Is anyone else ready for the Kansas City Chiefs training camp to begin? It’s kind of like talking about how hot it gets in the summer… what good does it do.
The reality remains, we all want to fill our senses with the sights and sounds of grown bros dressed in red and gold darting across green fields of skillfully coiffed fescue while hunting down — like cavemen warriors — an elongated elliptical object fashioned of boar-hides. They’re actually made of vulcanized rubber these days, and sometimes cowhide.
In any event we’re all ready for some football and no one can say they’re any more excited than I am. But wait… we’re not talking about the same ole game we play after school. These days… a catch is not even a catch.
So, let’s take a look at the 9 new rules changes the NFL owners announced this offseason one by one.
- Permanently moves the line of scrimmage for PATs to the 15-yard line, and allows the defense to return any missed try. If defense returns it to the end zone, it will get 2 points.
The defense has really gotten the short end of the stick-em in the past decade or so. If the defense returns a missed PAT to the end zone… how is that so different than a punt return for a touchdown? In other words, I think 6 points should be given, After all, a kick returner will likely have to cover the same distance that a kickoff returner covers. Awarding two points makes no sense at all to me.
- Permits one member of the offensive and defensive coaching staffs to use the coach-to-player communication system regardless of whether they are on the field or in the coaches’ booth.
Now that may become harder to monitor whether or not a team has one… or more coaches up in the booth colluding about what they’re seeing on the field. However, I suppose the team approach has always been going on in the coaches booth, only the difference now will be the speed at which adjustments are created then made on the field.
- Makes all chop blocks illegal.
Advantage Chiefs. No one is talking (much) about this new rule change and it could be a definite plus for the K.C. defense. Teams can no longer ask their offensive linemen to “just lay” down in front of a very aggressive Chiefs front seven. In a sense, the Chiefs defense just got better, but one is talking about it.
Some of you may be thinking, “He’s forgetting that the Chiefs OL will be straddled with the same limitations.” However, let’s not forget what kind of scheme Andy Reid runs which basically calls for athletic-type linemen so carrying out their blocking assignments instead of “going for the knees” of an opponent won’t be any skin off of their collective noses.
Should have had this rule years ago, said the man with three knee surgeries (two of them football related).
Now, the Denver Broncos linemen will actually have to block someone.
- On a one-year trial basis, any player who is penalized twice in one game for certain types of unsportsmanlike conduct fouls is disqualified.
It’s a good thing that John Dorsey and Andy Reid have built their team up with a bunch of level headed guys. No Vontaze Burfict’s here.
- On a one-year trial basis, any touchback resulting from a kick will give the opposition the ball at the 25-yard line (instead of the 20).
While some are calling this “the beginning of the end” for the kickoff, I don’t see it. What I can see happening is teams asking their kickers to kick-off higher and shorter, inside the ten yard line, to try and pin the opposing team anywhere inside of the 25 yard line. Book it. I can see Jeff Fischer attempting that for sure.
- Expands the horse collar rule to include grabbing the jersey at the nameplate or above and pulling a runner toward the ground.
Horse collar, evil. Horse play, good.
Like the “Clothesline” play made popular by Night Train Lane, or the Facemask penalty… the Horse Collar must be banned and penalized. Simply too dangerous.
- A team will receive a delay of game penalty (5 yards) if it attempts to call a timeout when it has used all its timeouts.
Ah, the Chris Weber rule comes to football. I’m sure some poor soul… or two or three… have tried this trick to manipulate the clock at the end of a game. The question is… why are they penalizing “yards” instead of “time?”
- Makes it a loss of down (and not a 5-yard penalty) when a receiver illegally touches a forward pass after being out of bounds and fails to re-establish himself inbounds.
Re-establishmentarianism or… anti-re-stablishmentarianism… either way it’s a meh for moi.
- Eliminates multiple spots of enforcement for a double foul after a change of possession.
Sticks and stones will… I’m not actually sure what that rule is talking about… so I’ll leave it at that.
However, I’d like to say something about the kickoff. Does it seem like the kickoff has been getting kicked in the ribs in recent years? Last year the field goal was tested and then changed. In the next few years the kickoff could be getting kicked off the bus.
While the safety issue is in play here, I’m wondering how many rules of the game have to change before the game is not longer the game. I’ve heard many fans say, “The game is not what it used to be” and that perception is one that I share.
In an article by Josh Alper for ProFootballTalk (PFT) called, “John Mara: NFL ‘could very well’ eliminate the kickoff” in which the New York Giants owner says,
“We’re not at the point where we want to take the kickoff out of the game completely, although we may be moving in that direction. One of the concerns is what do you do in a situation where you’ve scored late in the game and you’re down by less than a touchdown, and it takes away the onside kick. Obviously concussions are on the top of our list in terms of our concerns for the game going forward.”
Concussions. I’m not sure it’s time to open that discussion but I do wonder what it will look like if they continue to remove the “dangerous elements” from the game completely?
Badminton anyone?
Anyone?