Yesterday, the National Football League announced a wide-ranging series of rule changes designed to protect players and keep the game safe. These include touchbacks at the 25-yard line, a “red card” rule that disqualifies a player who gets two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and an outright ban of chop blocks.
While these changes, especially the removal of blocks below the waist, seem like steps in the right direction for a game that has struggled with safety throughout its existence, these new rules also bring about a series of unintended consequences. This post will be dedicated to those unintended consequences.
Touchbacks at the 25-Yard Line Means…. Fewer Touchbacks?
Think about this for a second: with kickoffs originating at the 35-yard line and touchbacks coming out to the other 25-yard line, why wouldn’t the kicking team try to pin the receiving team inside their 25? It doesn’t make sense on the surface, as there were 1,469 kickoff touchbacks in 2015; there was also a rise in injuries in the kickoffs that were returned.
However, while the NFL is trying to incentivize touchbacks and a removal of the play altogether, what they’ve just done is actually make the play more dangerous. The play is more dangerous now because teams will (probably) decide to opt for a higher, shorter kick to force the other team to make a return. Stopping that return inside the 25-yard line would be considered a win for the kicking team, much like pinning a team inside the 20 is considered a minor victory now.
Kickoffs will now be high hangtime lofts to near the goal line. Returns will increase. Coverage will be closer.
— Michael Tanier (@MikeTanier) March 23, 2016
Kickoff returns just got a whole lot more like punt returns, without the fair catch option unless it’s in the end zone.
— Michael Tanier (@MikeTanier) March 23, 2016
So, if the NFL wanted to make the game safer, why would it move the touchback up by five yards? The answer is simple: because it did the same thing to the kickoff before the 2011 season. In theory, it would be only fair to move touchbacks up to the 25. While it seems like the right thing to do, though, it may actually take the safety out of kickoff returns.
You can’t prioritize safety and incentivize teams to perform one of the most dangerous plays in the sport at the same time. This is what the NFL is trying to do; it won’t work.
Code Red For Unsportsmanlike Conduct?
Recently, Richard Sherman gave an interview to ESPN’s Jim Trotter in which he said some inflammatory things about Roger Goodell. This is just a sampling of his comments about a rule that would disqualify players who receive two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in one game:
I think it’s foolish, but it sounds like something somebody who’s never played the game would say, something that they would suggest, because he doesn’t understand. He’s just a face. He’s just a suit. He’s never stepped foot on the field and understood how you can get a personal foul.
With recent criticisms of the NFL being a “No Fun League”, Sherman has a point here. But what the NFL is trying to eradicate is something like what occurred between Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman in Week 15 of last season, the type of foolishness that could injure someone and detract from the quality of the game.
While I understand what the NFL is trying to do here, I’d have to side with Sherman on this one. How can we be sure that this rule won’t become the NFL’s equivalent of college football’s targeting rule, one in which players who don’t deserve to be ejected get the hook? The referees already have the power to Dairy Queen a player if they feel his actions warrant such treatment; why can’t the league let the men in stripes decide ejections on the field? If the referees keep a player in the game who should have been tossed previously (as was the case with Beckham-Norman), then the league can reflect this in their referee reviews.
And, frankly, if the referees can’t decide when to remove a player from a game and when to keep him in, should they be NFL referees in the first place?
Chopped: How the Game Will Change Without Chop Blocks
If you’ve ever played Madden, you’ve probably been the victim (or beneficiary) of a chop block penalty…. on many occasions. It’s frustrating, debilitating, and glitchy to the point of making you want to throw your controller at your television (don’t do that).
But the chop block has real and serious effects on those who play the game in real life, and until this week, many forms of it were still legal. That changed, however, with the Competition Committee’s ruling banning most forms of the chop block and making this action result in a 15-yard penalty. This is the one major rule change that I definitely side with the NFL on; the league is trying to protect the well-being of its players, and that includes their health below the waist.
Some players–offensive linemen in particular–are definitely going to be up in arms about this, saying that the new rule will disable them from being able to block effectively without getting penalized:
The best way to get a DT to not hold us on double teams, is a chop block. Now there’s nothing to stop them. Fun times.
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) March 22, 2016
But how can the league justify allowing this play to occur when the risk of injury from it is clearly present and clearly unnecessary?
Also, it isn’t like the league is getting rid of all chop blocks. For example, cut blocks that occur in one-on-one blocking circumstances and are directed toward the field of play will remain legal. This is necessary because these blocks were and are necessary for offensive linemen to put their defensive counterparts on the ground and create a hole for a runner or time for a quarterback.
What the NFL did was get rid of the unnecessary chop blocks; they should be applauded for doing so.
What do you think about the NFL’s rule changes? Let me know in the comments section or tweet at me.