2012 NFL Rule change proposals.

[meStevo]

Competition committee considering the following rules change proposals:

1. Giving the authority to determine replay reviews to the replay official in the booth, not the referee on the field. (proposed by the Bills)

2. Modifying the horse-collar tackle rule to remove the exception for quarterbacks in the pocket, so that a quarterback in the pocket may not be yanked down by the back of his shoulder pads or inside collar of his jersey. (proposed by the Steelers)

3. Changing overtime so that the postseason rule will be used in the regular season as well, and no regular-season games will be ended on a field goal on the first possession of overtime. (proposed by the Steelers)

4. Adding a loss of down to the penalty for kicking a loose ball, as is the case in college football.

5. Adopting the college rule for too many men on the field, which is a dead-ball foul if a team lines up on offense for more than three seconds, or if a team on defense lines up with too many men and the snap is imminent. In those cases, the officials will blow the play dead and assess a five-yard penalty. This change wouldn’t affect the rulings on players running off the field who don’t get off in time.

6. Expanding the defenseless player rule to protect defensive players on crackback blocks, making it illegal to hit them in the head or neck area.

7. Automatically reviewing turnovers via instant replay, just as scoring plays are automatically reviewed.

The league also considered the following bylaws:

1. Modifying the roster rules for teams that play on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

2. Moving the trade deadline from Week 6 to Week 8.

3. Expanding the roster limit for training camp and the offseason to 90 players, with unsigned draft picks now counting toward that limit, whereas in the past unsigned draft picks did not count toward the 80-player limit.

4. Moving this year’s final roster cutdown day to Friday night instead of Saturday, which is designed to give an extra day of work after cutting down to final rosters for the two teams playing in the first game of the season, which this year is on Wednesday instead of Thursday.

5. Adding an injured reserve exemption so that if a player was on the roster through the first regular season weekend, that player can be placed on injured reserve and designated for return, and then can return to practice six weeks later and play in a game eight weeks later, rather than having all players on injured reserve out for the season.

6. Allowing one roster exemption per team per week for a player who is inactive with a concussion.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

Giving the authority to determine replay reviews to the replay official in the booth, not the referee on the field. (proposed by the Bills)

How hard,or expensive,would it be to have the instant replay official centrally located at the NFL office(in NYC?) instead of at each stadium? That's how the CFL & the NHL does it.

 

[Mets82]

If I was running the league or proposing ideas, I think what they should do is that they should get rid of the Replay Challenges. If they want to challenge a call, thats fine, but if they lose the challenge, they shouldnt lose a timeout. I've never understood that.

Also, they should go back to the old ways in overtime. If you by a field goal, safety or touchdown so be it. If your team doesnt like getting beat by a FG in OT, then you know what? Stop them so they wont kick one.

 

[meStevo]

If I was running the league or proposing ideas, I think what they should do is that they should get rid of the Replay Challenges. If they want to challenge a call, thats fine, but if they lose the challenge, they shouldnt lose a timeout. I've never understood that.

Also, they should go back to the old ways in overtime. If you by a field goal, safety or touchdown so be it. If your team doesnt like getting beat by a FG in OT, then you know what? Stop them so they wont kick one.

There has to be risk when challenging.

With so much more favoring the offense now, the old OT is not returning.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[riffjim4069]

I vote for returning to the pre-1994 rulebook when the defense could actually tackle receivers and quarterbacks without being fined, suspended or practically thrown in jail. You know...when they were actually permitted to play football.

Sent from my HTC EVO using SatelliteGuys App

 

[meStevo]

I vote for returning to the pre-1994 rulebook when the defense could actually tackle receivers and quarterbacks without being fined, suspended or practically thrown in jail. You know...when they were actually permitted to play football.

Sent from my HTC EVO using SatelliteGuys App

AKA the era where you could just crush people with the end result being incidents where they shoot themselves in the chest when the commit suicide instead of the head so their brain could be studied?

