pills of various colors were stored in the metal briefcase and in bags on the floor of the passenger side.

...

The report said an officer pulled over Irsay's slow-moving SUV after it stopped twice on a city street for no apparent reason and failed to use a turn signal. Police said Irsay told the officer that he sometimes has trouble finding his home. The Star reported that Irsay had bought a home less than a half-mile from where he was stopped in late February.

"I observed the vehicle come to a complete stop on W. Main Street for no apparent reason. ... As I was approaching the vehicle it began to slowly move eastbound and came to another complete stop in the lane of travel for no apparent reason. ... I asked him if he knew why I had pulled him over. Irsay advised that he was trying to find his house and gets confused with what road it is located on," the officer wrote in the report.

Seriously, WTF? Owner's driving around hopped up on painkillers with 29 grand stuffed in a couple laundry bags -- and they're worried about a player dunking a ball or saying "nigger"?

or maybe take a look at the Brown's owner and his fraud woes...

dunking the ball or using a slur, better get the priorities straight... Integrity of the game, protect the shield get tossed around a lot. Maybe the scope and focus of those topics needs to be expanded a bit, with some extra special emphasis on the management and ownership, too. Maybe a little less on shirts tucked in, shoes wrong color, dunking over the goalpost.

[HoosierCat]

The Irsay thing gets weirder...

For Colts owner Jim Irsay, an arrest last month on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and felony possession of a controlled substance (four counts) may have been the tipping point in a series of problems that, at a minimum, justifies careful examination by the league office.

According to Tim Evans and Mark Alesia of the Indianapolis Star, the arrest came less than three weeks after a woman was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in a townhouse Irsay previously had given to her.

Police and the coroner are reportedly waiting for toxicology results before determining the cause of Kimberly Wundrum’s death. Per the Star, a police report determines that a plate with “white powder, straw, razor” were found in the townhouse, along with photographs of Irsay.

/>http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/06/irsays-situation-gets-more-complicated/

So we have drugs, thousands of dollars stuffed in bags, and now a dead woman in a condo Irsay gave her...but hey DeSean Jackson flashed a gang sign so he's history's greatest monster.

[Scottishbengal]

In our soccer the English Premier League have a "fit and proper" criteria for owners of football clubs, by which the EPL can refuse the licence to folk to own a club. This came after a series of corruption/fraud scandals and is design to keep a) the running of the clubs legal and above board, and the integrity of the "game" in tact

Do the NFL have such restrictions as to who can own a franchise ??

[HoosierCat]

Technically, the NFL's rules of conduct apply to owners as well as players, but punishment is up to God-el and since he is an employee of the owners it's hard to see anything more than a wrist slap.

[kingwilly]

Technically, the NFL's rules of conduct apply to owners as well as players, but punishment is up to God-el and since he is an employee of the owners it's hard to see anything more than a wrist slap.

I think there are is pretty ulgy stuff just beneath the surface in Indy. If Goodel chose, he could excavate it and make an example of Irsay, show that the NFL expects better from the owners than even from players.

maybe.

[Sea Ray]

11. Don’t stop the clock on a sack. PASSED interesting. this will make sacks more valuable.

I assume this doesn't apply to sacks generated when the QB runs out of bounds (aka, the "Dalton").

13. Enforce defensive fouls behind the line of scrimmage from the previous spot, rather than from the end of the run or from the spot of the foul. PASSED whatever

Seems like a bit of a disincentive to deep passing plays that draw PI way down field. Would this have any other impact? Would it apply to returns?

Seems like this would apply to the dreaded roughing the passer penalty. If a pass is completed and the QB is roughed, the offense would not get another 15 yds tacked on. Am I reading that right?

[HoosierCat]

That's how I read it too initially, but you would think such a major change would have raised a hue and cry. But it hasn't. I suspect that means that you and I are reading it wrong (or more likely it's been badly stated). My guess is that it is only meant to apply to fouls on plays that ended behind the line of scrimmage. I guess we will find out next season...