Bertrand & Keefe Not Surprised NFL Is Trying To Change Ineligible Receiver Rule
BOSTON (CBS) -- The NFL Competition Committee met Wednesday to come up with new rule proposals for next week's NFL owners meetings, and there should be no surprise that one proposal is a direct response to something the New England Patriots did.
You may remember the Patriots employing some interesting -- and unconventional -- ineligible receiver formations during their AFC divisional round win over the Baltimore Ravens. Well the rest of the NFL apparently didn't appreciate it, and want a new rule to limit where ineligible receivers line up on the field. The proposed rule would require an eligible receiver who reports as ineligible to be restricted to line up within the tackle box.
Marc Bertrand and Rich Keefe have seen the league react to something the Patriots did before, so they know this is nothing new.
"I love it," said Keefe. "The rules have been in place for such a long time, and once you find a way to manipulate them a little bit -- still play within the rules, but you're outsmarting other teams -- [they cry]. 'This isn't a traditional set! Who can they throw to?!? Let's change the rules! We can't allow this to happen!'
"How about learn the current rules," Keefe added. "The reason for rule changes should be because of technology and player safety. Shouldn't those be the primary reasons for changing rules?"
"And to make it more exciting and appealing," added Bertrand.
"For this sport specifically, it should be tweaking replays with technology," said Keefe. "Not because certain teams can't figure out what the current rules are."
However, they both agree that the rule will likely be changed. But it shouldn't be that way.
"When that happened in the playoffs, it caught me off guard because we had never seen it. But you know how long that took me to figure out how it works? Five minutes," said Beetle. "The rest of the league doesn't want to spend the time to look at what happened and say, 'This is how you make sure you don't get caught covering a guy who is ineligible.' Nope, change the rules and make it look like the Patriots did something wrong!
"It's so predictable of the NFL to come after what is not even a problem in their sport," said Beetle.
Beetle & Keefe also discuss three rule changes proposed by Bill Belichick and the Patriots. Listen below: