Obscure Rule Changes
During a game this past season in Philadelphia between the Eagles and Chicago Bears, an odd play happened. With the Bears on offense, a snap with the quarterback directly under center went straight through the quarterback's legs untouched. The Eagles recovered the loose ball and made a lengthy return deep into Bears' territory, potentially setting up a key touchdown.
However, the officials ruled the play a false start because the snap had gone untouched past the quarterback with the quarterback under center. The Bears retained possession, albeit with a five-yard penalty, and went on to win the game.
I was at that game, and I can tell you that no one in the stadium but the officials on the field and the officiating supervisors in the press box knew that rule. The players didn't. The coaches didn't. Reporters and fans certainly didn't. It was called correctly, but it didn't make much sense. League officials later told me that the obscure rule was intended to aid the defense by prohibiting the offense from using a trick play in which the ball could be snapped past the quarterback to another player. In this case, though, the rule had hurt the defense.
The rule was changed this week at the annual league meeting. Such an untouched hand-to-hand snap no longer will be called a false start. The ball will be live, and either team can recover and advance it.
That was one of the minor rule changes made this week in Palm Beach, Fla., that didn't make it into my story in today's paper because of space considerations. As you can see, it takes several paragraphs just to explain why the change was needed.
There were a few others.
There was another play this past season involving the New York Giants in which the Giants got a first down on a pass from quarterback Eli Manning to tight end Jeremy Shockey. The play had begun with a defender jumping offside, and it ended with Shockey spiking the ball. That's a dead-ball five-yard penalty for spiking the ball after a play that didn't result in a touchdown. Under the rule at the time, the offside and spiking penalties offset; the Giants lost their first down and the play was replayed. That rule was changed this week. Under the new rule, the Giants would have been allowed to decline the offside penalty; they could have kept their first down and been penalized five yards for Shockey's dead-ball spike. The rule applies only to a dead-ball spike infraction. The scenario came up only one other time this past season, according to the league.
Also, muffed forward handoffs beyond the line of scrimmage used to be treated as incomplete passes, meaning that the other team could not recover the loose ball. Now, the opposing team can recover the ball in such a circumstance.
In addition, one thing to note about the rule change that makes field goal attempts and extra points subject to instant replay review... Kicks on which the ball passes above an upright won't be reviewable. League officials say they don't have the camera angles available to make such a review legitimate.
By Mark Maske |
April 3, 2008; 10:48 AM ET
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Posted by: Bud Omsman | April 3, 2008 1:45 PM
The rule is that if it's a normal shove that knocks the receiver out of bounds, it's no catch. If the defender grabs the receiver and literally carries him three yards and then drops him out of bounds, it's a catch. The NFL people say they've monitored the colleges, where the rule already was this way, and they've never seen that happen.
Posted by: Mark Maske | April 3, 2008 2:56 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Mark, if you're reading the comments, can you shed any light around the details of the elimination of the force-out call?
Would a receiver be ruled out-of-bounds if the defense can get him to the sideline in any manner or is the defense prohibited from lifting or carrying the receiver to to the sideline?