Updated Rules

[Rain Man]

I was thinking about something the other day. We have all these rules now to protect quarterbacks, and what position (other than kicker) now has the longest active playing streaks? Hint: Favre and Manning. It tells me that quarterbacks are overly protected right now compared to other players, so the rules need to ease up.

So first, get rid of that horrible allowed intentional grounding.

Second, it'd be fun to eliminate fair catches, but I doubt that'll happen. How about if, on a fair catch, the ball is dead, but either side can down it. That'd lead to some fun scrums on a punt that's getting a good bounce for the kicking team.

Third, kickoffs can no longer be downed in the end zone for a touchback. Run it out or it's a safety.

Fourth, any kickoff that goes out of the end zone and any punt that's downed in the end zone comes out to the 10, not the 20.

Fifth, during the last two minutes of the game, the clock doesn't start moving on a run until a gain is made if the offense is leading or tied. This will prevent kneeldowns, which add no value to the game of football. (I'm not sure you'd need a similar rule for passes. You could conceivably also use the rule for both teams and not just the leading team, but I'd need to think about the implications a little more.)