NFL Rule and Structural Changes (1 Viewer)

[perret318]

One tweak that I think would benefit the game, would be in the enforcement of a few defensive penalties:

I believe P.I. should be less punitive. I get all the arguments against this, but I still feel P.I. should not be a spot-foul and should be enforced more like it is at the college and high school levels. Maybe tier it somehow. Passes within 20 yards are 10 yards and automatic first; passes beyond 20 yards are half the distance and an automatic first.

I also believe that illegal contact and hands to the face should not be an automatic first down. Those are too punitive and are akin to turnovers when they happen away from the ball on third and long.



I was once against this years ago, but we have been at 12 teams since the early 90s, and back when there were only 28 teams. So about 43% of the teams made the playoffs back then. Now that we are at 32 teams, I would not mind seeing one more team added per conference and doing away with one of the bye weeks. 14 of 32 would be about 43%.

I also think they should not automatically award division winners with home games. A playoff berth is enough of an reward. Now that we have four divisions per conference, it is a near certainty every single year that the top wild card team will have a better record than the worst division winner.

I don't even care if they seed the teams the same - the best record should win homefield every time.

At the end of the day, a football playoff should give the best teams the easiest path to a championship. That's a general principle of most sports. By definition, a team with a 11-5 record is better than a team with a 7-9 record, so the goal should be to give that 11-5 team the best shot at advancing, I.E. homefield.

Totally agree with this, and been saying this forever. Keep the system that the four division winners and 2 wild cards get playoff spots. BUT, the individual records determine the seeding.

Win a crappy division at 8-8? Great! You're in the playoffs. But that team in a better division that went 11-5 and only got a wild-card spot gets the home game.

 

[St.Dan]

1. Hire full-time officials

2. demand those officials care more about getting calls right than bruising their poor little egos.

The end.

^^This.

The ideal is that sharing more of the league's mega-millions with the refs might actually result in them being better on the field. Course, a secondary challenge is training them and the tech mavens to make the humans and the tech work a little better with each other. Right now, the current batch of humans on the field look less confident making calls than a prom date knocking on his date's parents' front door.

 

[Mental Floss]

Why has officiating deteriorated so much the last few years.

 

[SubmarineMike]

I for one would like to see a man or better two men who have to agree, in the high castle. With wide latitude to review no calls, stop play and even in ultra extreme cases move back in time cancelling a subsequent play and resetting the field and clock to the point of the problem.

With the exception of rolling back, or cancelling, a play that has already been run, I really like this idea. It would have fixed PI without all of the confusion caused by last year's rule. The "sky judge" idea. All it would require is a voice in one of the ref's ear saying "throw a flag - I'll tell you why in a minute." If done correctly, it would be almost transparent to the viewers, and to the players themselves.

Of course, the big question to ask would be "is this rule going to be used to further punish the Saints" and, unfortunately, that answer will almost always be YES.

 

[St. Geezy]

Why has officiating deteriorated so much the last few years.

Al Riveron, who I always felt was shady character going back to his on-field days, and it shows up in his replay reviews, and secondly, a staggering amount of veteran officials retiring either to chill at home or to go work in the broadcast booth.

Between those factors, and more camera angles to dissect, sharp HD images to replay, the increased scrutiny due to the game becoming more popular every year, and the microscope being larger on officiating as a whole, this is why we have what we have today.

 

[St.Dan]

Why has officiating deteriorated so much the last few years.
[/QUOTE)

Among many other things, there is a lack of experience and “institutional knowledge” with the current batch of refs. They don’t make calls with any confidence due to big brother technology over their shoulder.

 

[black_floyd]

I want the replay to be transparent like the XFL is doing.

And, so help me God, if the NFL isn't using Xbox One controllers to control the replay booth by 2021, they can get forked.

 

[saints4eva]

And, so help me God, if the NFL isn't using Xbox One controllers to control the replay booth by 2021, they can get forked.

Lol somebody should make a meme

 

[tarusman28]

There are a lot of ideas being bandied about; extending the season, PI replay tweaks, onside kick and playoff structure etc.


I for one would like to see a man or better two men who have to agree, in the high castle. With wide latitude to review no calls, stop play and even in ultra extreme cases move back in time cancelling a subsequent play and resetting the field and clock to the point of the problem.

They Should RARELY be heard from.

Your thought on rule, contract, cap, playoff structure etc issues.

The problem is that Roger Goodell isn't interested in improving the NFL and making it better.

When it's a change that he like, it gets approved (Overtime rule change). However, if it's a change he doesn't like or have no interest in then it doesn't (Pass Interference rule change).

He stated that he wants to make the game safer but what he really he wants to make as much money as he can for the League even if it hurts the players health and well being. He wants 18 game season, he got thursday night football with only 3 days of down time to rest and heal-up injuried players. He also got games in london and eventually moving a team there full time which also will negatively impact players health and safety.

He claimed the he protecting the integrity of the shield. But as it turns out that's just lip service to smooth over or quite controversial issues such as Concussion Lawsuits and CTI issues affecting former players.

