NFL owners approve 25-yard touchback rule, change in injured reserve designation

[eyecatcher]

I'm not worried at all about the unsportsmanlike conduct ejections. I don't know if anyone would have been ejected last season as there were only a handful of players that had 2-3 such penalties for the entire season.

 

[JBlood]

I'm just sick of rule changes for the sake of change. What was the point in moving back the PAT again? Instead of this constant tinkering with aspects of the game that were literally never a problem to begin with, the NFL should be clarifying and simplifying already existing problems. They can start by finally defining what in the actual **** a "catch" is.

It's almost like there's no rhyme or reason to half of these rule changes and the league office never seems to give a proper explanation other than the occasional BS company line "for player safety". Can't wait till 2025 when the league is playing 5 on 5, and the Packers are playing their 18th regular season game in China on short rest and the "MULTI-BALL" siren goes off...

I'd put that last part in green font.....but I'm not confident enough to say that it won't be a possibility in Goodell's NFL.

 

[salmar80]

I'm just sick of rule changes for the sake of change. What was the point in moving back the PAT again? Instead of this constant tinkering with aspects of the game that were literally never a problem to begin with, the NFL should be clarifying and simplifying already existing problems. They can start by finally defining what in the actual **** a "catch" is.

It's almost like there's no rhyme or reason to half of these rule changes and the league office never seems to give a proper explanation other than the occasional BS company line "for player safety". Can't wait till 2025 when the league is playing 5 on 5, and the Packers are playing their 18th regular season game in China on short rest and the "MULTI-BALL" siren goes off...

I'd put that last part in green font.....but I'm not confident enough to say that it won't be a possibility in Goodell's NFL.

I tend to get killed every time I compare football with soccer, but I'll try once more:

Soccer is the same all over the world, and resistance to change is enormous, while the NFL is a chameleon changing with fans' preferences over time.

I'm NOT saying soccer is the better sport. And their rulebook is about 3 pages. But I think soccer culture has a better attitude when it comes to refereeing.

One main philosophical difference is that soccer world accepts refs judgment as a fact of life, while the NFL tries to take it outta the equation.

However many rules, replays and clauses the NFL adds, there will still be a human element to judging the game. Fans will still have to deal with it.

But I fear they'll learn to hate it more, instead of learning to accept it. I don't think that's good for the game.

 

[57packer]

Mostly agree on your take Salmar. I'm hardly a soccer expert, but I've been watching soccer games for most of my 60ish years. My father was a soccer nut and dragged me to games. I even played briefly in high school at an intramural/club level. Then my soccer nut son started playing and continues to play so I've watched a lot of soccer.

Soccer is a much more free-flowing game with frequent possession changes. (Like basketball and hockey.) I think that contributes to the sense of being more accepting of referee calls for most of the run of play. Other than fouls in the box or very near the box, the majority of fouls that result in a free kick don't have a huge impact on the game. Same with out-of-bounds calls. Possession changes and "loss of field position" don't seem to impact the game as much. so fans don't care that much. (Basketball and hockey fans carp about bad referees as well, but aren't calling for rules changes and technology intervention the way football fans do. Neither of those sports sees a ton of rule changes, though hockey is implementing some player safety type changes.)

Off-sides and in-the-box fouls are the biggest impacts the referees make in a soccer game and those often have the fans howling, but it does seem like they view it as more part of the game and tolerate it more.

Even soccer is not immune from meddling however. Since scoring is at a premium, some messed up calls in the 2010 World Cup (I believe) prompted FIFA to install referee over-ruling technology in the goal for Brazil 2014. That said, part of the beauty of soccer is that while it involves great skill and subtle strategy the game is much simpler from a "rules" perspective so there are fewer opportunities to mess with the game. Football is it's own worst enemy in the sense that it has so many rules covering so many aspects of the game that there is a lot of temptation to mess with the rules. Personally, I don't care for it but I understand why they are doing it.

 

[IronMan]

We live in a world where we try to prevent all bad things from happening.

- Someone gets a bloody nose playing dodgeball? Ban dodgeball. (A lot of schools have done this.)
- Buster Posey gets hurt in a collision at the plate? Ban collisions at the plate.
-A few players in the Nba get fouled a lot because they can't shoot free throws? We need to come up with a rule to prevent this! While no rule has been instituted, it has been discussed.

