Football Whitlock - Fixing the NFL

Stinger · 11-21-2013, 01:29 PM

Thursday, November 21, 2013
Fixing the NFL
By Jason Whitlock
ESPN.com

I'm falling out of love with professional football. We're growing apart. She's not the same game I remember as a young man.

She's unfair, favoring the fair-haired quarterback over all others. She's codependent, controlled and manipulated by overworked and/or narcissistic referees. She's put on weight and grown soft in all the wrong places, enacting strict rules about where, when and how she can be touched when we're most intimate.

I don't want a divorce. Football loved me when no one else would. She supported me through college. She's been the backbone to my career. She never gets jealous when I sneak off with basketball, golf, the Olympics or any of the other girls. It's been a wonderful, 40-year open marriage.

But we need counseling. We need to rework our relationship. We need ideas on how to spice up our love life. Occasional trips to Vegas for a wild romp at a sports book are no longer enough.

Sunday was my breaking point. Football and I were spooning on the couch watching the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers exchange haymakers. With the Saints down three points late and the game on the brink of climax, Ahmad Brooks shot past the right tackle, steamrolled toward Drew Brees and bear-hugged the QB at his collarbone. The ball popped loose. The 49ers recovered and seemingly salted away a well-earned victory.

I was absolutely elated. Great game. Great finish. A tough football team won a tough football game by making the toughest play. That's the game I love unconditionally.

The ref wiped out the play. He threw a flag, penalizing Brooks for hitting Brees in the neck area. The Saints went on to win the game. It was flag football. That's what we have now in the NFL, a game dominated by judgment calls from name-brand referees, a game in which you have to ask permission to touch the quarterback, a game that wants to become safer through punishment.

"Scared straight doesn't work," Hall of Fame cornerback Darrell Green told Showtime's "Inside the NFL." "If it did, we wouldn't have all these people in prison."

Rather than punishment, Green championed a dramatic rule change to cut down on dangerous, concussion-causing hits. He suggested rules that stipulate safeties line up much closer to the line of scrimmage and cornerbacks must play man-to-man defense.

It's a fabulous idea. It doesn't quite go far enough though.

Given the league's justified safety concerns and its investment in star QBs, football is in need of an overhaul. I love Green's concept. I just want to enhance it. And I'd love to see the NFL test out these ideas in the Pro Bowl. There's no better place to experiment on the game than in Honolulu with the world's best players as lab rats. These tests would give the Pro Bowl a significance it hasn't had for decades.

Green is right about moving safeties closer to the line of scrimmage. You ever wonder why, on average, there are more big, over-the-middle hits in the NFL than in college and high school? It's because the safeties play deeper in the pros. Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, Julio Jones and strong-armed quarterbacks scare the hell out of NFL defensive coordinators.

In a standard Cover 2 NFL defense, the safeties line up 14 to 20 yards off the line of scrimmage. A weenie-arm high school QB and a 4.8-40-yard-dash receiver don't strike fear. In a standard Cover 2 high school defense, the safety lines up 10 to 15 yards off the line of scrimmage. Those 5 to 10 yards make a huge difference upon impact. Less time to gather speed means less impact upon collision.

If you make Washington safety Brandon Meriweather stand 8 yards from the line at the snap, he's going to blow up far fewer receivers. NFL safeties are big, athletic, fast, smart and instinctive. Give 'em a 20-yard downhill run and they can do a lot of damage. We need to shorten their runway.

Rule No. 1: No defender can line up more than 8 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Rule No. 2: Eight defenders must line up within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage.

I don't like Green's suggestion that corners must play man-to-man. I'm against limiting Dick LeBeau's creativity. A 76-year-old mind is a terrible thing to waste.

However, I would enact a rule that makes it much easier to play man-to-man. The game is too easy for the offense. We've yet to invent a quarterback better than John Elway. But all the rules changes have made Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and all the rest perform at Dan Marino levels.

That's not the game I love. Let's make the game fairer for defenders. Let's give the defense some tools.

Rule No. 3: Bump-and-run, physical pass coverage is allowed everywhere on the field until the ball is in the air.

No more bogus illegal contact penalties for inconsequential handsy stuff. No more ticky-tack pass interference calls. Let's make receivers fight to get off the line of scrimmage and fight to get open downfield. Let's play defense!

My next set of rule changes will be the most controversial. It's necessary. And remember, we can test these rules at the Pro Bowl.

Rule No. 4: Quarterbacks are not allowed to run the ball past the line of scrimmage.

