Changes (you'd like to see) in the NFL !

Morrisseeee

Basically a thread about the 'changes' you would like to see in the NFL, be they little or large.
My example: the No. 1 Draft pick, I think it should go to the team who has a bad rolling-average (say over 3 years) rather than the team that finishes last every year. Or as 'malachyscott' mentioned in the general thread, an end of season playoff for the No. 1 pick.
Also, if the snap on a extra-point-after-TD is screwed up, it should be allowed to be returned (to the house), this would be an interesting scenario near the end of a game if it was tight.

So........rant away !! :pac:

Stev_o

Get consistent with pass interference calls. This bugs me like no other it changes on a week by week basis based on what ref panel is officiating.

D3PO

• Id love to see the contact area be increased from 5 to 10 yards. The game favours recievers too much these days. DB's need to be able to battle more before the ball is released.

• Id love them to reverse the new kickoff position. I know it was brought in as a safety thing but kickoff returns have been essentially removed from the game.
  
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• They should change the challenge system. Right now you have two and if you win one and lose one your done. Hell even if you win both and get a third and win that your also done.

You should be allowed two losing challenges. You shouldnt be restricted by officials ineptitude.

• No play where a ball comes lose should be blown dead. Every play should be allowed "develop" and afterwards a ruling can be made. Ok it doesnt happen often but there are a few times every year where teams are short changed by plays being ruled dead too early.

tallaghtoutlaws

Stev_o wrote: »

Get consistent with pass interference calls. This bugs me like no other it changes on a week by week basis based on what ref panel is officiating.

Even better go back to the Football of old where you could get away with roughing up a receiver before he got to the ball.

I find PI is one of these things that human error plays a huge part in. As easy as it is for us watching on TV to see how blatant something was or wasn't Refs aren't always in the same position to see it. Now having said that some refs are just useless and make ridiculous calls all the time.

PI for me should be one of those things taken out of the normal foul rules and e challenge able. Most coaches wont burn their challenges on them all the time but when a blatant one does or doesn't happen they will.

On the WR then I would like to see the college rules of being able to jam the receiver until the QB put the ball in the air.

Hazys

malachyscott wrote: »

Was thinking this morning about the pro bowl. I turned off after the first series. Its an absolute snoozefest with no effort being put in. Its just comical to watch the o line and d line touching each other putting in no effort.

How about instead there was a game between the 2 worst teams in the league for the no.1 overall pick. It gives us a meaningful game and solves the notion of a team tanking on purpose for the no.1 pick.

I dunno how it would work if you had the Colts Vs the Rams in a playoff game for the first pick.

First off, there is no incentive for the players, only the GMs. I dont think the players will put their body on the line to move one spot up on the draft order.

Second, if Bradford and Orlonski (no idea how to spell his name) know the team with the first pick is going to select Andrew Luck, they may want to throw the game so to make sure they are the starting QB next season.

Anyway, i watched about 10 mins of the probowl and it was a load of sh1te, i agree something should be done to make it more exciting or worthwile. Putting it on the week before the Super Bowl was a good idea but the idea to let players tweet from the sidelines was :rolleyes:

I dunno how about instead combining the Senior Bowl and Pro Bowl...pros versus college players or have mixed teams? Probably wouldnt work having NFL players just there just trying to chill out and mess around and college players trying to win a job...but it could be interesting :pac:

spiralism

Hazys wrote: »

I dunno how it would work if you had the Colts Vs the Rams in a playoff game for the first pick.

First off, there is no incentive for the players, only the GMs. I dont think the players will put their body on the line to move one spot up on the draft order.

Second, if Bradford and Orlonski (no idea how to spell his name) know the team with the first pick is going to select Andrew Luck, they may want to throw the game so to make sure they are the starting QB next season.

