Football Rules that Need to Change

[HedleyLamarr]

1. No more targeting ejections. Make it a 15 yard penalty and automatic 1st down with the person sitting out the next play.

2. Stop the clock after 1st down at all levels. It gives trailing teams a better shot at a comeback.

3. One foot in bounds is a catch at all levels. Come on, you can make a lot more catches and it is easier than getting 2 feet in

1. Hell no. This would create the incentive to cheap-shots. Bad idea.

2. Just the thing we need: More offense and longer games.

3. Sure, make playing defense even harder.

Seriously - if you throw a swing to a receiver, and they hop on one foot all the way out of bounds, is it incomplete? Or is two of the same foot the same as two feet?

The latter.

[AnPheitseog]

1. No more targeting ejections. Make it a 15 yard penalty and automatic 1st down with the person sitting out the next play.

2. Stop the clock after 1st down at all levels. It gives trailing teams a better shot at a comeback.

3. One foot in bounds is a catch at all levels. Come on, you can make a lot more catches and it is easier than getting 2 feet in

In regards to 2, i prefer the CFL rule of stopping the clock after every play after the 3 minute warning(adjusted after the two minute warning in the NFL), but regular timing rules besides that.

[Gothamite]

Dear Gods, no. Games are already too long.

[3243]

Here is my list:

1. Make helmet-to-helmet hits on quarterbacks and receivers reviewable. This is because I have seen so many "helmet-to-helmet-hit" penalties called on plays where the helmet-to-helmet contact looked accidental or inadvertent. ONLY penalize those h-to-h shots that appear to be deliberate and blatant.

2. Eliminate the "defenseless receiver" rule. Forcing the defenders to wait for the receiver's feet to come down after he catches the ball and THEN making a "football move" or two means the defense must give up an easy catch, and allowing to make those moves could also mean giving up an easy first down or allowing the receiver to get loose and score a touchdown. I would allow the linebackers and defensive backs to hit the receivers in mid-air as long as they do not spear (lead with the helmet) or aim at the receiver's head, face, or neck, in an effort to knock the ball out of the receiver's hands, thus preventing a pass completion and possibly leading to an interception if a defensive player can get to the ball in mid-air.

3. Allow defenders to bump a receiver more than once while he's within five yards of the line of scrimmage, as long as there is no holding by the defensive player(s), Then after the receiver gets out of the five-yard zone, hands off by the defense unless the receiver catches the ball.

4..To discourage leading with the helmet, I would allow defenders to use the cocked forearm (a.k.a. "forearm shiver") and lead with that or a shoulder to hit opponents.

5. Defenders may tackle any part of a quarterback below the quarterback's neck.

6. Defenders may still blindside a quarterback as long as the QB still has the ball, and may hit the QB while he is in the act of throwing the ball, again as long as contact is made below the QB's neck.

7. No more penalties for "hitting too hard" as long as the hit is otherwise legal.

8. Defenders may block quarterbacks on interception and fumble returns, of course.

9. Go back to the old sudden-death overtime rules for all regular-season and postseason games. The first score, PERIOD, wins the game. And I would eliminate overtime from preseason games. If a preseason game is tied at the end of regulation, that's just how it ends.

10. While I'm on that subject, I would cut down to two preseason games, while keeping the number of preseason scrimmages the same.

[Mac the Knife]

1. Cut two "pre-season" games or, if the PA approves, go from a 4-and-16 (4 preseason games, 16 regular season) to a 2-and-18 format.

2a. Realign, doing away with the AFC and NFC in favor of an eight division format without conferences.

2b. Award playoff berths to 8 division champions and 6 wild-card qualifiers, with wild-cards awarded without regard to division or conference.

2c. Seed the playoffs league-wide from 1-14, allowing for more diversity in potential Super Bowl matchups (e.g., Dallas vs. Washington), the only caveat being that teams that qualify from the same division must play each other as early on in the playoffs as possible.

3a. Reverse the new extra point rule, or if you want to make things interesting...

3b. Eliminate the kicked extra point. Spot the ball on the 2 and give the scoring team one play - if they can run the ball into the end zone it's 2 points, if they need to pass to achieve a score, give them 1 point.

4. If a game's tied after four periods, you play a fifth - in its entirety.

5. Have communication devices for all players on the field to hear coaches, and cut the play clock from :40 to :25. Would speed up the game tremendously.

6. Player Safety Initiative: Eliminate both helmets and pads above the waist. That would cause the game to revert to its original ways of blocking and tackling, greatly reducing the likelihood of causing permanent disability - players would no longer step on the field feeling protected to the point of invincibility, and would act accordingly.

[Gothamite]

What makes you think they want to speed up the game, tremendously or otherwise? Longer games mean more commercials.

As for #6, yes yes yes. I've been saying for years that it's time to retire the football helmet.

[AnPheitseog]

I disagree with getting rid of the helmet, because it has become such a staple of football identity.

that said, all helmets should be requires to be similiar to current rugby scrum caps

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Institute a new "we're on to you" rule that would allow referees to immediately flag the Patriots when they start doing new gimmicky stuff no one else has thought of but we're all sure is illegal.

It would be a lot of fun: *whistle* "We're on to you, number 12, offense. 15 yard penalty, and don't try that :censored: again."

[OnWis97]

I disagree with getting rid of the helmet, because it has become such a staple of football identity.

that said, all helmets should be requires to be similar to current rugby scrum caps

That is an interesting part of this. The helmets are probably the most important marketing tool for the team. Would the NFL put that ahead of player safety? Yes.

