The NFL owners voted on some key rule changes this week that will change what we see on the field next year. And while there was nothing terribly controversial, there were definitely some rule changes that could affect the outcomes of games. And some of the things that didn’t pass were a little more surprising.
Perhaps the most interesting of the proposals that were voted down was removing the exemption for horse collar tackles that currently exists for quarterbacks in the pocket. Currently horse collar tackles, grabbing the inside back of a player’s shoulder pads and dragging them down, are illegal for all players EXCEPT for quarterbacks in the pocket, where it is legal. The proposal would have removed the exemption, expanding the coverage to include quarterbacks.
Despite the general expansion of rules to protect quarterbacks, this is the one case where the quarterback has less protection than a player anywhere else on the field. There seems to be no reasonable rationale for keeping this type of tackle legal ONLY for quarterbacks in the pocket, and the failure of this measure to pass is a head-scratcher.
Remember this one, because at some point, a quarterback is going to suffer an injury being dragged down that way. Unfortunately, this seems to be one of those cases where we won’t get a change until there’s an on-field incident.
In less controversial changes – on instant replay, all turnovers are now subject to automatic replay review, so coaches will not have to use a challenge on a controversial turnover call. This proposal just seemed to make sense.
Buffalo proposed a change in how instant replay is conducted, to move the review back to an official in the booth rather than the referee looking into the mobile instant replay booth that gets rolled onto the field. That proposal was designed to speed up the review process, and also seemed to make sense, but it was voted down.
One of the other key changes is in how overtime is conducted. Last year, the overtime rules were modified so that if the team receiving the kickoff scored a field goal, the game wouldn’t end. The other team would get one possession to either tie or win the game. This rule change has now been expanded to the regular season. Frankly, it never seemed to make sense to have a different rule in the playoffs than in the regular season, so this change was overdue as well. There’s still general disagreement on the ideal overtime rule, but this compromise addressed the issue raised after the Saints won the NFC title in overtime by marching the opening kickoff down for a field goal. The ending of that game left an empty feeling, as it seemed that the coin toss played a disproportionately large role in determining the winner.
Finally, there were several by law changes proposed that were tabled for now. These include some that seemed to make a lot of sense, including a rule change to the injured reserve that would allow a player to be designated who could return from injured reserve after 8 weeks. In the case of Peyton Manning last year, where the Colts tied up a roster spot all season in case he was able to return, they could have added a player to the active roster and kept the option of Manning returning in the second half of the season.
Another change that was tabled was expanding the maximum roster size to 90, which will allow for teams with large numbers of players on the injured reserve to maintain a full practice squad. Jacksonville finished last year with so many players on the injured reserve that they had no practice squad by the end of the season.
Both of these by law measures were tabled, and the NFL will vote on them again in their May meeting.
