NFL Owners Don't Complete Every Pass
The NFL owners and the competition committee have announced a handful of rule changes, and they are bound to be met with very mixed reviews - no doubt in part due to the mixed logic behind them.
The first and smartest change is small, but will be clearly visible from day one. Due to a high volume of umpires flat on their rears last season, the league is planning to move them from among the linebackers and place them in the offensive backfield. Perhaps the NCAA would agree with the rule change so this doesn't happen again.
Another simple change is a proposal to have a play blown dead the moment a player's helmet comes off, and if it's the ball carrier the ball would be spotted at the point where the helmet came off. This one is a pretty logical safety move.
Sadly, this is where the logic ends. Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he supports the current proposal to change the format of overtime. THe current system is, of course, sudden death. The team who scores first is the team who wins.
Typically the team who wins the coin toss chooses offense, and it is believed that there is some amount of unfair advantage. The league conducted research and found that in the last 15 years - since the kickoff was moved back five yards - teams winning the coin toss won the game 59.8% of the time.
Perhaps there is some bias towards the coin toss winner, but does the league really have a solution? The proposed change is only for the playoffs, and it states that in the specific instance where a team loses the coin toss and immediately allows their opponent to drive down for a field goal, they will get to have a possession of their own.
I get the concept - you're discouraging teams from winning the coin toss, choosing to receive, and then just grinding down the field for a game -winning field goal. The rule isn't really necessary or logical, though.
Yes, it is unfortunate when one team just takes the ball and chugs down the field for a winning blow from the kicker. That same scenario also means that the team who lost the coin toss failed to stop them on defense. Have teams get better at overtime defense, and if that doesn't work, then we can worry about quirky new rules.
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