NFL News: Rating the Competition Committee's Kickoff Moves and Other Changes
The NFL Competition Committee announced its recommendations today for some significant rules changes.
With player safety as its major focus, the committee has recommended new rules governing defenseless players, kickoff coverage and more. Its proposals will be voted on by the owners at next week’s league meetings.
Read on for a detailed list of the proposed changes, and an evaluation of whether the game needs them or not.
Proposed Rules Changes
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The Competition Committee’s proposal includes the following changes:
Kickoffs will be taken from the 35 rather than the 30-yard line of the kicking team, and touchbacks will come out to the receiving team’s 25-yard line.
Wedge blocking of any kind will be illegal on kickoffs
The kicking team’s players must line up within five yards of the kickoff spot.
The list of “defenseless players” will include quarterbacks in the process of passing the ball or after a change of possession, receivers in the process of catching a pass, runners already in the grasp of a tackler, returners in the process of fielding a kick, kickers and punters, and any players on the ground at the end of a play or being hit by blindside blocks.
Cheap shots on defenseless players will now be punishable by suspension.
All scoring plays will be subject to booth review rather than coach’s challenge
Coaches will not receive a third challenge if their first two are successful
Best: Suspensions as Penalty for Cheap Shots
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In what could easily become known as the James Harrison rule, the league will consider making suspension (for one or multiple games) a recognized punishment for hits on defenseless players, especially in the case of repeat offenders.
Another expansion of last year’s midseason furor of anti-concussion measures, this rule seems on a par with the rest of them. Most defenses adjusted to the new standards by the end of last season, so it’s likely that we won’t see too many players hit with suspensions before the league as a whole gets the hint.
Good: Expansion of Defenseless Player Rules
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With one exception (to be discussed later), the changes in the defenseless player rules make a lot of sense and seem eminently reasonable.
The expanded definition of a defenseless receiver (now anyone in the process of catching the ball) will likely come with a period of adjustment for players and officials, but it does solidify last year’s mid-season patch to the same set of rules.
Adding kickers and punters to the ranks of the protected also seems an overdue change, and makes the entire body of rules more coherent.
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Good: All Scoring Plays Reviewed in Booth
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As far as it goes, this change makes a fair amount of sense. By automatically reviewing all touchdowns, the league takes away a lot of tough calls for coaches about whether to challenge and gets a higher probability of the game’s biggest plays being called correctly.
It’s a pity, though, that they couldn’t come up with some way to include potential scoring plays (say, 4th-and-goal tries that are ruled on the field as having come up short) in the new rule.
Okay: No Wedge Blocking on Kickoffs
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Not much to argue about with this change, which merely expands upon the existing rule that had reduced wedge blocking to a maximum of two players.
The efficacy of the two-man wedge wasn’t great enough that many teams, or fans, will mourn its loss overmuch.
Okay: Kickoffs from 35-Yard Line, Touchbacks to 25-Yard Line
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While the NFL’s motivation in making this change—cutting down on injuries during kickoff returns—is understandable, it’s still going to be a bitter pill to swallow for fans.
Game-changing return specialists like Leon Washington and Brad Smith will have many fewer chances to make the highlight reel. Even for less electrifying return men, an appreciable number of actual plays will be replaced by dead balls as returners take a knee to avoid costing their team field position.
It would be unfair to argue that the NFL shouldn’t worry so much about kick return injuries because they don’t tend to affect big-name players, so it’s hard to deny the logic of the change. Still, football will be a little less fun for it.
Okay: Kicking Team Lines Up Within 5 Yards of Kicking Spot
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The net effect of this rule will be to reduce the amount of runway a coverage player has to get up to speed before meeting the return team’s blockers. It should help somewhat in alleviating the kick-return drought that will be promoted by the changes in kickoff yard lines.
Still, it’s not going to help as much as some of the other changes will hurt the enterprise of returning kicks.
Bad: Elimination of Third Coach's Challenge
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While some analysts have called for additional challenges to be given to coaches whose first three tries were successful, the competition committee wants to move in the opposite direction. Even if a coach challenges two calls and wins both, they propose that he should not receive a third chance.
Challenges on plays early in a game are already unduly risky because of the limited number of chances to challenge. There’s no reason to exacerbate the problem by cutting that limit down even further.
Bad: No Change to Reception Rules
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One of the most striking features of the competition committee’s proposal was the one that wasn’t there. After last year’s uproar over Calvin Johnson’s non-catch against the Bears, many fans hoped for a clarification of the definition of a catch in the rule book.
The committee did not oblige.
The fact that the existing rules allow for blatant injustices like the Johnson play—and even speaking as a Bears fan, it was an injustice—seems like a pretty strong motivation to rework the language on the books. The committee chose not to do so, and they may well regret that choice, especially if a similar play pops up next season.
Worst: QBs During a Pass Are Defenseless Players
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Currently included in the proposed update to the defenseless player rules, this provision could become an unmitigated fiasco. Everyone understands that the league wants to protect its high-profile, money-making QBs, but the roughing-the-passer rules already exist to do that job.
By adding QBs—during, not after, a pass—to the list of defenseless players, the league opens the door for every QB who’s hit while throwing to look for a flag (not that some don’t already).
Genuine cheap shots are already going to be called under existing rules; this change seems like it would allow a lot of legitimate defensive plays to be flagged.
The quarterbacks are already protected enough. They don’t need a second endangered-species list to give referees more reasons to turn a defensive stop into a ticky-tack penalty.
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