Tgirsch As NFL Emperor
Jan 29
Since the NFL season is over, and the Super Bowl is almost upon us, I’d like to do my usual thing and list the rules changes I’d implement for next season, were I emperor of the league. They are, in no particular order:
- Preseason: Cut back to two preseason games. We don’t need four.
- Instant Replay: Rather than the current system of coaches challenges, and the on-field ref going under the hood, switch to a Big Ten or NHL-style replay system. Reviews would be called for by a reply official in the booth, and the review would happen either upstairs, or at a centralized league office. Reviews would be shortened to 60 seconds, just enough time to view each replay once. If it’s not immediately apparent that the call on the field was bad, that call stands. Coaches would retain one challenge per game. Any play would be reviewable, up to the point where the whistle blows.
- Defensive Pass Interference: Go to a two-tiered system for pass interference penalties, similar to what we have for facemask penalties. The “incidental” variety would be ten yards and an automatic first down, while the “flagrant” variety would be spot-of-the-foul. Pass interference penalties would be reviewable by instant replay.
- Offensive Pass Interference: Start calling it! Too many receivers are gaining an advantage by pushing off, and too many offenses are running picks.
- Roughing The Passer: I understand the importance of protecting quarterbacks, but this has gone too far. Keep calling blows to the head, inadvertent or not, but if a blitzer only takes one step between the release of the ball and the hit, it ought to be a clean hit.
- Icing The Kicker: On game-tying or game-winning field goal tries in the final minute of regulation or overtime, if the defensive team wishes to call a timeout to ice the kicker, they must announce their intention to do so to the officials before the play, and call the timeout as soon as the kicking team sets, or before the play clock goes below 5 seconds (whichever comes first). Waiting until just before the snap and then calling timeout would be a five yard delay of game penalty.
- Playoff Seeding: Seeding is determined based solely on your record. Winning your division guarantees you a playoff spot, but does not guarantee you a top four seed.
- Super Bowl: No more two-week delays between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl. One week only. And let’s finally schedule an outdoor northern/bad weather Super Bowl. You could easily fill Soldier Field or Giants Stadium for that game, irrespective of the conditions.
- Pro Bowl: Just replace it with a skills competition. Nobody cares about the game, anyway.
- Kickoffs: No more taking a knee in the end zone on a kickoff. You’ve got to run it out. Also, if a kicker kicks the ball through the end zone on a kickoff, where the ball never hits in the field of play, it’s treated the same way as a kickoff out of bounds.
I’m sure I’ll think of more, but this is my initial list. Thoughts?
UPDATE: Added the kickoffs section. Also, some have suggested eliminating fair catches on punts, but I think that would invite too many injuries. I like hard hits as much as the next guy, but I don’t want people getting killed. 
#1 by Ted at January 29th, 2008
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i agree with pro bowl, super bowl, and icing the kicker.
preseason is a revenue thing
two-tiered interference would make the most subjective call even more so.
I would change definition of pass/fumble when QB is hit while throwing. Any ball that does not make the line of scrimage in the air is live. Including a dropped screen pass.
#2 by Ted at January 29th, 2008
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holy shit - Mets got Santana.
#3 by tgirsch at January 29th, 2008
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Ted:
I disagree on the pass interference thing. I agree that it’s currently the “most subjective” call. But I think my suggestions potentially lessen the impact of that. Right now, the only thing the officials can do is call the flagrant variety. In my system, they could now call a less-punitive penalty, and in any case the call could be reviewed by replay to correct a bad call.
The devil’s in the details, of course: you’d have to put in some sort of standard for what constitutes a “flagrant” versus an “incidental” penalty. But I think that could be worked out.
The pass/fumble thing is an interesting idea. I’d have to think about it. I’m not sure I like it as stated. You’d certainly get a LOT more turnovers. It would probably eliminate screens from the game.
#4 by Ted at January 29th, 2008
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ok, define flagrant. to me, the goals on interference penalties should be: if action prevented a catch - award spot of foul. if action did not prevent catch - no penalty.
of course trying to distinguish between two is the rub. but i don’t see how your idea helps. (keep in mind we already have def holding and illegal contact as non-spot penalties.)