Yep. No more running QBs. Once a quarterback steps beyond the line of scrimmage the play is dead. You don't want QBs to get hurt? Stop them from running.

Rule No. 5: The offense gets a 12th man -- a sixth blocker, a noneligible receiver.

Bringing the safeties closer to the line will make it much more difficult to run the football. Outlawing quarterbacks from running will make it much more difficult to run the football. Allowing defensive backs to play physical with receivers will make it more difficult to pass the football. How do we solve all of these issues? We give the offense an extra blocker. This will help with the running game and pass protection.

Peyton Manning will have more time to throw the football. He'll make good use of it.

Along with these changes, I propose that we take a hard look at relaxing the rules regarding hitting a QB in the head and neck areas.

Forbidding a defender from leading with his helmet to the chin and head area is a good rule. Ahmad Brooks' hit on Brees should be perfectly legal. Accidental head slaps to the helmet area are no big deal and shouldn't be penalized.

It's fine to penalize helmet/shoulder pads/body shots to a quarterback's knees. A defender should be allowed to tackle, with his hands and arms, at the QB's knees and shin.

Hitting the quarterback hard in the pocket while he is holding the football is an essential element of football. This cannot be eliminated. When a QB releases the ball, I'm all for protecting him. But we've clearly gone too far. Drew Brees is a football player. Football is supposed to hurt.

Like the rest of America, Roger Goodell and the NFL have fallen in love with a law-and-order approach to every problem. The league wants to fix its concussion problem with fines, penalties and handcuffing defenders. Punishment doesn't address root causes.

If the NFL fixes its game by massaging its rules, college and high school football will follow suit, and the game will be safer for kids. That's how we all win. That's how we get back the game we love.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10...xing-nfl-rules

scho63 · 11-21-2013, 01:37 PM

I like this article and can't disagree with much here.....

Katipan · 11-21-2013, 01:39 PM

I disagree with the mental image of him spooning anything.

B_Ambuehl · 11-21-2013, 01:40 PM

A couple of those are pretty good ideas.

Hammock Parties · 11-21-2013, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Rule No. 1: No defender can line up more than 8 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Rule No. 2: Eight defenders must line up within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage.

TEX · 11-21-2013, 01:40 PM

I like rule # 3.

Sweet Daddy Hate · 11-21-2013, 01:41 PM

****ing terrible.

Hammock Parties · 11-21-2013, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stinger

Rule No. 4: Quarterbacks are not allowed to run the ball past the line of scrimmage.

Yep. No more running QBs. Once a quarterback steps beyond the line of scrimmage the play is dead. You don't want QBs to get hurt? Stop them from running.

Nightfyre · 11-21-2013, 01:43 PM

A sixth blocker? Dumb.

Hammock Parties · 11-21-2013, 01:44 PM

The sixth blocker is unfair. Running games will explode.

Discuss Thrower · 11-21-2013, 01:44 PM

I don't think a 12th man needs to be added, and if one were added it should be on defense as a nickel safety that cannot blitz and cannot be within five of the LOS and no deeper than 20 yards of the LOS.

Hammock Parties · 11-21-2013, 01:45 PM

If you play the safeties that shallow and give the offense an extra blocker, the deep balls will go BOOM.

You cannot give one side of the ball an extra man.

Halfcan · 11-21-2013, 01:46 PM

Yep the NFL needs more rules-lol They don't enforce the ones they have fairly as it is.

BlackHelicopters · 11-21-2013, 01:47 PM

Whitlock and an open marriage. Ice pick please.

**HemiEd** · 11-21-2013, 01:48 PM

Just leave the game alone already. Drop all the rules that have been instituted in the last 40 years.