Anyway, i watched about 10 mins of the probowl and it was a load of sh1te, i agree something should be done to make it more exciting or worthwile. Putting it on the week before the Super Bowl was a good idea but the idea to let players tweet from the sidelines was :rolleyes:

I dunno how about instead combining the Senior Bowl and Pro Bowl...pros versus college players or have mixed teams? Probably wouldnt work having NFL players just there just trying to chill out and mess around and college players trying to win a job...but it could be interesting :pac:

They should shunt the Pro Bowl off months ahead, put it in the offseason or early preseason. If there's been no football for several months, interest and the game itself will always be better

I also agree with all of D3POs proposed changes, notably the ball being blown dead. It's not a situation that occurs much but occured twice in tight situations in crucial playoff games this year. One of them the Broncos overcame it and won anyways but the one against the Niners potentially robbed them of a superbowl place and it couldn't even be looked at

adrian522

spiralism wrote: »

They should shunt the Pro Bowl off months ahead, put it in the offseason or early preseason. If there's been no football for several months, interest and the game itself will always be better

I also agree with all of D3POs proposed changes, notably the ball being blown dead. It's not a situation that occurs much but occured twice in tight situations in crucial playoff games this year. One of them the Broncos overcame it and won anyways but the one against the Niners potentially robbed them of a superbowl place and it couldn't even be looked at

Happened the Lions as well, when they would have had a TD against the Saints.

I'd like to see the penalty for PI change to a max of 15 yards and make PI calls challengable.

I'd also like to see the playoff OT rules implemented for the regular season so that you can't win a coin toss and kick a FG to win

I also agree with the above about the kick off, put it back to where it was.

I'd nearly get rid of the pro bowl altogether, don't see the point at all, but I guess I can just ignore it and if people want to watch it then that's up to them.

poldebruin

Nice idea for discussion and a few good ideas - and some I don't agree with.

Agree, PI penalties can be too severe - but then again, if the receiver was to catch the ball in that spot with no interference, you would be effectively incentivising the DB to interfere knowing at most it would result in 15 and a first down.

I don't like the automatic 1st down awarded for illegal contact, these are usually fairly ticky tacky, it;s only penalised 5 yards, but the resultant first down also make it too severe a punishment IMO. If the 5 yards result in a first, so be it, but I;ve seen to many called on 3rd and forever.

I don't like the idea of running back a PAT for a score - it doesn't seem like it would add much excitemant, and the idea of a kicker or punter trying to tackle a LB or DE is looking to add injuries in the game.

I hate PAT's altogether The success rate is 99.6% or some such- I think you should just get 7 for a TD and leave at that. It gives the TV company time for 2 additional ad breaks though, so I suppose they will never be gotten rid of. The addition of the 2 point conversion has been great.

I think any play that could have resulted in a score should be automatically reviewable. i.e A receiver cathes in the endzone but it is called out of bounds on the field is not automatically reviewed - a team should not have to waste a challenge, nor should it be penalised if it has none left because an official got the call wrong in real time.

It hasn't happened yet, but if a 2 point conversion attempt, with no time on the clock, to win a game is broken up in the endzone by penalty, I think the officials should be allowed to award a penalty score. You cannot (or should not) be rewarded for penatlies, and if a DB was beaten in the back of the endzone, on a play to win the game, he is currently incentivised to deliberately PI. At the moment in this scenario the ball is placed on the 1 and the attempting team must go again.

Kickoffs back to the original spot please.

Why is a muffed punt not returnable? Someone explain a good reason for this?

Regarding OT rules....I don't like the new playoff overtime rule, it is an improvement over the old one, that is welcome, but does not ensure each team a possesion. Why not offer the coin toss winner the ball on their own 10. They can take it, and if they can drive to FG or TD range then so be it, or they could refuse and make the opposition start there. It would make the decision of accepting the KO far from automatic.

On another note, I would like to see an end to the 3 step drop! Bubble screens. quick slants etc. From watching the game in the 80's and 90's it was much more fun when the plays broke down and qb's attempted more low percentage passes. This quick, high percentage, plodding down the field stuff is boring in comparison. I blame Bill Walsh.

tallaghtoutlaws

poldebruin wrote: »

On another note, I would like to see an end to the 3 step drop! Bubble screens. quick slants etc. From watching the game in the 80's and 90's it was much more fun when the plays broke down and qb's attempted more low percentage passes. This quick, high percentage, plodding down the field stuff is boring in comparison. I blame Bill Walsh.

