Questions About Football Rules

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Season's over, so it's time for myself to go to school.

This might reveal me to be a shallow mind in the sport of football, but I would like an explanation on a couple of the following rules. Why do we have them? What constructive purpose do they serve?

You have 11 guys who's purpose is to score on another 11 guys. That's a pretty simple premise, and yet the NFL has a cacophony of rules to complicate it for reasons I don't understand.

1. "Offensive team must have at least seven players on line." (Why does this matter?)

2. "Offensive players, not on line, must be at least one yard back at snap." (Why does this matter?)

3. "No player of offensive team may charge or move abruptly, after assuming set position, in such manner as to lead defense to believe snap has started. No player of the defensive team within one yard of the line of scrimmage may make an abrupt movement in an attempt to cause the offense to false start." (Why not? If the other team jumps offsides, they jumped offsides. Penalize them, not the people who suckered them over.)

4. Why can't anybody on the offense catch the ball any time they want to? Why does eligibility need to be declared?

5. "All players of offensive team must be stationary at snap, except one back who may be in motion parallel to scrimmage line or backward (not forward)." (Why can't the non-line players move anytime or anywhere on their side of the ball pre-snap?)

6. "Loss of team time out(s) or five-yard penalty on the defense for excessive crowd noise." (What the hell is this about?)

7. Does it really matter how many players are in the huddle, as long as they aren't lining up when the team readies to snap the ball?

8. What's "leaping" or "leverage," and why are they illegal?

I've numbered your rules to make them easier to reference. Rules 1, 2, and 4 all have to do with which players are eligible to recieve a pass and making them clearly distinguishable to the defense. The concept that some players are eligible and some are not is a fundamental concept of the game. It's like asking, why must you dribble a basket ball instead of just run up the court with it in your hands. Sure you could change that rule, but then its a whole different game. Why must eligible recievers be clearly distinguishable to the defense? In order to 1) make the rule enforcable by the refs and 2) to keep competitive balance between offense and defense.

Rule 3 is the "Neil Smith rule". You probably remember when he used to flinch in order to get the OL to jump? Two potential reasons for this 1) competitive balance (that is the reason for many rules) and 2) to speed up the game. If the defense induces 2 or 3 off side penalties per game from the other team (not at all uncommon for Smith to do) that adds 5 minutes to the game.

Rule 5. competitive balance. Too many people moving would make it too hard to defend.

Rule 6. Hardly ever called any more. When it used to be called, the crowd just got louder.

Rule 7.competitive balance. Doesn't allow the defense to match personel.

Rule 8. These have to do with FG and extra point attempts. Leaping is getting a running start at jumping at the LOS to block a kick. Leverage is getting a boost from another player to block a kick. Both are related to player safety.