NFL Rules

[joseephuss]

When did hours of football become a bad thing?

It is not a bad thing for fans. I don't know about the players. The longer the game goes, the more tired the players get, which can lead to injuries.

Maybe they can start overtime like the XFL used to start games. Throw the ball in the middle of the field and let the teams go after it. The team that comes away with it starts their drive at that spot.

 

[Doomsday]

1. Pass interference is only 15 yards in college...I'd like that in the NFL because the yellow flag is doing more to help offenses than the players themselves...it would keep teams from getting screwed totally by questionable calls.

2. Scoring would still be up if we also defined a legal catch as 1 foot in bounds...I'd love that, and it would cut down on instant replay, while helping the offense, making up for changing the interference call.

3. A punt is downed based on where the ball is, not where the defender is...I hate the rule that the defender can't cross the goal line...In college, it doesn't matter if his whole body is lying in the endzone as long as he stops the ball before it crosses...this would be more exciting to watch punters and special teamers making this play, but it would also cut down on the fake fair catches and letting the ball roll...you'd see more guys catching the punts and running with them.

4. I'd much rather see the college overtime situation than the NFL overtime where the coin flip itself can determine the outcome...I'd start the offense on the other team's 40 instead of the 25 though.

1. I dont like just a 15 yard penalty, makes it too easy to just tackle the defender but I do think they need to let these guys play more. If a ball is underthrown thats the offenses fault the defender shouldnt be punished because the WR stops right in front of him.

2. This isnt college you should have to get 2 feet down everytime.

4. Personally I hate college overtime, its ridicilous in my opinion. The game is offense and defense. Its a huge advantage in the college OT for the team that gets the ball second needing a TD instead of a FG. Dont like it at all.

The biggest rule change needs to be the roughing and personal foul calls. A defener puts his arms up to block a pass from a QB and his hand comes down and taps a QB in the helmet and its a personal foul. Totally ridicilous some of the crap being called.

 

[scorpiq]

One rule I would love to see in the NFL is when you get a first down the clock stops until the ball is set. It's more exciting because the team behind has a better chance of scoring late in the game. It would totally change the 2 minute drill. It's so frustrating when you make a great play on offense and don't have enough time to get another play off. Of course, if you're the team ahead late in the game you would prefer the clock to not stop. The outcome of so many close games I've seen would likely be different if this rule were in place.

 

[Zman5]

I'm tired of some of them...I'd like to see the NFL adapt some of the college game's rules...I think the game would be more exciting and we'd see fewer instant replays.

College rules are often quite different than the NFL rules...I'd love to see the NFL change a few.

1. Pass interference is only 15 yards in college...I'd like that in the NFL because the yellow flag is doing more to help offenses than the players themselves...it would keep teams from getting screwed totally by questionable calls.

2. Scoring would still be up if we also defined a legal catch as 1 foot in bounds...I'd love that, and it would cut down on instant replay, while helping the offense, making up for changing the interference call.

3. A punt is downed based on where the ball is, not where the defender is...I hate the rule that the defender can't cross the goal line...In college, it doesn't matter if his whole body is lying in the endzone as long as he stops the ball before it crosses...this would be more exciting to watch punters and special teamers making this play, but it would also cut down on the fake fair catches and letting the ball roll...you'd see more guys catching the punts and running with them.

4. I'd much rather see the college overtime situation than the NFL overtime where the coin flip itself can determine the outcome...I'd start the offense on the other team's 40 instead of the 25 though.

* We all wanted to see the two point conversion for years before the NFL finally put it in...what other rules would you like to see the NFL adapt from the college ranks?

1. Change it.
2. Leave it alone.
3. Change it.
4. Leave it alone. Coin flop starts the regular game. Why not overtime part of the game?


I also would like to change the roughing the passer penalty to have the same options as the face mask penalty (5 and 15 yard).

 

[Muhast]

if your defense is good you have a much better chance in overtime if you kick off. Kick it off, hold them on the the 25.. Get a turn over or force a punt and you have a shorter feild to work with.

College overtime takes away the main points of football, capitalizing on field position and driving down the field. If you put the ball in a set position it takes a way a lot of key principals to winning games. I mean you give them the ball in field goal range already

 

[Chuck 54]

Because the team that wins the overtime coin toss has won only 53.1 percent of the time in NFL history (211 of 397). That's not a statistically significant enough advantage to change anything.

Just asking, is that stat for winning the toss and winning the game anytime in overtime, or is that stat just referring to a team winning the toss and then winning the game on the first possession?

I see it as like being the home team in baseball when you go to the bottom of the 9th, you always have the advantage because you will be on offense twice compared to once for the other team.

I just hate the NFL overtime...i find it very boring, just more of the same, but I can see I'm in the minority.

 

[Chuck 54]

I don't think I agree with some of the assessments about pass interference. I think 15 yards is a significant award for a call that doesn't always mean the pass would have been caught anyway. Yes, you would ocassionally have guys on a long bomb interfere intentionally, but if the guy is close enough to interfere, don't you think he's close enough to prefer trying to make a play on the ball or get an interception...you have to be within an arm's length of a guy to interfere, so I don't see guys interfering on every deep ball just out of stupidity.

On the other hand, while there would be occasional intentional interference calls, you would no longer see an offense pick up 40 yards on a pass that was poorly thrown just because the poor defensive guy couldn't get out of the way or when a defender makes a good play that some ref sees as questionable.

I just hate seeing teams get rewarded for crappy underthrown bombs or ticky-tack fouls. Right now it is smart for a team to heave up the hail mary anytime there's single coverage...I think if you start seeing more interference calls than you do actual good plays being made, something's wrong with the rule.

 

[LeonDixson]

There's a simple solution to the intentional PI. Intentional PI could be a spot foul and unintentional PI limited to 15 yards or spot whichever is shorter. Yes, judgement on the refs' part is still in play, but you're never going to get rid of judgement calls.

The calls to protect the QB are getting to be rediculous. The pass rushers don't have a clue as to what they are going to be allowed to do anymore.

 

[joseephuss]

http://community.foxsports.com/blog...Hidden_Effects_of_Pass_Interference_Penalties

I found this little blog article. He counted 820 accepted pass interference penalties on the defense from 2002-2005. That is 205 PIs per season. There are 256 games a season. That is less than one accepeted pass interference call per game. Maybe pass interference doesn't affect the game that much even when it results in a big yardage penalty in one instance.

 

[Doomsday101]

There's a simple solution to the intentional PI. Intentional PI could be a spot foul and unintentional PI limited to 15 yards or spot whichever is shorter. Yes, judgement on the refs' part is still in play, but you're never going to get rid of judgement calls.

The calls to protect the QB are getting to be rediculous. The pass rushers don't have a clue as to what they are going to be allowed to do anymore.

I agree on both counts. Have a so called break away spot foul on intentional PI and 15 on all others. I also agree the over protection of the QB's has gotten out of hand and hopefully it will be addressed at the end of the season.

 

[NinePointOh]

I see it as like being the home team in baseball when you go to the bottom of the 9th, you always have the advantage because you will be on offense twice compared to once for the other team.

I disagree with you on both sports.

In baseball, the advantage isn't that you get an extra turn --if anything, the home team gets one less turn. The advantage is that by the time you get to bat (if you're tied or losing after the top of the 9th), you know exactly how many runs you need and can plan accordingly when deciding to play small ball, hit-and-run, sac fly, etc.

In football, the current system rewards an efficient team even if they lose the toss, because the field position will almost always be better for the team that forces a quick punt than for the team that fielded the kickoff. The teams that complain are the ones who couldn't muster a defensive stop when it counted.