Really? You are taking away an awful lot of plays by taking out the 3 step drop and and quick passes. Over half of all passes QBs make are from a 3 step drop.

So you basically you want QBs to throw deep every time? For me as someone who coaches the game these short passes make it more of challenge from a defensive perspective to stop. Cutting out these routes will make life easy for a defense and destroy offenses and push the game towards running the ball all the time.

As fun as old school football was it was also had a lot of boring contests between two evenly matched teams or teams who had unimaginative coaches.

Paully D

I'd like college overtime rules introduced.

I'd like to see defenders allowed a lot more leeway when defending. It seems if you breath on a WR that the flag is out.

I'd like to see no penalties against players for touching a punter if the ball isn't tipped.

poldebruin

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

Really? You are taking away an awful lot of plays by taking out the 3 step drop and and quick passes. Over half of all passes QBs make are from a 3 step drop.

So you basically you want QBs to throw deep every time? For me as someone who coaches the game these short passes make it more of challenge from a defensive perspective to stop. Cutting out these routes will make life easy for a defense and destroy offenses and push the game towards running the ball all the time.

As fun as old school football was it was also had a lot of boring contests between two evenly matched teams or teams who had unimaginative coaches.

Ha, I've gotten caught in the put up an opinion that is silly and then say you were joking paradox!! No, I wasn't being serious (the "on another note bit"!) - but I do pine a bit for a less mechanical offence, where it's less about the play design and scheme and more about the players.

I also love those rare occasions when players play out of position, like a lb taking a fg or when a rb comes in to play qb (no tebow jokes please) due to injury.

I'd love to see a proper two-way player. I know it's not really possible these days, but it would be fun to see....who was the NE receiver who went all db in the playoffs a few years back...Branch?

Oyu reminded me of another thing that I don't know if I hate or love....parity. In a way it;s great - close games, playoff positions down to the wire, lots of permutations etc. But it was also nice to see a dynasty created, and maintained. Wheren the NFL may have had 4 great teams any one year - and you get to see them match up in the playoffs - I'm not articualting this idea well!

While I'm thinking about it....was it just me or were a lot of the MNF games very mediocre. Can we not have these optioned from mid season as well when it is apparent it will be a clunker?

JazzyJ

Paully D wrote: »

I'd like college overtime rules introduced.

I'd like each team to at least get the ball once - not a fan of a team winning the toss, going down the field and getting a TD and winning the game. It was worse when they could just kick a field goal.

Too much of an element of luck.

poldebruin

Paully D wrote: »

I'd like college overtime rules introduced.

I have to say I hate the college OT rules. No excitement, not really football, ridiculous scorelines and stats, goes on forever sometimes. Why change the game just to break a tie?

Paully D wrote: »

I'd like to see defenders allowed a lot more leeway when defending. It seems if you breath on a WR that the flag is out.

Agreed. I wonder if the nfl might look again at the rules, 4 qbs pass for nearly 5000 yards or over. I think the balance needs redressing.

Paully D wrote: »

I'd like to see no penalties against players for touching a punter if the ball isn't tipped.

Especially when the punter goes down 2 seconds later in the most pathethic manner. Seriously though, the punter is so vulnerable, I would think of all the positions that need protecting, it is them. I've heard one of the most dangerous things is for a defnder to actually land under the punters feet (i.e. not hitting them, but preventing them from landing correctly after striking a ball) NBA players do this a lot for a sneaky foul on jumpers.

Podge_irl

I'd like to see some variation of the forward progress rule. I think it would be interesting to encourage people to take contact better and a bonus for a proper tackle.

Chardee MacDennis

18 game regular season with each team getting an extra bye week and an international series game! I think Ross Tucker may have suggested something like this last year during the CBA negotiations but the 18 game season talk has gone very quiet since then.

Chucky the tree

BastardPrince wrote: »

18 game regular season with each team getting an extra bye week and an international series game! I think Ross Tucker may have suggested something like this last year during the CBA negotiations but the 18 game season talk has gone very quiet since then.

I'd hate an 18 game season. Game is tough enough as it is.

