NFL Competition Committee announces new rule proposals

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Competition Committee announces new rule, bylaw proposals
Posted by Michael David Smith on March 19, 2014

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The NFL Competition Committee announced 13 new rule proposals, seven new bylaw proposals and one proposed resolution on a conference call on Wednesday. The NFL’s owners will vote at next week’s league meeting on the potential changes, which we detail below.

Rule change proposals:

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

2. Expand instant replay to include personal foul penalties.

3. Eliminate overtime in the preseason.

4. Extend the goal posts an additional five feet above the cross bar.

5. Move the line of scrimmage for extra points to the defensive team’s 25-yard line.

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

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

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.

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.

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.)

11. Don’t stop the clock on a sack.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

6. Permit each club to time and test up to 10 players at its facility, and allow other clubs to attend timing and testing at another team’s facility.

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.

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.
 

bluecoconuts

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1 - Meh, pointless to me. No
2 - Yes
3 - Meh, yes
4 - Yes
5 - Meh, doesn't matter to me
6 - Big Yes
7 - Sure
8 - Sure
9 - Yes
10 - Yes
11 - Yes
12 - Sure
13 - Sure

Bylaw
1 - Sure
2 - Yes
3 - Sure
4 - Ouch... Okay I guess, but that's one hell of a day
5 - Yes
6 - Sure
7 - Along with 4? Big ouch

Resolution
1- Yes
 

BigRamFan

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I think I'm on board with most of these as well. Also, while I agree MANY calls this year lead me to want every call to be able to be challenged, if this is passed do the games become 4 hours long with much of it reviewing calls?
 

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What I've been wanting to see for a while now is stopping the clock in the last two minutes until the ball is spotted again just like in NCAA. Also changing defensive pass interference from a spot foul to a 10 or 15 yard penalty with automatic first down. These 40 yard penalties or the ball being spotted at the one yard line need to stop. If offensive pass interference isn't a spot foul defensive shouldn't be either. They should both be the same.
 

Zombie Slayer

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I think I'm on board with most of these as well. Also, while I agree MANY calls this year lead me to want every call to be able to be challenged, if this is passed do the games become 4 hours long with much of it reviewing calls?

What I've wanted for the longest time is to have an extra official or two in a booth in the upper deck who have an open line of communication with the officials on the field at all times. They could be sitting in front of monitors and able to look at the replays immediately. If something on the field is called wrong they can just tell them so. We all watch the games and see how the replays come pretty much instantly. I think this could help the games get called better and will make it so not as many coaches challenges are being used. I think it should at least be tried in the preseason. I think that will help the game being called smoother and faster. Also they should stop blowing the whistle when a ball is knocked out of someone's hands. We've all seen before how someone fumbled but the officials blew the play dead instead of letting it play out. Then they could decide after if it was a fumble or not. These extra officials would help out a lot with this as well.
 

A55VA6

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Most of these rules I am in favor of. A few of them I don't really care for.

I particularly like these:

Expand instant replay to include personal foul penalties.

Eliminate overtime in the preseason.

Extend the goal posts an additional five feet above the cross bar. (alot of kicks are hard to judge because it goes right above a crossbar)

Move the line of scrimmage for extra points to the defensive team’s 25-yard line. (Makes things a little more interesting, rather than the 19 or 20 yard field goal. I can even make those.)