NFL RULES CHANGES AND AN 18 GAME SEASON

[RoanokeFan]

NFL RULES CHANGES AND AN 18 GAME SEASON

"<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/sports/football/nfl-adopts-playoff-overtime-rule-for-regular-season.html?ref=sports">News
item from Judy Battista:</a><div id="entry-102909" class="post-102909 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-uncategorized tag-roger-goodell entry "><div class="entry-content">
<blockquote>


Players managed to keep the N.F.L. from adopting an 18-game regular season
when the collective bargaining agreement was completed last summer, but the
possibility has not been eliminated. Roger Goodell said that the topic had not
been discussed in a while but that he expected the league to bring it up again
this year or early next year. Goodell said he wanted the league to go through a
full cycle of the current off-season rules — including reduced workouts,
designed to limit wear and tear on players — before examining a longer regular
season again.</p></blockquote>


While you contemplate that, here are the main rule changes approved at the
annual N.F.L. meetings, which ended Wednesday:</p>


1) The postseason overtime format will now be used in the regular season.</p>


2) Might as well call it<a href="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/23/final-super-bowl-drive-triggers-proposed-rule-change/">
the Giants-Patriots Super Bowl rule:</a> The college rule for too many men on
the field will be used in the N.F.L.</p>


3) The definition of a defenseless player will be extended to defenders on
crackback blocks, making it illegal to hit them in the head or neck.</p>


4) An automatic replay review will be performed for all turnovers. <a href="http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/answer-for-n-f-l-replay-review-is-up-in-the-booth/">An
attempt</a> to give booth officials more authority failed.</p>


For more, go to Michael David Smith’s<a href="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/28/nfl-rule-changes-for-2012/">quick
yet complete summary</a>at ProFootballTalk.com:</p>


Extra point The N.F.L. has made the game safer in recent
seasons, but it has not fundamentally changed what is a brutal sport. The
lawsuits keep piling up, as do the stories of former players who are dealing
with the long-term effects of head trauma. Wednesday’s example, from The
Washington Times: <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/28/mark-rypien-nfl-head-injuries-lawsuit-redskins/">Memory
Loss Prompted Rypien to Join Lawsuit Against NFL</a>. And yet the league still
pines for an 18-game season.Do you think the N.F.L. realizes that it has a
problem a little more severe than how to review turnovers?"
</p></div></div>

[NYGRealityCheck]

Giants-Patriots Super Bowl rule?

From the article following the link,

"The Competition Committee noticed, and it has proposed an adjustment to the rules that would mirror the college version. If the defense is lined up with an extra man (or men) and the snap is imminent, the officials will blow the whistle and award five yards, before the play begins. If, on the other hand, the extra player(s) are merely trying to get off the field, the play will proceed and a penalty will be called.

Curiously, the situation in Super Bowl XLVI involved an extra Giants player trying to get off the field. The same outcome would apply under the old rule or the new rule (if the new rule is passed). And so, for the first time that we can remember, a unique situation on a big stage has sparked a change in the rules that wouldn’t apply if that same situation ever happens again, but only to a different situation."

Keypoint: New rule would not change what happened with the penalty near the end of the game of the Giants-Patriots Superbowl. lol

I wonder if this would have been an issue if the roles were reversed and the Patriots won the game. This Tom Brady-Patriots bowing-on-the-knee favoritism needs to take a hike.