The end of "moving the chains"?

[babulator]

1 hour ago, SoTier said:

 

No electronic scoreboards or instant replay then.  Should we also go back to leather helmets???

 

TBH there's a serious case to be made to going back to leather helmets. Joe Paterno was championing the cause before he passed. He believed the helmet is what led to all the CTE injuries we have now, and that no one would ever lead with their heads in leather. Just saying. Im a purist, chains are part of the drama for A 100 years, stop trying to make everything into Madden NFL. Chains aren't perfect, but I'll wager people won't be perfectly happy with all of the results from a digital measure. Money and careers are on the line, no system will be perfect, I like what we have.

[Dancing Fool]

35 minutes ago, babulator said:

TBH there's a serious case to be made to going back to leather helmets. Joe Paterno was championing the cause before he passed. He believed the helmet is what led to all the CTE injuries we have now, and that no one would ever lead with their heads in leather. Just saying. Im a purist, chains are part of the drama for A 100 years, stop trying to make everything into Madden NFL. Chains aren't perfect, but I'll wager people won't be perfectly happy with all of the results from a digital measure. Money and careers are on the line, no system will be perfect, I like what we have.

Great attitude. Our current system is not perfect, but it is comfortable.

 

Why try to be more accurate? People will whine anyways, and then things will be changed in ways that are unfamiliar. Since purists would need to adjust, stagnation is best!

 

Edited May 23 by Dancing Fool

[Nephilim17]

Based on the title, I thought this was going to be another "the Bills offense is screwed this year" thread. Damn.

[T master]

14 hours ago, PBF81 said:

 

How about a light behind the goal posts?   

 

Maybe balloons and confetti.  

 

 

Any thing is possible .

Edited May 23 by T master

[Rich Stadium Original]

If I'm not mistaken, a first down is not 10 yards from where the ball is spotted. Instead, the line judge on the sidelines instructs the chain crew on the sidelines where to place the chains based on his view from 20 yards away. The 1st down is 10 yards from his spot on the sidelines...not very accurate.

Edited May 23 by Rich Stadium Original

[Jauronimo]

15 hours ago, T master said:

In some respects this is long over due ! The end zone should have some kind of lighting system that when the ball crosses the goal line it lights up on either side of the field to indicate the crossing, then if there is a replay if the lights come on before their knee goes down TD easy peasy .

 

Same with first downs and such i think it would make the game better and make it move a bit faster . 

 

Even if they do implement this there will be still be many things fans can complain about !! 

Ball position is just one aspect.  When was the runner down and did he maintain possession of the ball?

[Marv Levy]

Good. About time! This should have been implemented years ago with the tech now available.

[Bubba Gump]

This is one guy who is a huge proponent of getting rid of the chain gangs.

 

[nedboy7]

12 hours ago, Captain Hindsight said:

Can’t wait for some hacker to figure out how to mess with the ball

Captain Foresight!  

[machine gun kelly]

18 hours ago, RangerDave said:

The NFL apparently is looking at electronic means for measuring first down yardage.

 

NFL to test optical tracking system for line-to-gain rulings in preseason with eyes toward 2024 implementation - CBSSports.com*

 

*Dang!  I can't get the title to become a linky thingy!

 

 

 

You scared me.  Movin the Chains is a show on NFLR I liste to everyday.  It’s on from 3-7.  It’s the one show I never want to miss.  I get they are going digital, but couldn’t you have a different title?

[Alphadawg7]

19 hours ago, RangerDave said:

The NFL apparently is looking at electronic means for measuring first down yardage.

 

NFL to test optical tracking system for line-to-gain rulings in preseason with eyes toward 2024 implementation - CBSSports.com*

 

*Dang!  I can't get the title to become a linky thingy!

 

 

 

 

This reminds me when they made the 2nd Star Wars Trilogy (Episodes 1-3) and went from puppets, costumes, modeling, stop motion animation, etc to over the top technical CGI and it sucked all the life out of the movies.  

 

"Moving the chains" is football...stop over modernizing the game and keep its character in place

[eee1776]

This cuts out another element of cheating

[Utah John]

The problem isn't the chains, it's where the ball is spotted.  If the ref gets the spot wrong by an inch or two (which isn't hard to do -- I'm not blaming the refs) and the chain measurement comes down to a sliver, what difference will the electronic system make?  (And there are times when the spot is quite wrong, not that often but usually critical when it happens.)

 

The only electronic system change I'd really like to see is to have a horn go off when the play clock expires.  The current system, where the ref sees the clock go to zero and then looks to see if the ball is snapped, is inconsistent and subject to error.  Too many times the ball is snapped when the clock had clearly already run out, and the offense gets to make a big play when it should have been penalized five yards.  This should be the easiest system of all to implement.  Ask the NBA how to do it if the NFL can't figure it out.