SantryRed

JazzyJ wrote: »

I'd like each team to at least get the ball once - not a fan of a team winning the toss, going down the field and getting a TD and winning the game. It was worse when they could just kick a field goal.

Too much of an element of luck.

I fcuking hate this argument so much. Do the defense not count as part of the team or something? It's not luck if you win the toss and you march down the field and win. Your D wasn't up to scratch. Team's fault, not the flip of a coin.

Hazys

Chucky the tree wrote: »

I'd hate an 18 game season. Game is tough enough as it is.

I dunno i'm kinda for it but on the premise that the season would start earlier and finish later with 2 bye weeks for each team with larger rosters.

I see no reason why the season could start 2 weeks earlier in Augest and finish at the end of Feburary which would give enough time to have the 2 extra games and the 2 byes. What fan wouldn't want a longer season? i know it would postpone the off-season blues a little longer.

The gameday roster could be increase to 50 and the full roster increased to 60. People argue that more players would dilute the overall talent of the league, i believe increasing the rosters would have the opposite affect, increasing specialization and injury cover. Following the Patriots roster moves you can see Bill activating certain players for special teams needs and deactivating them for other games, if he had a larger roster they wouldnt need to. Also how many players are released at training camp only to be brought back from the street mid-season to play? Surely the street player's quality would have been much better had he been training with the team all season. Also for injury cover, Dan Koppen got injuried in the first game of the season. He was supposed to be out for 9 weeks but the Pats had to put him on IR bcos they couldnt afford the roster spot hit for that time. He could have played the end of the season and all the playoffs, that surely would have been a boost in quality.

mikemac1

Death to the tuck rule

If coaches keep winning their challenges then why stop at three? Let them keep going until they lose, it's their reward for using the system wisely

Strange one but make hair part of the uniform. At the moment it's allowed to grab a players hair to make a tackle. Now you could say it's the players fault for having long hair but I hate this and it looks terrible on TV

Change the kickoff rules back to what they were before.

Bring back the skills challenge for Pro bowl weekend. The QB challenge was always fun to watch and the other position players did drills too

adrian522 wrote: »

I'd like to see the penalty for PI change to a max of 15 yards and make PI calls challengable.

Like this one a lot
Ravens pulled a few massive PI penalties this season, send Torrey Smith deep, flag for PI and boom, fifty yards up the field. Correct call, I wasn't complaining but the rule is ridiculously harsh on the defense
Now some will argue that the defensive backs if beaten will just go for the PI anyway but I don't think they will, not many issues in college

davyjose

SantryRed wrote: »

I fcuking hate this argument so much. Do the defense not count as part of the team or something? It's not luck if you win the toss and you march down the field and win. Your D wasn't up to scratch. Team's fault, not the flip of a coin.

In that case how many teams who win the toss elect to defend? Have yet to see it happen, myself. It's ridiculous to suggest that the team without the ball are as likely to win the game as the team with the ball.

18 game season would be a shambles. Teams barely make it through a season intact as it is. why would we want to see a postseason full of backups?

D3PO

poldebruin wrote: »

I don't like the automatic 1st down awarded for illegal contact, these are usually fairly ticky tacky, it;s only penalised 5 yards, but the resultant first down also make it too severe a punishment IMO. If the 5 yards result in a first, so be it, but I;ve seen to many called on 3rd and forever.

It hasn't happened yet, but if a 2 point conversion attempt, with no time on the clock, to win a game is broken up in the endzone by penalty, I think the officials should be allowed to award a penalty score. You cannot (or should not) be rewarded for penatlies, and if a DB was beaten in the back of the endzone, on a play to win the game, he is currently incentivised to deliberately PI. At the moment in this scenario the ball is placed on the 1 and the attempting team must go again.

.

disagree completely with these two. The reason its an automatic first down is so that defenders cant take advantage of getting beaten on third and forever. If there was no automatic first down and your beaten down the seam it woud be too easy for the BD to pull the reciever back before the ball is thrown to stop him getting free and making the first down.

as for PI in the endzone. Fair enough its a tactical decision a DB would make just like a defender handling the ball on the goalline in soccer. You make a decision knowing that a penalty is forthcoming but its for the good of the team. It happens in every sport.