11-21-2013, 01:29 PM
Stinger Bazinga Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Springfield, MO Casino cash: $1984507	Whitlock - Fixing the NFL Thursday, November 21, 2013 Fixing the NFL By Jason Whitlock ESPN.com I'm falling out of love with professional football. We're growing apart. She's not the same game I remember as a young man. She's unfair, favoring the fair-haired quarterback over all others. She's codependent, controlled and manipulated by overworked and/or narcissistic referees. She's put on weight and grown soft in all the wrong places, enacting strict rules about where, when and how she can be touched when we're most intimate. I don't want a divorce. Football loved me when no one else would. She supported me through college. She's been the backbone to my career. She never gets jealous when I sneak off with basketball, golf, the Olympics or any of the other girls. It's been a wonderful, 40-year open marriage. But we need counseling. We need to rework our relationship. We need ideas on how to spice up our love life. Occasional trips to Vegas for a wild romp at a sports book are no longer enough. Sunday was my breaking point. Football and I were spooning on the couch watching the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers exchange haymakers. With the Saints down three points late and the game on the brink of climax, Ahmad Brooks shot past the right tackle, steamrolled toward Drew Brees and bear-hugged the QB at his collarbone. The ball popped loose. The 49ers recovered and seemingly salted away a well-earned victory. I was absolutely elated. Great game. Great finish. A tough football team won a tough football game by making the toughest play. That's the game I love unconditionally. The ref wiped out the play. He threw a flag, penalizing Brooks for hitting Brees in the neck area. The Saints went on to win the game. It was flag football. That's what we have now in the NFL, a game dominated by judgment calls from name-brand referees, a game in which you have to ask permission to touch the quarterback, a game that wants to become safer through punishment. "Scared straight doesn't work," Hall of Fame cornerback Darrell Green told Showtime's "Inside the NFL." "If it did, we wouldn't have all these people in prison." Rather than punishment, Green championed a dramatic rule change to cut down on dangerous, concussion-causing hits. He suggested rules that stipulate safeties line up much closer to the line of scrimmage and cornerbacks must play man-to-man defense. It's a fabulous idea. It doesn't quite go far enough though. Given the league's justified safety concerns and its investment in star QBs, football is in need of an overhaul. I love Green's concept. I just want to enhance it. And I'd love to see the NFL test out these ideas in the Pro Bowl. There's no better place to experiment on the game than in Honolulu with the world's best players as lab rats. These tests would give the Pro Bowl a significance it hasn't had for decades. Green is right about moving safeties closer to the line of scrimmage. You ever wonder why, on average, there are more big, over-the-middle hits in the NFL than in college and high school? It's because the safeties play deeper in the pros. Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, Julio Jones and strong-armed quarterbacks scare the hell out of NFL defensive coordinators. In a standard Cover 2 NFL defense, the safeties line up 14 to 20 yards off the line of scrimmage. A weenie-arm high school QB and a 4.8-40-yard-dash receiver don't strike fear. In a standard Cover 2 high school defense, the safety lines up 10 to 15 yards off the line of scrimmage. Those 5 to 10 yards make a huge difference upon impact. Less time to gather speed means less impact upon collision. If you make Washington safety Brandon Meriweather stand 8 yards from the line at the snap, he's going to blow up far fewer receivers. NFL safeties are big, athletic, fast, smart and instinctive. Give 'em a 20-yard downhill run and they can do a lot of damage. We need to shorten their runway. Rule No. 1: No defender can line up more than 8 yards from the line of scrimmage. Rule No. 2: Eight defenders must line up within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. I don't like Green's suggestion that corners must play man-to-man. I'm against limiting Dick LeBeau's creativity. A 76-year-old mind is a terrible thing to waste. However, I would enact a rule that makes it much easier to play man-to-man. The game is too easy for the offense. We've yet to invent a quarterback better than John Elway. But all the rules changes have made Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and all the rest perform at Dan Marino levels. That's not the game I love. Let's make the game fairer for defenders. Let's give the defense some tools. Rule No. 3: Bump-and-run, physical pass coverage is allowed everywhere on the field until the ball is in the air. No more bogus illegal contact penalties for inconsequential handsy stuff. No more ticky-tack pass interference calls. Let's make receivers fight to get off the line of scrimmage and fight to get open downfield. Let's play defense! My next set of rule changes will be the most controversial. It's necessary. And remember, we can test these rules at the Pro Bowl. Rule No. 4: Quarterbacks are not allowed to run the ball past the line of scrimmage. Yep. No more running QBs. Once a quarterback steps beyond the line of scrimmage the play is dead. You don't want QBs to get hurt? Stop them from running. Rule No. 5: The offense gets a 12th man -- a sixth blocker, a noneligible receiver. Bringing the safeties closer to the line will make it much more difficult to run the football. Outlawing quarterbacks from running will make it much more difficult to run the football. Allowing defensive backs to play physical with receivers will make it more difficult to pass the football. How do we solve all of these issues? We give the offense an extra blocker. This will help with the running game and pass protection. Peyton Manning will have more time to throw the football. He'll make good use of it. Along with these changes, I propose that we take a hard look at relaxing the rules regarding hitting a QB in the head and neck areas. Forbidding a defender from leading with his helmet to the chin and head area is a good rule. Ahmad Brooks' hit on Brees should be perfectly legal. Accidental head slaps to the helmet area are no big deal and shouldn't be penalized. It's fine to penalize helmet/shoulder pads/body shots to a quarterback's knees. A defender should be allowed to tackle, with his hands and arms, at the QB's knees and shin. Hitting the quarterback hard in the pocket while he is holding the football is an essential element of football. This cannot be eliminated. When a QB releases the ball, I'm all for protecting him. But we've clearly gone too far. Drew Brees is a football player. Football is supposed to hurt. Like the rest of America, Roger Goodell and the NFL have fallen in love with a law-and-order approach to every problem. The league wants to fix its concussion problem with fines, penalties and handcuffing defenders. Punishment doesn't address root causes. If the NFL fixes its game by massaging its rules, college and high school football will follow suit, and the game will be safer for kids. That's how we all win. That's how we get back the game we love. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10...xing-nfl-rules
Posts: 10,320