[AnPheitseog]

I disagree with getting rid of the helmet, because it has become such a staple of football identity.

that said, all helmets should be requires to be similar to current rugby scrum caps

That is an interesting part of this. The helmets are probably the most important marketing tool for the team. Would the NFL put that ahead of player safety? Yes.

for one, i 100% agree with you.

You can use, say, cloth or leather and have the same designs painted on as today and maintain this.

[Gothamite]

I had a Packers scrum cap worked up a while back - will see if I can find it.

[HedleyLamarr]

What makes you think they want to speed up the game, tremendously or otherwise? Longer games mean more commercials.

Not necessarily. The number of commercial breaks per quarter/game don't really change, nor do the length of the commercial breaks. When media timeouts are used, however, change depending on the flow of the game. A 3-and-out on the opening possession will often lead to the game going straight to the next possession instead of going to a commercial break, while an opening possession that gets a couple first downs or leads to points will go to a media timeout before starting the next possession.

The NFL does want to keep the games to three hours long, or just slightly over. For one, the TV network with the doubleheader wants to show the second game in its entirety, not have viewers joining in while it's in progress. The NFL tries to get the 1pm games finished before the 4:25pm kickoffs (the 4:05pm kickoff doesn't matter...they aren't the doubleheader game), and the NFL wants the 4:25pm games to end early enough so that viewers can hop over to NBC for their highlights show and Sunday night game.

One of the recent rule changes (I think it came last year) was for the clock to start as soon as the ball is put back into play after pass receptions where the receiver goes out of bounds (sort of like the college rule of the clock starting as soon as the chains are moved) until like the 5:00 mark in the 2nd/4th quarter. This move was made in order to speed up the games.

[The_Admiral]

Kind of interesting that speeding up baseball was something that everyone wanted from fans to the commissioner's office, while the turtle-slow pace of football is more or less accepted with a shrug. I suppose it's because baseball is worth saving.

[goalieboy82]

1. Cut two "pre-season" games or, if the PA approves, go from a 4-and-16 (4 preseason games, 16 regular season) to a 2-and-18 format.

2a. Realign, doing away with the AFC and NFC in favor of an eight division format without conferences.

2b. Award playoff berths to 8 division champions and 6 wild-card qualifiers, with wild-cards awarded without regard to division or conference.

2c. Seed the playoffs league-wide from 1-14, allowing for more diversity in potential Super Bowl matchups (e.g., Dallas vs. Washington), the only caveat being that teams that qualify from the same division must play each other as early on in the playoffs as possible.

3a. Reverse the new extra point rule, or if you want to make things interesting...

3b. Eliminate the kicked extra point. Spot the ball on the 2 and give the scoring team one play - if they can run the ball into the end zone it's 2 points, if they need to pass to achieve a score, give them 1 point.

4. If a game's tied after four periods, you play a fifth - in its entirety.

5. Have communication devices for all players on the field to hear coaches, and cut the play clock from :40 to :25. Would speed up the game tremendously.

6. Player Safety Initiative: Eliminate both helmets and pads above the waist. That would cause the game to revert to its original ways of blocking and tackling, greatly reducing the likelihood of causing permanent disability - players would no longer step on the field feeling protected to the point of invincibility, and would act accordingly.

would like the NCAA to do that (and if its a tie, its a tie, like in the NFL).

[BBTV]

I disagree with getting rid of the helmet, because it has become such a staple of football identity.

that said, all helmets should be requires to be similar to current rugby scrum caps

That is an interesting part of this. The helmets are probably the most important marketing tool for the team. Would the NFL put that ahead of player safety? Yes.

The one-helmet rule has eliminated several popular throwbacks which can't really be marketed the same way, and alternate helmets. It's not the same as eliminating the single number one most identifiable team symbol, but it does show that they're willing to sacrifice when they (or their lawyers) feel it's necessary.

[2001mark]

I think helmets have to stay. Watching rugby, there seems to be a greater melee flow to it. NFL football is too fast to allow helmetless players.

Could you imagine Julian Edelman going over the middle, making a catch, & being murdered by a strong safety because no helmet?

Sure, if you want those plays removed from the game. I don't.

If I did, I'd watch... rugby.

[3243]

The one good thing about the NFL's one-helmet rule is that at least teams do not have 200 helmets like college teams do. The proliferation of alternate helmets in college football is ridiculous.

That said, in the NFL it should be one helmet and one throwback is permitted for those teams that want to have a throwback uniform. No alternates.

[Robertsports]

The NFL should go back to the old overtime rule. The new one is a complete failure.

[Mac the Knife]

I disagree with getting rid of the helmet, because it has become such a staple of football identity.

that said, all helmets should be requires to be similar to current rugby scrum caps

That is an interesting part of this. The helmets are probably the most important marketing tool for the team. Would the NFL put that ahead of player safety? Yes.

A marketing tool that would easily be replaced by the actual faces of the guys playing the game - many of which are unknown to people because of insufficient exposure.

Could you imagine Julian Edelman going over the middle, making a catch, & being murdered by a strong safety because no helmet?

That's precisely the point - eliminate helmets and pads, and you'll eliminate those types of hits because players will be naturally inclined to block and tackle like they should.

[jc...]

Move the PAT back to the 2 yard line.

Since the PAT is an extension of the touchdown, there shouldn't be substitutions for the PAT. The 11 on the field during the score, should be the ones to try to convert it. It would sure make things interesting on a defensive touchdown.