#5 by tgirsch at January 29th, 2008
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Ted:
Again, it’s fuzzy. But to me, if a pass would almost certainly have been caught if not for the interference, it’s flagrant. Less than that, but still interrupting the receiver’s route illegally, call the ten-yard variety.
As I understand the rules currently, they can’t call holding or illegal contact in those circumstances because those penalties do not apply when the ball is in the air. If the ball’s in the air, it’s got to be interference. Maybe you just change that part of the rule, and allow holding or illegal contact to be called instead of interference.
#6 by Ted at January 29th, 2008
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“If the ball’s in the air, it’s got to be interference.”
not true.
kick-off thru endzone being spotted at 45 is bad idea. Would make defensive penalties on sucessful PATs free at least, and helpful to defense in many cases. (unless a gale blowing, no kicker can carry the endzone from the 30)
#7 by Ted at January 29th, 2008
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oops - 40 not 45
#8 by digglahhh at January 30th, 2008
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Cut back preseason: Agree, but it won’t happen. Revenue issue.
Instant Replay: to be honest, it doesn’t bother me too much as is. Replay is kinda a necessary evil to me. Any set-up will have annoying quirks. I wouldn’t support the centralized league office though - just the conspiracy theory in me (I’m already suspicious that the “booth” is Vegas…)
Interference: Calling offensive PI would remedy a lot of the problem. I think being a corner is one of the most difficult jobs in all of professional sports. It sucks that on top of that, they get the short end of penalty flag. The primary goal of any structuring of the interference rule, though, has to be that it can never pay for the defensive player to commit the penalty intentionally.
Roughing the passer: Fine. I think it’s more important to revise the rule similarly for roughing the kicker though. The opponent getting a 1st down after you’ve stopped them because of some incidental contact in the pursuit of blocking a kick is the “cheapest” thing that can happen in a game.
Icing the kicker: Sure, Agree. Why not.
Seeding: Do you support this in other sports? I’m not for it. The NBA did it last year, just because the previous year an upset caused them to shoot their prime-match-up load prematurely. There’s a trend in sports to devalues divisional championships, I don’t like it. This is a year to year thing for me, sometimes you get really good match-ups, other times you don’t. That’ll happen no matter how you organize things.
Super Bowl: Yes, one week - please!!
Pro Bowl: Yeah, get rid of it. Just have a ceremony announcing the honor and forget it. Brady has already predicted an ankle relapse around the time of this year’s Pro Bowl.
Kick-off: I have no problem with how they work now. Punts are fine too, IMO.
And, yes, the Mets have Johan. If the Giants find a way to win Sunday, this will go down as one of the best sports weeks I’ve ever had as a fan!
#9 by Ted at January 30th, 2008
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“The primary goal of any structuring of the interference rule, though, has to be that it can never pay for the defensive player to commit the penalty intentionally.”
while i agree, it is worth noting it still pays occasionally - if the YAC would have been significant.
in bball, you foul instead of allowing a layup (or grab your man from behind to prevent a 1 on none break). In hockey, there is the penalty shot situation. Same in soccer. So other sports have tactical foul situations, would be hard to completely eliminate from football.
#10 by tgirsch at January 30th, 2008
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I agree with Ted about the interference penalty. Also, if interference prevents a sure touchdown, then it can still be a worthwhile penalty to take. (And, in that situation, I’m cool with the current ball-spotted-at-the-one rule.)
As to replay, I don’t mind if it’s not a central office, but I still want a separate replay official who’s not one of the on-field officials.
Seeding: In baseball, it’s not relevant, because there are only two rounds, so we already wind up with that in effect. In basketball and hockey, the problem is that too damn many teams qualify. In both cases, the number needs to be cut in half. And if you did that, you’d be in the same position that baseball is in now.
But the biggest difference between baseball/hockey/basketball and football is that football is single elimination. As such, winning your division should only give you a higher seed in the first round, IMO. Note that while it’s never happened to my knowledge, you could theoretically have a wild card team with a better record than the #2 overall seed. That team shouldn’t be punished for the entire duration of the playoffs just because they played in a tougher division than anyone else.