11-21-2013, 01:37 PM	#2
scho63 Politically Incorrect Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Scottsdale, AZ Casino cash: $-920000	I like this article and can't disagree with much here..... __________________ *"The only difference between sex for free and sex for money is that sex for free costs you a WHOLE LOT more!"* ~Redd Foxx~ ~~2018 2019 2020 20212022 2023~~ 2024 Adopt a Chief - Clark Hunt and Brett Veach "The men who drafted Patrick Mahomes"
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11-21-2013, 01:39 PM	#3
Katipan MER Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Colorado Casino cash: $-949649	I disagree with the mental image of him spooning anything. __________________ "Loving him is red."
Posts: 23,652

11-21-2013, 01:40 PM	#4
B_Ambuehl Veteran Join Date: Apr 2005 Casino cash: $9705405	A couple of those are pretty good ideas. __________________ Who's decision was it to fire Romeo" - Coleman C Hunt: "It was my decision but it was one that Scott agreed with" LOL
Posts: 2,613

11-21-2013, 01:40 PM	#6
TEX Out Gunning CP's Fandom Police Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Galveston, TX Casino cash: $-1426873	I like rule # 3. __________________ "Do we have time to run WASP?"
Posts: 37,103

11-21-2013, 01:41 PM	#7
Sweet Daddy Hate Unsparing Join Date: Aug 2008 Casino cash: $10004900	**ing terrible. __________________ 1. Merciless, severe. 2. Given freely and generously. 100% refusal to overrate 20 year Head Coaches with ZERO ing rings as a Head Coach. CP's Official Professor of 'Dem Blues for 2019/2020!**
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11-21-2013, 01:43 PM	#9
Nightfyre MVP Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Helena, MT Casino cash: $1298849	A sixth blocker? Dumb.
Posts: 18,647

11-21-2013, 01:44 PM	#10
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $820478	The sixth blocker is unfair. Running games will explode. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 297,413

11-21-2013, 01:44 PM	#11
Discuss Thrower "You like to drink?" Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: "I like to drink." Casino cash: $-360000	I don't think a 12th man needs to be added, and if one were added it should be on defense as a nickel safety that cannot blitz and cannot be within five of the LOS and no deeper than 20 yards of the LOS. __________________ Chiefs 2016 Opponents: Home: JAX, TEN, NO, TB, NYJ. Away: HOU, IND, ATL, CAR, PIT Chiefs 2017 Opponents: Home: BUF, MIA, PHI, WSH, AFC North. Away: NE, NYJ, NYG, DAL, AFC South
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11-21-2013, 01:45 PM	#12
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $820478	If you play the safeties that shallow and give the offense an extra blocker, the deep balls will go BOOM. You cannot give one side of the ball an extra man. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 297,413

11-21-2013, 01:46 PM	#13
Halfcan In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2005 Casino cash: $7327995	Yep the NFL needs more rules-lol They don't enforce the ones they have fairly as it is.
Posts: 43,200

11-21-2013, 01:47 PM	#14
BlackHelicopters Spiraling down the Drain Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Dante's Ninth Circle Casino cash: $-889412	Whitlock and an open marriage. Ice pick please. __________________ "We're both part of the same hypocrisy, Senator, but never think it applies to my family." "Fredo. You are my brother, and I love you. But never take sides against the Family again. Ever." 2019 Adopt a Chief - Travis Kelce #87
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11-21-2013, 01:48 PM	#15
HemiEd Supporter Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ozarks Casino cash: $-489436	Just leave the game alone already. Drop all the rules that have been instituted in the last 40 years.
Posts: 34,878