Bad shit happens in life. You cant legislate all bad things away. But that's the mentality today.​

 

[Half Empty]

Basically agree, but if the lawsuits didn't go hand-in-hand with the accidents, I believe there would be much less public hand-wringing.

 

[FlaPack]

We live in a world where we try to prevent all bad things from happening.

- Someone gets a bloody nose playing dodgeball? Ban dodgeball. (A lot of schools have done this.)
- Buster Posey gets hurt in a collision at the plate? Ban collisions at the plate.
-A few players in the Nba get fouled a lot because they can't shoot free throws? We need to come up with a rule to prevent this! While no rule has been instituted, it has been discussed.

Bad shit happens in life. You cant legislate all bad things away. But that's the mentality today.​

I don't equate fouling an NBA player or even Poseys injury to life changing brain damage. The league has turned a deft ear up until now. They were aware of the dangers but decided to ignore them. And if they were not sued they would have continued with no effort to change things. Even though they were and are aware of the dangers. Do owners or the league really care about players? No. They are replaceable except for their gravy train, elite qbs who help the league make money.

 

[Dubz41]

I don't equate fouling an NBA player or even Poseys injury to life changing brain damage. The league has turned a deft ear up until now. They were aware of the dangers but decided to ignore them. And if they were not sued they would have continued with no effort to change things. Even though they were and are aware of the dangers. Do owners or the league really care about players? No. They are replaceable except for their gravy train, elite qbs who help the league make money.

That's not exclusive to the NFL. It happens in most businesses everyday. I also think it's a bit naive of the players that they don't think playing a violent game with tremendous collisions is going to affect them down the road. The players are gambling with their health everyday, but the risk seems to be worth the reward.

Ironman- agree with you. We live in a knee jerk society.

 

[FlaPack]

That's not exclusive to the NFL. It happens in most businesses everyday. I also think it's a bit naive of the players that they don't think playing a violent game with tremendous collisions is going to affect them down the road. The players are gambling with their health everyday, but the risk seems to be worth the reward.

Ironman- agree with you. We live in a knee jerk society.

Many players are 2 french fries short of a happy meal. They believe what coaches tell them that they are looking out for their safety. Oh please. Only thing that mattered to the league, teams and front office was wins and money. They hid what the dangers were. Why? Money. Players are like a piece of meat. Use them for a few years. Then next man up. If the league knew the dangers why hide it? Players see a rainbow with $$$ at the end. Yes many are naive. Very few see the reward

 

[salmar80]

We live in a world where we try to prevent all bad things from happening.

- Someone gets a bloody nose playing dodgeball? Ban dodgeball. (A lot of schools have done this.)
- Buster Posey gets hurt in a collision at the plate? Ban collisions at the plate.
-A few players in the Nba get fouled a lot because they can't shoot free throws? We need to come up with a rule to prevent this! While no rule has been instituted, it has been discussed.

Bad shit happens in life. You cant legislate all bad things away. But that's the mentality today.​

I agree with the underlying idea. While I think one SHOULD try to prevent bad things from happening, you can go overboard. If a kid climbs a tree and falls, you do not cut all trees, ban tree-climbing, or sue mother nature. You teach 'em to climb safer, and just live with some risk.

With the NFL, it does seem silly that there's SO MUCH emphasis on safety, while talking about a game that's designed to be a tough game for tough hombres.

But not all rules that improve safety hurt the game.

The rules I do like in NFL:
- No wedge on kickoff or punt returns - Those things had the potential to be actually lethal.
- Limit to players per side on onside kicks - The collision is brutal as it is.
- Horse collar tackle ban - The players dread knee injuries, no one complained about this one.
- Concussion protocol - Glad the league has been forced to take those seriously.
- Chop block ban - We'll see how it's implemented, but for once a rule change benefiting the D.

The safety rules I don't like:
- Overprotecting the QB in too many ways. Motivated by money and not safety. Hard to sell tickets if QB1 is down.
- Trying to eliminate kickoffs. They're not THAT dangerous without the wedge.
- Obscure defenseless player rules. I have no idea when you can hit someone, where, how hard.