[Just Jack]

4 hours ago, Rich Stadium Original said:

If I'm not mistaken, a first down is not 10 yards from where the ball is spotted. Instead, the line judge on the sidelines instructs the chain crew on the sidelines where to place the chains based on his view from 20 yards away. The 1st down is 10 yards from his spot on the sidelines...not very accurate.

 

Correct.  When I worked for our local Arena League team, the sideline ref would put one foot back and that is where we would line up the chain.  

7 hours ago, Matt_In_NH said:

How do they clean up that slime so quickly to keep the game moving?   I bet it slows it down, they should stop dumping slime on the field after touchdowns.

 

[RangerDave]

1 hour ago, machine gun kelly said:

You scared me.  Movin the Chains is a show on NFLR I liste to everyday.  It’s on from 3-7.  It’s the one show I never want to miss.  I get they are going digital, but couldn’t you have a different title?

My apologies.  When I read the article, all I thought about was how coaches and players all talk about making first downs and keeping the chains moving.  I didn't realize there was a show called "Moving the Chains."  My bad.

[SoTier]

8 hours ago, babulator said:

TBH there's a serious case to be made to going back to leather helmets. Joe Paterno was championing the cause before he passed. He believed the helmet is what led to all the CTE injuries we have now, and that no one would ever lead with their heads in leather. Just saying. Im a purist, chains are part of the drama for A 100 years, stop trying to make everything into Madden NFL. Chains aren't perfect, but I'll wager people won't be perfectly happy with all of the results from a digital measure. Money and careers are on the line, no system will be perfect, I like what we have.

 

If everyone was a "purist", we as a species would probably still be wandering naked on the plains of Africa grubbing and living on fruit, nuts, roots, grubs, insects, and the occasional not too overripe animal carcass.

 

2 hours ago, Utah John said:

The problem isn't the chains, it's where the ball is spotted.  If the ref gets the spot wrong by an inch or two (which isn't hard to do -- I'm not blaming the refs) and the chain measurement comes down to a sliver, what difference will the electronic system make?  (And there are times when the spot is quite wrong, not that often but usually critical when it happens.)

 

The only electronic system change I'd really like to see is to have a horn go off when the play clock expires.  The current system, where the ref sees the clock go to zero and then looks to see if the ball is snapped, is inconsistent and subject to error.  Too many times the ball is snapped when the clock had clearly already run out, and the offense gets to make a big play when it should have been penalized five yards.  This should be the easiest system of all to implement.  Ask the NBA how to do it if the NFL can't figure it out.

 

Maybe I misunderstood or misread the article, but I thought that the tech would depend upon a sensor in the ball that would record precisely where the ball landed as well as an electronic line-to-gain.   That would be similar to what they use in tennis matches. 

 

I think a horn signaling the clock expiration is a really such a simple fix that it's surprising that it doesn't come up every time there's one of those controversial plays.

[That's No Moon]

17 hours ago, agilen said:

Do you really though….

 

 

AI is just picking up what TV marketing is putting down. All sorts of "food" on TV isn't edible.

[BigDingus]

ABOUT DAMN TIME!

 

There's no need for a subjective view & human error when they have the means to just get an accurate measurement.

 

The added "TV drama" of it doesn't make for a better experience, it just makes people throw out conspiracies of refs being bought out or other dumb nonsense.

[BobbyC81]

On 5/22/2024 at 3:51 PM, DeepPass said:

Finally.  So many rules and replays are fine.  But, the chain thing is old and too subjective.  Go for it

I don’t like that they use the exactness of 10 yards with the chains but then the ball placement is based on the eyes of the refs.  I don’t know how you get around that human involvement.  There was the talk about putting some technology in the football to determine the position of the ball but that sounds like it could be complicated.  You would have to analyze the data.  If the ball did cross the goal line but after the whistle blew, you’d likely have to review the broadcast of the game as to when the whistle blew.

 

It could however make it easier to determine where the ball is in the goal line pile ons.  In Some of those goal line replays, I don’t know how the refs make that determination when you can’t see the ball.

[machine gun kelly]

13 hours ago, RangerDave said:

My apologies.  When I read the article, all I thought about was how coaches and players all talk about making first downs and keeping the chains moving.  I didn't realize there was a show called "Moving the Chains."  My bad.

It’s no big deal.  It’s actually “Movin the Chains”.  It’s on from 3-7pm weekdays with Pat Kirwan (former front office executive and coach), and Jim Miller (former journeyman QB).  He was drafted by Chicago, and started while going to the Steelers and a bunch of other teams.

 

The show is worth me paying for Sirius radio.  Unlike a lot of TV programs, they are not hot take artists, but rather pretty objective and insightful.