Roughing the Kicker: I don’t like the way the rule is currently written, although I see the need for it. I think the rule needs to be that you can’t hit the kicker during the kicking motion whether or not you get the ball.
Ted:
not true
Oh? I’ll have to look up the rule on that. Because on more than one occasion, I’ve seen that explanation given as to why pass interference was called on what looked to me like simple illegal contact.
As to kickoffs, they’re called “place kickers” for a reason.
They can do kickoffs positionally; some kickers are coached to try and have their kicks hang longer and have their kicks come down around the one or two yard line, to force returns rather than allow easy touchbacks. But in any case, that rule’s not a real high priority for me. I’d just like to see a requirement that all kickoffs be returnable.
#11 by wkmaier at January 30th, 2008
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Digg,
“And, yes, the Mets have Johan. If the Giants find a way to win Sunday, this will go down as one of the best sports weeks I’ve ever had as a fan!”
Aren’t Mets fans usually Jets fans (and vice versa), with Yankees and Giants going together? I pull for all four local teams, though taken together, I go for hockey first, then football, with baseball being a distant third.
#12 by Ted at January 30th, 2008
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holding or illegal contact can be called away from play when ball is in air (assuming no tip for IC)
holding or illegal contact can be called in vicinity of play when ball is in air but deemed uncatchable
PI can not be called if ball is deemed uncatchable (although a huge amount of scope is given to offense when making this call)
hang time big on punts but not kickoffs. coverage much deeper on kickoffs due to running start.
#13 by tgirsch at January 30th, 2008
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Then what we need is a re-emphasis on that rule. If a ball is not catchable (or unlikely to be caught), don’t call pass interference. Call holding or illegal contact.
#14 by Ted at January 30th, 2008
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let it be so.
#15 by digglahhh at January 31st, 2008
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WK,
I’m only 27, so my sports fandom postdates the Mets and Jets sharing a stadium, which I assume is the root of the connection. The connection holds better for the older generation. My group of friends is probably in the range of 65/35 Mets to Yanks (we’re from Queens), but probably more like 80/20 Giants to Jets.
Ted,
Regarding tactical fouls. In basketball, you can foul out, so while fouling to prevent a lay-up can be a smart move in certain situations, they fouls have lasting consequences independent of the play (in addition to fouling out, there’s the putting the other team in the bonus). Also, grabbing to prevent the break, “clear path fouls” in the NBA are now a free throw plus possession.
In hockey and soccer it is much easier to score on a penalty shot than it in regular game play, so that too is a severe penalty. In rare instances, it is to your advantage to commit the penalty, but as a rule, it’s not. Anything less than spot of the foul in the NFL seems like frequent encouragement to commit penalties. Again, calling offensive PI would make a world of difference. It’s like MLB with the strike zone and curbing offense - you don’t have to make new rules, just enforce existing ones well.
TG,
One could argue that the theoretical wild card team with the second best record would be more likely to have had the easy schedule than the division champs. It seems to me, the most likely way for that to happen is for a very good team to be in a division with the best team in the league, and have a favorable non-division schedule. 10-6-ish divisional winners are usually a sign of tough divisions, since your division makes up a large chunk of your schedule… Football will always have the potential for weird seeding quirks simply because you don’t even play all the teams in the league. Teams’ skeds differ from one another to a far greater degree than any other sport. Weird (and seemingly unjust) things are bound to happen as a result.
#16 by EmStillers at January 19th, 2009
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The pass interference call is the most frustrating part of the NFL today. It can amount to a 50-yard penalty for the slightest of contact. Ravens “scoring drives” yesterday were both pass interference calls to place the ball at the 1. Given the rules, I’d sit back and chuck the ball long every time. You’re bound to get one of those calls.
The penalty pre-supposes that the receiver would have caught the ball. I’d venture to say that 80% of these passes would have never been caught. That being the case, you’re almost more inclined to focus on your acting skills than your catching ability.