Sounds like a well thought out plan.

 

[Jimbo]

How hard,or expensive,would it be to have the instant replay official centrally located at the NFL office(in NYC?) instead of at each stadium? That's how the CFL & the NHL does it.

I HATE the NHL 's way of doing it.

Nothing wrong with the person in the booth to review it.


2. Modifying the horse-collar tackle rule to remove the exception for quarterbacks in the pocket, so that a quarterback in the pocket may not be yanked down by the back of his shoulder pads or inside collar of his jersey. (proposed by the Steelers)

??? Can't be brought down by the shoulder pads ?
I agree with the horse collar( inside collar).

If you can't be brought down by your shoulder pads, is there ANYWHERE left that you CAN bring the guy down ?


3. Changing overtime so that the postseason rule will be used in the regular season as well ...
I like this idea ... why in the world would you have 2 different sets of rules between the regular season and the Post Season ?


Additionally, how about making ALL plays in the END ZONE reviewable ....
Not just SCORING plays, this past year there were plenty of plays where had it been reviewed it WOULD have been a TD, but currently NOT reviewed as it was NOT called a scoring play originally.

 

[dfergie]

One booth replay official would bog down the already bogged down flow of the game imho...

 

[Jimbo]

One booth replay official would bog down the already bogged down flow of the game imho...

They already have a booth replay official there.

 

[dfergie]

They already have a booth replay official there.

One for all the games would bog things way down and would suck brine water...

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

One for all the games would bog things way down and would suck brine water...

Yeah,it would be difficult in the NFL when you have so many games at once. It works out fine in the CFL because they only have one game played at a time.

 

[dfergie]

Exactly... it would be like the final round of Jeopardy with no time limit, jeez the networks would seize on that for more commercials...

 

[Jimbo]

One for all the games would bog things way down and would suck brine water...

True .. I was refering to one per game.

 

[meStevo]

New Rules:
- Playoff OT rules now affect the entire season, sudden death in the NFL is no more
- Crack back blocks to the head/neck are now illegal
- Plays that result in a turnover will be reviewed by the replay assistant, just like scoring plays


Failed to pass:
- Removing the horsecollar exception for QBs, the competition didn't see a significant injury risk to warrant the change
- Ref in the booth will not be permitted to rule on replays, it will stay on the field (boo. )


Changes to the trade deadline and players in IR coming back the same season have been tabled until May for further consideration after some good discussion about them.

 

[Rey]

thanks for the update mestevo! i also wanted the ref in the booth rule to change. oh well........

 

[dfergie]

Ref in the booth at the game might have sped things up rather than the ref having to come over etc ...

 

[Jimbo]

New Rules:
- Playoff OT rules now affect the entire season, sudden death in the NFL is no more
- Crack back blocks to the head/neck are now illegal
- Plays that result in a turnover will be reviewed by the replay assistant, just like scoring plays


Failed to pass:
- Removing the horsecollar exception for QBs, the competition didn't see a significant injury risk to warrant the change
- Ref in the booth will not be permitted to rule on replays, it will stay on the field (boo. )


Changes to the trade deadline and players in IR coming back the same season have been tabled until May for further consideration after some good discussion about them.

Stevo,
Sudden Death is still in play ...
Once both teams have had a possession, the next team to score wins.

Fwiw, I'm glad they added the OT rule into the regular season, it seemed odd that they would NOT have the rule in for the regular season in the first place.

 

[Ramy]

I like these changes. Especially the checking all turnovers instead of waiting until they come back from commercial for them to challenge it.

 

[Ramy]

Stevo,
Sudden Death is still in play ...
Once both teams have had a possession, the next team to score wins.

Fwiw, I'm glad they added the OT rule into the regular season, it seemed odd that they would NOT have the rule in for the regular season in the first place.

Unless the first team to get the ball scores a TD, then the game is over.

 

[Rey]

Unless the first team to get the ball scores a TD, then the game is over.

as denver proved last year in the playoffs