Five rules changes get NFL owners’ approval at league meeting

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Prime Time

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Five rules changes get NFL owners’ approval at league meeting
Posted by Michael David Smith on March 26, 2014

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AP

The NFL’s owners voted to change five NFL rules, while also voting down three proposals and tabling five proposals until next year. Here are the results of the votes on rules changes, bylaw changes and resolution changes brought forward by the NFL Competition Committee:

Rule change proposals:

1. Move the kickoff to the 40-yard line. FAILED

2. Expand instant replay to include personal foul penalties. FAILED

3. Eliminate overtime in the preseason. TABLED

4. Extend the uprights to make them five feet taller. PASSED

5. Move the line of scrimmage for one-point extra point kicks to the defensive team’s 25-yard line. Two-point conversion attempts would still be snapped from the 2-yard line. TABLED. (League will experiment with longer extra points in the preseason.)

6. Put six cameras on all boundary lines — sideline, goal line, end line, to guarantee coverage for replay reviews. TABLED

7. Permit a coach to challenge any official’s decision, except scoring plays which are automatically reviewed. FAILED

8. Protect players from getting the sides of their legs rolled up on the rule already says a blocker can’t hit an opponent in the back of the legs, this proposal will add “or side” to the rule. PASSED

9. Allow the referee to consult with members of the NFL officiating department during replay reviews. The referee would be able to speak with the command center in New York to help in reviewing a play. PASSED

10. Re-organize the rules about what can be reviewed and what cannot be reviewed, including making the recovery of a loose ball in the field of play reviewable. (This is referred to as the NaVorro Bowman rule, after a controversial call in the NFC Championship Game.) PASSED

11.
Don’t stop the clock on a sack. PASSED

12.
Modify pass interference so that it can be called within one yard of the line of scrimmage. TABLED

13.
Enforce defensive fouls behind the line of scrimmage from the previous spot, rather than from the end of the run or from the spot of the foul. PASSED

Bylaw proposals:


1.
Raise the number of active players on game day from 46 to 49 for regular-season games played on a day other than Sunday or Monday, excluding Week One.TABLED

2.
Raise the practice squad limit from eight players to 10 players. TABLED

3.
Permit clubs to trade players prior to the start of the league year. TABLED

4.
Eliminate the cut-down to 75 players during training camp and instead just have one cut-down from 90 players to 53 players. FAILED

5.
Permit more than one player to return to the active list from injured reserve so that any player on injured reserve could return after six weeks. FAILED

6.
Permit each club to time and test up to 10 draft-eligible players at its facility, and allow any club that wishes to attend timing and testing at another team’s facility. TABLED

7.
Adjust the time of the roster reduction from 53 after the fourth preseason game from 6 p.m. Eastern to 4 p.m. Eastern. All teams would have to have their list of final cuts in by 4 p.m. PASSED

Resolution proposal:

1.
Permit a home team with a retractable roof to open or close its roof at halftime, instead of having to determine at the start of the game whether it is open or closed.TABLED
 

LumberTubs

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I don't get why someone suggested moving kick offs to the 40 yard line.

I'm assuming it's for player safety reasons but everyone loves a kick return. Why not just make it a non-contact sport and get it over and done with?
 

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I don't get why someone suggested moving kick offs to the 40 yard line.

I'm assuming it's for player safety reasons but everyone loves a kick return. Why not just make it a non-contact sport and get it over and done with?

Exactly. Because of the concussion lawsuits I can see them eventually ending all kickoff and punt returns. It may take a few more years but at the rate things are going this will happen.
 

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Prime Time claiming prescience:
Exactly. Because of the concussion lawsuits I can see them eventually ending all kickoff and punt returns. It may take a few more years but at the rate things are going this will happen.
Kickoffs would be easy to do but how would you envisage them handling punts? Fair catches wouldn't work because what happens if they muff the catch? I can't see them just giving the ball to the other team at a certain yard marker because that would make punting from your 2 yard line the same as punting from the other teams 40 yard line.
 

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9. Allow the referee to consult with members of the NFL officiating department during replay reviews. The referee would be able to speak with the command center in New York to help in reviewing a play. PASSED
Don't Likie. Will delay game even further, and will give NFL HQ even more power to centrally "manage" games. Besides, how are refs going to earn all those payoffs anymore when they have to defer to HQ?

11. Don’t stop the clock on a sack. PASSED
Likie. Should change 2min drill tactics, cause sending-out all ones skill positions players into pass patterns could really backfire in the case of a sack, allowing mucho time to run off the clock. Probably means it's going to be harder to come back from a deficit in the final minutes of a game.
 

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Kickoffs would be easy to do but how would you envisage them handling punts? Fair catches wouldn't work because what happens if they muff the catch? I can't see them just giving the ball to the other team at a certain yard marker because that would make punting from your 2 yard line the same as punting from the other teams 40 yard line.

On the punt the ball is spotted where it is caught. If they muff the catch then it's a free-for-all. :)
 

Alan

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Prime Time possibly not giving this enough thought:
On the punt the ball is spotted where it is caught. If they muff the catch then it's a free-for-all. :)
Wouldn't that pretty much negate the reasons for doing away with it in the first place? The players would have to run down the field just as hard, thus causing just as many injuries, to be in position to recover the fumble. Then what, don't allow any advancement of the fumble recovery?

It's my professional opinion that you should give this proposal a little more time to percolate in your brain. Tabled :LOL: :seizure:
 
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Prime Time

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Alan poking the hornet's nest:
Who said anything about players running down the field? Hmmm?
 

Alan

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Prime Time with empty threats:
Alan poking the hornet's nest

Who said anything about players running down the field? Hmmm?
So who's gonna recover the fumble? :fighting:

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and my trusty mule Pepe.
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Prime Time

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Once the ball is fumbled then both teams can run towards the ball. But no pushing or shoving allowed.

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