The dumbest rule in the NFL: New rule change

[Thurman#1]

11 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

And yet McBeane still heavily prioritize Special Teams as the league progressively go away from it. 

 

 

First, "heavily prioritize" is a real exaggeration. It's ridiculous. They do take it seriously, they do spend resources on it at a higher than average rate, though.

 

So do virtually all of the best teams in the league. 

 

Do you wonder why that is? You shouldn't. It's pretty obvious. Roughly a sixth of all plays are STs plays, and every year we see games won and lost by plays made by special teams around the league. 

 

KC's STs DVOA was 3rd in the league last year. The Rams the year before was 4th.

 

Buffalo will adapt to rule changes going forward. It's something they're good at. Up through this last year special teams has made a real, statistically quantifiable difference in team performance. If they continue to de-emphasize them with new rules, teams will dial down the resources used there. We'll see what happens this year. At that point, though, as usual, teams that maintain an emphasis there will have an advantage. Teams could, for example, work hard on punt returns and as other teams de-emphasize it, better teams could return a few more and get their better-prepared units to maybe get a few longer runbacks that could make differences in games. 

 

It'll depend how much of an advantage doing that will provide. You can bet the Bills - all the good teams, really - will focus in on the analytics and see how much game impact STs lose with this rule, and how much they maintain.

 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Thurman#1

[The Red King]

11 hours ago, Bray Wyatt said:

 

The bills got screwed on a similar play awhile back in the Bobby April days. I think it was against the Vikings, we kicked it high and short into the corner and they ruled one of the up man called for a fair catch so even though it worked out where the Bills recovered, the Vikes got the ball.

 

The guy did put his arm in the air, but he didnt really wave it or anything, I remember thinking it was a bad call.

 

Seahawks, opening kickoff of the second half.  Was a complete surprise, we ran under and caught it.  Ref ruled their player signaled for a fair catch and we interfered.

[T master]

11 hours ago, ArdmoreRyno said:

 

I never knew that was even possible until I was watching my Cowboys (Oklahoma State) play Texas Tech this year. Tech scored on their opening drive (up 7-0) and kicked an onside kick on the kickoff. OSU player waved his arm and while Tech recovered, it was a penalty on the Red Raiders because of the fair catch rule. 

 

Brilliant play by the kid. Got the ball to start the drive inside the Tech 35 yard line. 

 

 

 

That is TOTAL BS !!! 

[Doc Brown]

6 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Regarding safety, the dumbest NFL rule is not allowing all 53 to dress.  Especially dealing with short rest Thursday games. Pure stupidity. 

You'd have a competitive disadvantage if one team has a 53 man healthy roster while the other team has only 48 healthy players.

2 hours ago, Donuts and Doritos said:

So what if you fair catch beyond the 25, for example at the 40, does it go back to the 25?

No.  You'd get it at the 40.

[Buffalo716]

38 minutes ago, T master said:

 

That is TOTAL BS !!! 

Yea but that’s a heady smart play 

 

super high football iq 

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, Doc Brown said:

You'd have a competitive disadvantage if one team has a 53 man healthy roster while the other team has only 48 healthy players.

No.  You'd get it at the 40.

The point is that all teams should dress 53 all season.  You're paying for 53 players.  Just an idiotic rule that serves no purpose toward advancing player safety. 

[Doc Brown]

2 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

The point is that all teams should dress 53 all season.  You're paying for 53 players.  Just an idiotic rule that serves no purpose toward advancing player safety. 

You're paying for 53 players but if five are injured and your opponent has zero injuries they'll have 53 healthy players on game day while we'd only have 48 healthy players.  That gives the healthier team even more of an advantage.

[Buffalo ill]

The Bills better win a superbowl before the game becomes unwatchable.

[ProcessTruster]

14 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Might as well do away with kickoffs and start at the 25. They want to get rid of the play anyway.

I'm all for that.  

[The Jokeman]

18 hours ago, T&C said:

This is where the coffin corner kick comes into play...

If a kickoff goes out of bounds the opposing team gets it at their 45.

[wjag]

looking forward to the unintended consequences..  

[ArdmoreRyno]

8 hours ago, T master said:

 

That is TOTAL BS !!! 

 

LOL, why? He followed the rule to a "T". 

[T master]

8 minutes ago, ArdmoreRyno said:

 

LOL, why? He followed the rule to a "T". 

 

Just the rule can you imagine that happening in a SB ??? There would be some pissed off people for sure .

