NFL owners approve new 2021 rules for replay, onside kicks

[tk13]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...es-2021-season

Owners rejected more robust proposals for a full-time sky judge, including one from the Baltimore Ravens that would have created a booth umpire. Instead, owners took the more modest step of giving the existing replay officials -- who sit in the press box of each stadium -- the authority to consult with referees on certain "specific, objective aspects of a play when clear and obvious video evidence is present," according to the language of the rule.

Replay officials will not be able to throw flags or reverse calls on their own. But they can now offer referees advice based on what they've seen on broadcast replays in the areas of possession, completed or intercepted passes, the location of the ball relative to the boundary or end line, and whether a player is down by contact. Previously, replay officials have been limited to participating in plays that were under review. Coaches will not have to throw challenge flags to prompt that advice, which some replay officials have been giving referees informally for years.

In other news regarding Wednesday's votes, NFL owners:

• Approved a relaxation of rules for the numbers that players of certain positions can wear because of expanded practice squads. Running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, defensive backs and linebackers can all wear numbers in the single digits if they choose. Based on preexisting NFL rules, players who want to change their numbers this season will have to buy out the inventory of the NFL's manufacturing partners. This wouldn't apply to players who give notice in 2021 that they want to change numbers in 2022.
  
  
• Approved a one-year experiment in an attempt to make it easier to recover onside kicks. In 2021, the receiving team on kickoffs will be limited to nine players within 25 yards of the ball. Last season, NFL teams recovered only three of 67 onside kicks, the lowest total and recovery rate since at least 2001. As a result, the Philadelphia Eagles tabled a proposal that would have given teams an option to gain 15 yards on one offensive play from their own 25-yard line to retain possession after a score.
  
  
• Tabled a rule that would have expanded the area where players are prohibited from blocking below the waist. McKay said that there is enough support to pass the rule now, but that several teams had questions that will take some time to address. It could be revisited next month.
  
  
• Eliminated overtime in preseason games.
  
  
• Changed a rule that will now force a loss of down if two passes are completed behind the line of scrimmage.
  
  
• Approved a rule change that ensures the enforcement of all accepted penalties during successive try attempts, defined as an opportunity for a team to score one or two additional points during one scrimmage down.
  
  
• Did not act on a "spot or choose" proposal from the Ravens for the winner of the overtime coin toss. In that scenario, the team would have the option to choose either which team will have the first possession of overtime or where the ball would be spotted.
  
  
• Decided to include taunting among its points of emphasis for 2021. McKay clarified that the emphasis wouldn't be directed at celebrations but toward acrimonious interaction among players.
  
  
• Completed a study of the sharp drop in offensive holding during the 2020 season. McKay said that Walt Anderson, the NFL's senior vice president of training and development, would clarify the standard and put together a video for teams to consume before the 2021 season.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

“ . As a result, the Philadelphia Eagles tabled a proposal that would have given teams an option to gain 15 yards on one offensive play from their own 25-yard line to retain possession after a score.”

I like this idea. I think it would make close games much more exciting, but I can already see a team getting screwed on a phantom PI or defensive hold.

**** that!

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by RickObie

Got it...I'm an idiot...

Don't feel bad. I interpreted it the same way. It should have said "... on a down".

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Don't feel bad. I interpreted it the same way. It should have said "... on a down".

The Brady play didn't stick out in my head enough to make that the clearest interpretation of the rule so that's how I rationalized what I wrote.

Thing is that makes sense to stop "two" passes behind the LOS as if on a batted back to the QB situations.. but in the event a defense doesn't smoke the second passer: it effectively bans otherwise legal trick play passes in the offensive backfield..

[Ming the Merciless]

Originally Posted by eDave

Why do you say that?

edave's youtube channel when people are mean to alex smith:

[KChiefs1]

[KChiefs1]

[tredadda]

I really wish they would one day deal with the issue of how penalties are enforced in the sense of balance. What I mean is a 5 yard penalty shouldn't offset a 15 yard one. I am fine with in a situation like that where the beneficiary of the 15 yard penalty gets only 10 yards instead.

[BigCatDaddy]

I still want DPI to be a flat 15 yard penalty instead of the spot foul shit.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by BigCatDaddy

I still want DPI to be a flat 15 yard penalty instead of the spot foul shit.

If Alex Smith were still our QB I would be 100% on board as that would almost always be a net positive in yards gained. With Mahomes I feel differently as he routinely slings it more than 15 yards and I want to punish defenses for PI penalties against us.

[oldman]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

In 2021, the receiving team on kickoffs will be limited to nine players within 25 yards of the ball

Does that mean the ball at the kickoff? The field is 53 1/3 yards wide, so how are they going to measure that? You know Belicheat will push that both ways.

[morphius]

The emphasis on taunting is going to be painful, could be a lot of game changing penalties for some truly basic crap.

[A Salt Weapon]

Originally Posted by tredadda

If Alex Smith were still our QB I would be 100% on board as that would almost always be a net positive in yards gained. With Mahomes I feel differently as he routinely slings it more than 15 yards and I want to punish defenses for PI penalties against us.

As we’ve seen many times, NFL refs don’t give a shit about defenses committing PI against the Chiefs.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

What the **** does this mean?

I was about to ask the same thing. I have no idea what they're talking about.



Of course, no rule change is going to matter until they make a rule that refs can't call fake defensive holding penalties in Tom Brady's favor.

[morphius]

Originally Posted by oldman

Does that mean the ball at the kickoff? The field is 53 1/3 yards wide, so how are they going to measure that? You know Belicheat will push that both ways.

It just means that everyone else will have to be at the 40 on the opposite side of the field, or back, until the ball is kicked.

[Hammock Parties]

YEP