Also disagree with the calls for college style OT. Id actually like to see no OT in the regular season. Level after 60 mins then call it a tie.

Would add a great element to the game on a last second TD to go one point behind. Do you kick the PAT for the draw or go for the win and risk a defeat ?

D3PO

mikemac1 wrote: »

Ravens pulled a few massive PI penalties this season, send Torrey Smith deep, flag for PI and boom, fifty yards up the field. Correct call, I wasn't complaining but the rule is ridiculously harsh on the defense
Now some will argue that the defensive backs if beaten will just go for the PI anyway but I don't think they will, not many issues in college

How is it harsh ? If Smith is going to catch a ball 50 yards down the field its not harsh its an imitation of what might have happened. It can only be PI if the pass is catchable so on any call the officials deem the reciever would have had a shot at catching it. If your a DB and you disagree dont interfere with him.

as for in College. College is a bunch of kids the NFL is a bunch of elite professionals you cant assume because college DB's dont have the smarts to take a PI penalty when beaten that the Pro's wont.

In fact you would be an idiot to get beaten deep on any pass in the NFL if college PI rules were brought in.

ArmaniJeanss

An end to the AFC/NFC split.
If the two best teams in a season are Saints and Packers, or Steelers and Patriots, then its senseless that its not possible for them to meet in the Superbowl.

(I realise this change won't happen).

poldebruin

D3PO wrote: »

disagree completely with these two. The reason its an automatic first down is so that defenders cant take advantage of getting beaten on third and forever. If there was no automatic first down and your beaten down the seam it woud be too easy for the BD to pull the reciever back before the ball is thrown to stop him getting free and making the first down.

Oh I understand the reason, but the problem as I see it, is that this penalty could be called on just about every play (like offensive holding). Unlike PI this can be called on the other side of the field completely away from where the QB is looking to go with the ball. To reward the offence with 5 yards and a new set of downs just seems draconian.

D3PO wrote: »

as for PI in the endzone. Fair enough its a tactical decision a DB would make just like a defender handling the ball on the goalline in soccer. You make a decision knowing that a penalty is forthcoming but its for the good of the team. It happens in every sport.

Exactly like someone handling on the line in the 90th minute in soccer (luis Suarez, wc 2010 style) - but the NFL always seem to legislate that a defender should not be rewarded for commiting a penalty - I think it will have to happen a few times before it would be looked at.

D3PO wrote: »

Also disagree with the calls for college style OT. Id actually like to see no OT in the regular season. Level after 60 mins then call it a tie.

I doubt this would be very popular (even with foreign fans that are used to draws in their domestic sports) I hate to see a tie game, and it;s a blight on the standings for the rest of the year if you ask me!

D3PO wrote: »

Would add a great element to the game on a last second TD to go one point behind. Do you kick the PAT for the draw or go for the win and risk a defeat ?

Well you would still have the option, the TD would either be worth 7 with no kick, or 6 with the option of going for 2. Same decision would need to be made.

Jolly Red Giant

This one is real easy -

LET DBs PLAY FOOTBALL

These days they are only allowed to dance around receivers.

poldebruin

...regarding the 18 game season. I have mixed feelings about this. Of course I would (selfishly) love to have a longer NFL season, and a shorter off season, but in reality I think it is just about perfect as is.

One of the reasons I'm not into other US sports, is the sheer number of games they play in th eregular season - they know that a loss on any given day means nothing in the grand scheme of things.. I've seen them discuss the Yankees in April...."ah, they're only 6-15, along way to go" etc. With the NFL, every week really counts, and by the time the Superbowl comes and goes you are left wanting more.

Now that we have access to the Draft build up, NFL access, mini and training camp coverage, the off season doesn't seem as long any more to me.

Morrisseeee

Some good suggestions being made, the kickoff seems to be a popular one.

I would also like to see the Pro(useless)Bowl game changed, it definitely needs to be more competitive, and maybe switched out foreign, ie. Dublin, London, Germany, Japan etc., maybe on a rolling basis.