 

Smart on the kids part to know the rule & use it to his advantage it's just a crappy rule .

[Ethan in Cleveland]

10 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

First, "heavily prioritize" is a real exaggeration. It's ridiculous. They do take it seriously, they do spend resources on it at a higher than average rate, though.

 

So do virtually all of the best teams in the league. 

 

Do you wonder why that is? You shouldn't. It's pretty obvious. Roughly a sixth of all plays are STs plays, and every year we see games won and lost by plays made by special teams around the league. 

 

KC's STs DVOA was 3rd in the league last year. The Rams the year before was 4th.

 

Buffalo will adapt to rule changes going forward. It's something they're good at. Up through this last year special teams has made a real, statistically quantifiable difference in team performance. If they continue to de-emphasize them with new rules, teams will dial down the resources used there. We'll see what happens this year. At that point, though, as usual, teams that maintain an emphasis there will have an advantage. Teams could, for example, work hard on punt returns and as other teams de-emphasize it, better teams could return a few more and get their better-prepared units to maybe get a few longer runbacks that could make differences in games. 

 

It'll depend how much of an advantage doing that will provide. You can bet the Bills - all the good teams, really - will focus in on the analytics and see how much game impact STs lose with this rule, and how much they maintain.

 

 

Yes a 6th of all plays are STs but half of those are FGs and XPs, which 99% of the time come down to snap, hold, kick. So real percentage of meaningful plays is far less than 10%. Add punts and KOs that are touchbacks or fair catches and you are getting down to low single digit meaningful plays. I won't argue that every once in a while you get an exciting play but the game will be fine with less kick offs.

 

I'm for any rule that further demphasizes special teams. I dont want bottom of roster guys deciding the outcome of the game.  More than not you get a holding penalty on the kick return just putting your offense is worse shape. I'd take Josh Allen at the 25 after every kick off returning the kick any day. 

I hope 2024 they eliminate the entire play and just start at the 25. 

Less TV timeouts, less injury, less penalties. 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Ethan in Cleveland

[Ethan in Cleveland]

16 hours ago, jwhit34 said:

This is the easiest to fix - do what the NBA does and when the play clock (NBA shot clock) gets to 5 go to showing tenths of a second. Can't get any clearer than that. 

The clock is not the issue. It is the mechanics of how they monitor the clock. The ref apparently can't watch the clock and the ball at the same time. I call BS on this. If the QB can see the clock in the endzone so should the ref. You could put a mobile play clock the lines up with the LOS to the line judges are looking at clock and ball at same time. I doubt a buzzer would work given how loud it is but there are better ways to enforce this including the use of replay. 

 

[T&C]

3 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

If a kickoff goes out of bounds the opposing team gets it at their 45.

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2023/05/24/nfl--kickoff-returns--new-fair-catch-rule--football

 

"The proposal passed despite strong pushback from coaches and players across the league who argued the rule change will create uglier plays with squib and corner kicks that make fair catches impossible."

[Saxum]

12 hours ago, DCbillsfan said:

I believe there's a rule regarding a proper fair catch signal and you can't fake a fair catch.  I believe it's a penalty to try to fake one and then run with it.

 

Yes and there are a lot of rules which teams follow the letter of rules but not spirit which gives them a competitive advantage.

[The Jokeman]

21 minutes ago, T&C said:

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2023/05/24/nfl--kickoff-returns--new-fair-catch-rule--football

 

"The proposal passed despite strong pushback from coaches and players across the league who argued the rule change will create uglier plays with squib and corner kicks that make fair catches impossible."

Fair enough but when I read coffin and corner I think of punts that roll out of bounds vs uncatchable. 

[Motorin']

14 hours ago, scuba guy said:

I actually thought the dumbest rule in the nfl is when a offensive player fumbles the ball out of the endzone.

Ball goes to the def.

 

I don't love that rule, but at least there's some logic to it. If an offense fumbles the ball out of their own end zone it's a safety and the other team gets the ball. 

 

I think the dumbest rule that ever existed was the sideline catch rule when a receiver jumped and caught the ball, got hit and landed out of bounds without getting a single foot down.

 

The refs could rule it a catch if he would have come down in bounds had he not been hit... But he was hit! And forced out of bounds before completing the catch. That call was always infuriating. 

[Bray Wyatt]

13 hours ago, The Red King said:

 

Seahawks, opening kickoff of the second half.  Was a complete surprise, we ran under and caught it.  Ref ruled their player signaled for a fair catch and we interfered.

 

Ah glad someone remembered the play I was talking about!