I'm not in favor of giving refs MORE leeway in interpreting the rules. They already have too much agency in the outcome of a game.

I actually like this one. Yes the coin flip is tradition and all but home field advantage should give more “advantage”. Hell even visitors get to call the coin flip….what is that?

They could still do the coin flip but it only determines which side of the field you start at. So for example….Chiefs are at arrowhead playing Raiders. Chiefs decide they want to defer but captains still go out for the coin flip to determine which side of the field the winner of the coin flip wants. Could actually make still a difference if wind is crazy.

This would give more meaning to home field advantage and could make playoff push’s for home field even more important to teams.

Absolutely. I did like the suggestion of 1 play to gain 15 yards instead of attempting an onside kick but after I thought about it that would just invite more terrible officiating deciding games. Imagine the outrage after stopping the offense and a phantom PI or defensive holding being called

You still believe in Santa Claus too?

This drives me crazy on 3rd and 15 or more. Hate it when teams call a "give up" screen, draw or short pass that rarely get the 1st down. Why not throw it 50 yards downfield? The risk is an int which is almost like a punt. The reward is a 50 yd completion or PI penalty.

Still remember the Miami ND 3rd and 43. Straight fly pattern. On 3rd and 43 in today's game they would throw a 7 yard in and scream at the ref to call PI or defensive holding

Don't know if the smaller NFL cities could accommodate that. Especially on short notice because you wouldn't know where the SB was being played until 2 weeks before, but 100% agree with getting rid of the long, annoying halftime show.

1. I don't really care, but my preference would be no TNF.

2. This is insane, no.

3. No.

4. The NFL is not going to cut into advertising opportunities. If we looked at it purely from a football angle, one TO per team per game might be a bit of a reach. I do agree, most situations don't require 3 timeouts and if they do then it's primarily posturing one way or another before a last-second field goal. Teams could certainly live with 1 per half. Hell, do them a solid and give them 1 per quarter. The chances of teams using 1st quarter and 3rd quarter TOs are probably slim, but not none. In any event, its a waste to think they'll change this.


5. Sure, we all agree this shit is as ticky-tack as it gets but the NFL and it's owners has made it an absolute that they protect the QB even if it looks ridiculous. I guess, if you're spending 100's of millions on a long-term deal, you don't want it getting all dinged up. I still think it takes away from the game. At least let the guys get touched if you're not going to let them get hit. Like 4 above, they won't change this.

6. Yeah, I kind of agree with this one in that it's be fun to see your rule in action. The "outside the pocket" rule has really made grounding a bit of a gray area. They still have to get the ball to the LOS but it has made it too easy for QBs to not lose yards and not get hit.

I'd be fine with the old rule that you can't intentionally ground the ball ever.(exception for spikes) Take the sack or make a reasonable attempt at a completion, don't care if the QB is outside of the tackle. Rodgers and Wilson abuse the hell out of this rule, especially in the red zone.

Also rewind clock to start of previous play. That way not only 15 yard penalty but no time is taken off so makes penalty worse for defense without being crippling

I've never understood the penalty for intentional grounding. They say it's a loss of down and the ball is marked where it was thrown. So if Russell Wilson is about to get sacked on 1st down 6 yards behind the line of scrimmage and he intentionally grounds the ball, then the refs mark it as 2nd down and 16.

Well, that's no different than if he was sacked, right? So intentional grounding is not really a penalty at all. It's just a decision to ignore that he threw the ball.

I like The Steam's Rule 6, plus my wire rule in Post 69 and my suggested penalty of actually losing a down instead of merely pretending that a play happened. If the NFL did that, we'd have no more complaints about intentional grounding.

Gee, I'm sorry you have to be entertained for every minute. Play Madden instead.

Those are pretty important decisions.

Make all TOs 30 seconds. There are plenty of coaches that will not use all their 6 TOs per game. Now that you can challenge some rulings at the expense of a TO, how do you propose to challenge?

The NFL is never removing timeouts. Without them, the number of late game comeback opportunities decrease.

As do the all important commercial break opportunities.

No more rule changes, just end the league entirely.

It's 10 yards from the LOS. If the QB was more than 10 yds behind the line then it is a spotted where he threw the pass. But if the QB has ran backwards more than 10 yds he was probably out of the tackle box anyway and it's legal as long as the ball gets back to the LOS