The beginning of a new football season brings the inevitable, new rules for officials to learn and players, coaches and fans to stumble over.
In the NFL, the kicking game got the most tweaking. To bring excitement back to kickoffs, the kickoff was moved back to the 30 yard line AND the kicking tee was lowered to one inch tall from three inches. The tee change is more significant than you might think. Kickers won't be able to get under the ball as much, so kicks will probably be lower, which will allow for more and longer runbacks.
On missed field goal attempts from outside the 20 yard line, the Defense will get an extra seven yards when they take over. Last year, misses from outside the 20 went back to the spot of the snap. This year, the same misses will go back to the spot from which the was KICKED.
The last kick-related change concerns blocking on punts. The Receiving team may not block below the waist except for interior line blocking. The reason is safety. Players move downfield on punts at breakneck speed. Contact at the knee at that speed can end a player's career. By keeping contact high, the fan will still see great blocks, but no one will be carried off the field at the end of the play.
The last kick rule change is one you may never see, or know it was a change if you do see it. If a punt is first touched on the field by a Receiver and the ball rolls into the end zone, the Kicking team can score a touchdown if they recover it. Last year, if this play happened, the Kicking team got the ball at the spot that the Receiving team touched it. If that explanation is confusing, here's a play to show you what I mean.
Play: The Giants David Meggett is back on his own 15 yard line to receive the punt. He misjudges the ball and it hits the top of his shoulder pads and bounces into the endzone. The Seahawks rookie Larry Whigham is streaking downfield to cover the kick. Before Meggett can react, Whigham flys into the endzone and recovers the ball.
NFL Ruling: Touchdown for Seattle.
Why the change? The philosophy had been no cheap touchdowns. Now maybe the shift is towards more excitement.
Another change is a technical one and won't be recognized by most fans. When a Defensive player jumps into the neutral zone and causes a player directly opposite to move, then the Defensive player will be called for the foul. The rule used to give the Defense one warning before penalizing them. As you know, once an Offensive lineman is set, if he moves, he has committed a foul for a False Start. The rule used to allow the Defense to make the Offense commit one foul before being penalized. Now, there are no freebies.
The last NFL rule change has gotten the most publicity, the addition of the two-point conversion. This one will be a dud. Rarely does a game ride on an extra point at the end. Besides, NFL coaches are too conservative. How many do you think would go for broke with a two-point try over kicking the tie and trying to win in overtime? The time you may see it is in a game where there is a previously missed extra-point kick. Going for two and failing would mean down by two versus down by one. Either way, a field goal wins it. Other than this one circumstance, I don't see the two-point try being a factor in games.
These really are pretty minor. It shows that the game works very well. There is a good balance between Offense, Defense, player safety and fan excitement. This game should be exported more to the rest of the world. I think football gets fans to release tension rather than build it up like in soccer. How often do fans riot at a football game? But pity that poor announcer who shouts "Gooooooooooooollla!" at every score.
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