Kayte Christensen: Potential New NFL Rules Are Laughable
NFL owners held their annual meetings this week in Phoenix, Arizona. Other than devastating Oakland Raiders fans by approving the Raiders move to Las Vegas, they spent time mulling through rule changes on Tuesday.
Here is a great breakdown of the new rules approved as well as a couple potential rules we could see before the start of the 2017 season.
I have no problem with the rules 4 news rules that were very quickly approved. I do however have an issue with the two "potential" new rules that have been tabled until later this spring.
Possible new rule No. 1: Overtime shortened to 10 minutes
The purpose of this is to limit the amount of additional snaps players are participating in.
NFL overtimes already have some pretty bizarre rules – at least for me, coming from a basketball background.
It makes no sense that the first team scoring in overtime is declared the winner. That comes down to who wins the dang coin toss. Not at all about winning because you're the team who did a better job gutting it out or making the best adjustments. It's just absolute crazy talk.
I get it. Football is a dangerous sport and they want to "limit" the amount of additional violence these guys are subjected to. But if that's the reasoning behind all this just make the game end in a tie.
The sudden death rule is there only because ties complicate things when it comes to the end of the season playoff complications and TV contracts . You're almost completely assured a winner in a timely manner…yet ties still happen.
- October 23, 2016 Cardinals-Seahawks ended in a 6-6 tie
- October 30, 2016 Redskins-Bengals ended in a 27-27 tie
It's ridiculous that games are allowed to end in ties for ANY sport. But despite having an overtime period it is still a possibility. It's like having a wife and a girlfriend at the same time. You shouldn't be allowed to have it both ways. Pick one for goodness sakes.
If they want to "fix" NFL overtime rules why is it the length of overtime they're messing with?
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said it is "really a competitive disadvantage" for a team to play close to a full overtime period because it leaves them less rested for their next opponent.
Ahhh, so there it is. Shaving 5 minutes of game clock off helps you seven days later when you face your next opponent.
FIVE MINUTES OF GAME CLOCK!!!
If you're already worried about your game seven days later that might explain how you found yourself in overtime to begin with.
The NBA can have a triple-overtime game on the first night of a back-to-back and still have to go out THE NEXT NIGHT and play at least 48 minutes.
An NBA player runs an average of 2.9 miles per game. Receivers and cornerbacks in the NFL average 1.25 miles per game.
Seriously? One game a week. 1.25 miles a game. 5 extra minutes in overtime. Oh my goodness how do these world-class athletes deal with it all?
But here's the reality of the situation, I could care less about how long overtime is in the NFL. I just want to poke holes in idiotic statements like 5 minutes of game clock putting professional athletes at a "competitive disadvantage" for a game that's happening a whole week later (in some cases 4 days because of Thursday night games but whatevs…point stands)
What I want is a clear winner and for both teams to have the opportunity to score.
It's a multi-billion dollar business that can't seem to figure out some of the most basic crap.
New Rule No. 2: Tweaking the anti-celebration rules
The "No Fun League" strikes again!!
Celebrations must be "sportsmanlike and not provocative to opponents".
Sportsmanlike? Provocative to opponents? This is rich!
The NFL has shown complete disregard when it comes to employing murderers, rapists, wife beaters, kids beaters and even guys that verbally and physically assault police officers but they're digging their heels in on a guy celebrating by twerking after scoring a touchdown!
It's laughable.
And the cherry on top of all this legislating the fun out of the game bull is reading the following words….
"Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to meet with a group of players before deciding how to verbalize the new approach (to anti-celebration penalties)"!
Good luck with that Roger. Can't wait to see how that works out for you.
The NFL won't be happy until they have eliminated any type of spontaneity and personality from the game. I mean look at Tom Brady for crying out loud. He's basically a robot and they're thrilled he's the face of their league…well they were until that whole deflated balls dilemma!!!
