What rule changes would you like to see...

[Pegger]

This is why you aren't top ten.

EDIT: I was going for a good-natured zinger but Spunky's wow made me pause and wonder if I came off like a dick. Was intended in fun.

If I was offended it's because I'm taking myself too seriously.

No worries.

Besides, the only reason I'm not top 10 is I'm not good enough...

 

[Pegger]

I hate to be devils advocate here, but I really do feel that sometimes those reviews are dramatic in a way that gets that emotional rise. The problem is how goddamn often it happens.

Just have calls stand on the field, and a ref upstairs gets 15 seconds to review it without slow-motion before the offense gets to line up for the play. If in that amount of time, the ref can see something obvious, then the refs downstairs can review. If not, coaches still get two challenges.

You're right that the slowdown for replays, reviews, and commercials is the biggest thing the league has to fix. That directly affects the quality of their product and fans are right to complain. I think that the review process can be tightened up to improve the product.

With replay I'm torn. Either throw it away and accept the officiating is flawed or use as much technology as possible to make officiating automated.

Part of me misses the old days. If there was a bad call a make up call was on it's way. Sure the system was flawed, but there were equally flawed measures built in to correct them. Refs also operated with confidence, unless they blew so many calls the fans would be yelling at them. The current system has refs acting cowardly almost by design because it's easier to let replay handle the hard decisions.

The problem is we can't move backwards with replay. Now that we've debated for months about a catch/non-catch (Dez Bryant in the playoffs) we just can't go back to seeing a bad call and not immediately changing the rules. Add in that social media can run with anything and it's just a hot mess.

Let's just have robots be refs. Eventually some roided out player will lose his poop, attack one of the robo-refs and that will begin the human-machine battles that will follow:

 

[gallagher]

With replay I'm torn. Either throw it away and accept the officiating is flawed or use as much technology as possible to make officiating automated.

Part of me misses the old days. If there was a bad call a make up call was on it's way. Sure the system was flawed, but there were equally flawed measures built in to correct them. Refs also operated with confidence, unless they blew so many calls the fans would be yelling at them. The current system has refs acting cowardly almost by design because it's easier to let replay handle the hard decisions.

The problem is we can't move backwards with replay. Now that we've debated for months about a catch/non-catch (Dez Bryant in the playoffs) we just can't go back to seeing a bad call and not immediately changing the rules. Add in that social media can run with anything and it's just a hot mess.

Let's just have robots be refs. Eventually some roided out player will lose his poop, attack one of the robo-refs and that will begin the human-machine battles that will follow:

It's the slow mo and a thousand camera angles that get in the way of refs betting about to just do their job. Sure, they make bad calls, but it should take ten seconds of with love speed replay to review if they blew one big.

Fans are going to complain they were ripped off nomatter what. I think that it would be better if we just accepted that and reformed the review process instead of worry about perfection.

But that would cut into commercial time so there's no way that'll happen until fans stop paying for the sponsored products.

 

[TL1961]

I agree with moving pass interference back to something more reasonable, like 15 yards from the line of scrimmage. Too many times offenses move the ball down field +45 yards on two pass interference calls.

That would be better for the Bears anyway because Trubisky cannot throw the ball down field with any accuracy anyway. It would help our defense.

You couldn’t answer “paper or plastic?” without working in a criticism of Trubisky.

 

[TL1961]

My take on replay remains as it has always been.

In the micro, it seems to make sense to spend whatever amount of time necessary to get the call right.

But in the macro, the entertainment value of watching games just gets to be less and less.

Thank heavens they are rethinking the ill-conceived knee jerk reaction to the screwup in the NFC Championship and will likely not be making pass interference a reviewable play.

That would have been a disaster.

 

[TL1961]

I wish they'd get rid of all the changes they made to the kickoff/touchback at the 25.

On one hand, it's kind of cool that Devin Hester will likely be the last return man to ever matter. But it feels weird that kickoffs basically don't mean shit anymore.

It’s weird. They moved touchbacks to the 25 to lessen the number of returns but it seems that there are fewer touchbacks, not more. (I have not looked up the answer)

 

[TL1961]

I think one of the worst 'philosophies' put forth in NFL rulebooks is the parsing out of infractions. To me, something is either egregious enough to be a penalty, or it isn't. Adding 'layers' to infractions doesn't make it easier for officials and leads to incorrect calls.

I remember when they instituted 'running into the kicker', then even blatant fouls were still given only 5-yard penalties, because the refs always defaulted to the 'middle ground' of 5-yard penalty. Same thing with facemask, which is even worse because incidental facemasking has become a penalty in itself.

I believe the reasoning is that, if every infraction is the same, the defenseless kickers will get mauled.

 

[TL1961]

It's the slow mo and a thousand camera angles that get in the way of refs betting about to just do their job. Sure, they make bad calls, but it should take ten seconds of with love speed replay to review if they blew one big.

Fans are going to complain they were ripped off nomatter what. I think that it would be better if we just accepted that and reformed the review process instead of worry about perfection.

But that would cut into commercial time so there's no way that'll happen until fans stop paying for the sponsored products.

Huh?

 

[gallagher]

Huh?

Classic case of posting while standing on the train. Red line makes everyone incomprehensible.

I'm asserting that it isn't that we have human refs or replay tech that is butchering live games, it's that seeing every angle in slow motion several times a drive.

My solution is to have a short replay, at regular speed, while players line up to make sure something obvious wasn't missed by the boys on the ground. this replaces every slow ass, boring replay that disrupts the game.

If you can't catch it at live speed, then I say accept it as a tough call and move on

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

You couldn’t answer “paper or plastic?” without working in a criticism of Trubisky.

He doesn't understand what a bad idea it would be to change the PI rule to a 15 yrd penalty instead of spot of the infraction. His mind is on throwing shit on all things Bears no matter if he's right about it.

 

[TheWinman]

As for OT rules, keep it the same. If the team that losses the coin toss wants to guarantee themselves a turn on offense then tell your defense they better stop the opponent.


Time for a microchip in the ball. We then can eliminate the chain gang and would know instantly if the ball broke the plane of the goal line.

 

[PickSix]

Given ourK situation, I’d like a one year experiment to eliminate kicking all together.
Rules have already made the kickoff pointless.
Punts suck to watch as there is a blocking in the back flag on every play.
And having games decided by these little weenies is maddening,
Let’s just man up and get rid of these wankers making millions.
4 downs to get a first or the other team takes over. Regardless of field position.
Keep the 6 pts for TD. 1 extra point for a post TD conversion from the 3 yd line. 2 pts to make it interesting if you want to convert from the 10.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

I changed my mind: I've decided that I no longer want to see replay.

 

[Madden]

Tweak the onsides kick rules. Since the new rule change last year it has become almost impossible to recover. I think we actually got one? But overall the percentage went way further down than even the NFL wanted. Like 8% recoveries in 2018 compared to 23% in 2017. It has just eliminated a lot of potential crazy comebacks and excitement at the end of close games.

 

[gwharris2254]

As for OT rules, keep it the same. If the team that losses the coin toss wants to guarantee themselves a turn on offense then tell your defense they better stop the opponent.


Time for a microchip in the ball. We then can eliminate the chain gang and would know instantly if the ball broke the plane of the goal line.

Awesome idea about the microchip....especially when there is a scrum at the goal line and you can't see the ball carrier easily

 

[Ditka19861]

I think a 4-pt field goal would be great, but how about 60+ yards, teams wouldn't really use as the risk would be too high to turn the ball over and it would make 4th quarters a little more interesting. How many kickers have ever made a 60+ yard field goal in a game? 15 kickers have made 17 60+ yard field goals in the history of the NFL.

I also think a microchip in the ball would be great, wouldn't have to be used all the time, but if there was a challenge as to the spot or if the ball broke the plane of the end-zone, it would be so simple. We have the technology to be able to improve the accuracy of the game without slowing it down, why not use it? It could probably tell if the balls were properly inflated too

 

[gallagher]

I think a 4-pt field goal would be great, but how about 60+ yards, teams wouldn't really use as the risk would be too high to turn the ball over and it would make 4th quarters a little more interesting. How many kickers have ever made a 60+ yard field goal in a game? 15 kickers have made 17 60+ yard field goals in the history of the NFL.

See, that's the reasoning as to why I'm against it. You're looking back at 17 instances in football history and saying that it should be given... One more point.

I get that some guys will be able to tie up that four point difference at the end of the game, but let me ask you this - which is more exciting. Any quarterback launching the last second hail mary for the win, or any kicker attempting a 60 yard field goal?

I just don't see it. I love kickers man, but if you want long kicks to get points, I would rather it be for nailing a kickoff between the uprights

 

[modo]

I don't want a coin toss being the major factor in a victory....with OT it is.

Eliminate the coin toss.

In the playoffs or regular season home team gets the ball first in OT. In the Superbowl, team with the better W-L record would get the ball.

Home field should count for something, along with a better record. May give a little extra incentive to win games at the end of the season if you are in contention for the playoffs/superbowl.

First team that scores wins the game in OT.

 

[Kazu2324]

Agree with microchipping the ball. The fact that they cannot tell if the ball actually crossed the LoS or got into the EZ and it's up to the refs who have to guess where the ball is under 22 bodies is ridiculous. We clearly have the technology, just put sensors in all the EZ pylons and for the yard/down markers. If ball is crossed, it'll the markers will light up.

Also, though not to do with the actual game itself, any network/company that shows the same commercial twice in a single commercial break should be never be allowed to show commercials ever again. Getting tired of seeing the same shitty commercial, especially if they're somehow just a minute apart. It should honestly just be illegal.

 

[Xuder O'Clam]

Agree with microchipping the ball. The fact that they cannot tell if the ball actually crossed the LoS or got into the EZ and it's up to the refs who have to guess where the ball is under 22 bodies is ridiculous. We clearly have the technology, just put sensors in all the EZ pylons and for the yard/down markers. If ball is crossed, it'll the markers will light up.

Also, though not to do with the actual game itself, any network/company that shows the same commercial twice in a single commercial break should be never be allowed to show commercials ever again. Getting tired of seeing the same shitty commercial, especially if they're somehow just a minute apart. It should honestly just be illegal.

Will you micro chip their knees and elbows also, so we know if the ball crossed before they were down?