I would also like to see the AFC & NFC championship game held at a neutral venue, I mean it's such an important game. Or as has been hinted above, still have the AFC & NFC but seed all teams in the playoffs, and then forget about the AFC/NFC divide.

poldebruin

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Some good suggestions being made, the kickoff seems to be a popular one.

I would also like to see the Pro(useless)Bowl game changed, it definitely needs to be more competitive, and maybe switched out foreign, ie. Dublin, London, Germany, Japan etc., maybe on a rolling basis.

Aye, the pro bowl was particulalry useless in the first half - seems like they picked it up somewhat in the 3rd and 4th quarters. But to play it abroad may add something different. I would imagine the logistics would preclude them from doing it. As a Kid, I loved seeing the skills challenge, but don't have any interest in that ype of thing now.

It really did look like a flag football game for stretches. How about dividing the afc and nfc squads into 8 smaller teams and having a mini tourney (with games having a 15 minute rolling clock - or some such, similar to the hong kong sevens) - have players play both ways etc, and it would have an element of competitivness and fun.

Morrisseeee wrote: »

I would also like to see the AFC & NFC championship game held at a neutral venue, I mean it's such an important game. Or as has been hinted above, still have the AFC & NFC but seed all teams in the playoffs, and then forget about the AFC/NFC divide.

It is an important game, but by rewarding the team with the best record home field advantage, it really does keep games interesting near the end of the regular season. GB for instance, had guaranteed their division by week 12 (i think) but had to continue to battle to ensure they got home field as SF were only a game or two behind.

I would also love to see an outdoor superbowl somewhere cold (never happen)

D3PO

poldebruin wrote: »

I doubt this would be very popular (even with foreign fans that are used to draws in their domestic sports) I hate to see a tie game, and it;s a blight on the standings for the rest of the year if you ask me!



.

It wouldnt be popular no doubt about it but this thead is about what you would like to see not what could or might happen

out of curiosity the only meaningful impact it would have had last season was that San Diego would have made the playoffs at Denvers expense. Denver would actually have finished last in thir division

San Diego 8-6-2
Oakland 7-8-1
Kansas 6-8-2
Denver 5-8-3

the only other telling impact would have been for the Arizona Cardinals who won 4 overtime games last season. Instead of 8-8 would have finished 4-8-4 and thus had a much higher draft pick

will never happen but Id lvoe to see it

poldebruin

D3PO wrote: »

San Diego 8-6-2
Oakland 7-8-1
Kansas 6-8-2
Denver 5-8-3

Good one. Alll the more reason not to reward people to play for a tie though!

That is a lot of OT games for one division - right?

D3PO

poldebruin wrote: »

Good one. Alll the more reason not to reward people to play for a tie though!

That is a lot of OT games for one division - right?

ecactly thats where the dynamic of a do i tie or do i go for a win in the closing seconds comes into play.

right now 5 seconds left 4th down on the 2 yard line its an automatic field goal. with the tie in there there is a genuine quesiton is the tie worth it or do i go all out for the win :0

and yes that is a lot of OT games for one division

Podge_irl

poldebruin wrote: »

I would also love to see an outdoor superbowl somewhere cold (never happen)

Superbowl is in Metlife in two years.

UnitedIrishman

Tie games would be a terrible idea. Adds to the tension and the sport the fact that there HAS to be a winner. (well.. sort of.. barring it going the distance in OT).

PI needs to be sorted out as mentioned by pretty much everyone. One thing that annoys me about the rule is that I've seen so many officials throw the flag once the WR has got up and started shouting at the official or if the fans go mad looking for it. Either give it straight away then there's been contact/ball goes dead or don't at all. Don't see how people react.

Also, am I the only one who thinks the celebration rule is a small bit daft. Now I'm not one for these big long winded celebrations and they could perhaps put a time limit on time taken between TD and PAT, but a flag for showing a t-shirt off or jumping on the camera station as Davis did? Bit daft.

helimachoptor

Podge_irl wrote: »

Superbowl is in Metlife in two years.

Is it not next year?

namloc1980

helimachoptor wrote: »

Is it not next year?

Nope. It's in the Superdome, New Orleans next year.