Don't go expecting anything good from Goodell for the actual betterment of NFL football.

 

[Wheelo]

One tweak that I think would benefit the game, would be in the enforcement of a few defensive penalties:

I believe P.I. should be less punitive. I get all the arguments against this, but I still feel P.I. should not be a spot-foul and should be enforced more like it is at the college and high school levels. Maybe tier it somehow. Passes within 20 yards are 10 yards and automatic first; passes beyond 20 yards are half the distance and an automatic first.

I also believe that illegal contact and hands to the face should not be an automatic first down. Those are too punitive and are akin to turnovers when they happen away from the ball on third and long.



I was once against this years ago, but we have been at 12 teams since the early 90s, and back when there were only 28 teams. So about 43% of the teams made the playoffs back then. Now that we are at 32 teams, I would not mind seeing one more team added per conference and doing away with one of the bye weeks. 14 of 32 would be about 43%.

I also think they should not automatically award division winners with home games. A playoff berth is enough of a reward. Now that we have four divisions per conference, it is a near certainty every single year that the top wild card team will have a better record than the worst division winner.

I don't even care if they seed the teams the same - the best record should win homefield every time.

At the end of the day, a football playoff should give the best teams the easiest path to a championship. That's a general principle of most sports. By definition, a team with a 11-5 record is better than a team with a 7-9 record, so the goal should be to give that 11-5 team the best shot at advancing, I.E. homefield.

The NFL playoff format is the best. I don't think they should change it at all. Only thing worse than what you're suggesting is moving to a round-robin, soccer style table format. Barf.

I'm 1000% against this. Division games mean more and the rivalries should matter. This turns into the NBA where there are no division rivals. Casual to hardcore NBA fans probably couldn't tell you the split of divisions within the league. The change the NFL did a few years ago changing the schedule to conclude with more division games was a great move. Those games are playoff games within the regular season. You want HFA, win your division first. That should always be your first goal in the NFL. Otherwise, what's the point of divisions?

The most simple change they need to make is jumping to an 18 week NFL schedule. Every team has two byes and no team plays a TNF game unless it's after a bye. They get an extra week of rest and break up the schedule to longer weeks for the teams. This just makes way too much sense. So, it'll probably never happen.

 

[Cajun Mike]

I want the replay to be transparent like the XFL is doing.

Totally agree, much better officiating

 

[VikesFan2017]

Why has officiating deteriorated so much the last few years.

I don't know how they could track stats on this, but my guess is that officiating has probably improved greatly over the last 20 years due to HDTV and replay being instituted.

I think what is happening now is more fans are finding a key detail on replay the cling to to point out a particular call was wrong and not in their favor.
There is also far more data sharing comparing bad calls. Example being Kyle Rudolph's non-PI call and the offensive PI call against the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

It wasn't very long for someone to tweet those two plays side-by-side where 10 years ago days or a week would go by before someone would be able to share that type of data with the masses.

Another example is while growing up, how many times have you seen a replay of the immaculate reception? I think I maybe saw it 3 times in 30 years.
How many times have you seen the Minnesota Miracle replayed. About a million times already in a 3 year span. Or the same on the non-PI call against the Rams in 2018-19.

This holds true for ref calls. Instead of seeing it once and it going away, these things are shown over and over and over again.

 

[mathis___k]

And please just show all replays, not only those where the ref is right..

 

[Mental Floss]

I don't know how they could track stats on this, but my guess is that officiating has probably improved greatly over the last 20 years due to HDTV and replay being instituted.

I think what is happening now is more fans are finding a key detail on replay the cling to to point out a particular call was wrong and not in their favor.
There is also far more data sharing comparing bad calls. Example being Kyle Rudolph's non-PI call and the offensive PI call against the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

It wasn't very long for someone to tweet those two plays side-by-side where 10 years ago days or a week would go by before someone would be able to share that type of data with the masses.

Another example is while growing up, how many times have you seen a replay of the immaculate reception? I think I maybe saw it 3 times in 30 years.
How many times have you seen the Minnesota Miracle replayed. About a million times already in a 3 year span. Or the same on the non-PI call against the Rams in 2018-19.

This holds true for ref calls. Instead of seeing it once and it going away, these things are shown over and over and over again.

Yeah no doubt Instant Replay is a contributor but I'm also thinking the changes to the rules are complicating matters. They have added a number of nuance and in the eye of the beholder penalties. The safety issue has really increased the burden on refs.

 

[VikesFan2017]

Yeah no doubt Instant Replay is a contributor but I'm also thinking the changes to the rules are complicating matters. They have added a number of nuance and in the eye of the beholder penalties. The safety issue has really increased the burden on refs.

One example would be just to review the rules of what is "a catch" or what is "Defensive Pass Interferences".

Those two descriptions alone probably changed in definition several times over the last 15 years alone. Sometimes by intention to make games more offensive and also some times to make the game easier to ref.

Knowing the rules have such intricate definitions, I'm surprised how often the ref, at live speed, can actually make the correct call. I would be lost out there.