NFL considering narrowing the uprights

Via PFT:

“The discussion has really revolved around narrowing the uprights,” NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino told Kryk. “That would be one way to affect both the extra point and the field goal. [Success rates] have continued to climb over the years as our field goal kickers and that whole process has become so specialized, from long snapper to holder to kicker. . . . We’ll do some studies this year.”

The chips will track how close made kicks already are coming to the goal posts, which then would be used to determine how much more narrow the goal posts would have to be in order to make kicks harder, but presumably not too difficult.

For now, the experiment will be confined to the preseason. It could extend to Thursday night games in the regular season. Blandino didn’t rule out the goal posts narrowing as soon as next year.

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NFL will explore narrowing the uprights by putting chips in footballs

QuantumMechanic said:

Via PFT:



NFL will explore narrowing the uprights by putting chips in footballs

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Isn't adding a chip to the kicking ball a violation of the standard materials allowed in a football per the rulebook? #integrity....

This is an interesting idea, and in general I prefer this to the extra point from the 15 yard line. Even though no one does it, in theory having the extra point and the 2-point attempt from the same line of scrimmage allows for the possibility of a fake. And if narrower goal posts means more teams go for it on 4th down outside of the red zone, that adds to the game's excitement as well.

Just stop messing with the game please

They are only adding chips in Footballs to set up for going after Belichick for hacking the chips.

So they can add chips to the balls to try to determine if the should mess with the game, but not to accurately figure out if the ball crossed the goal line...

Also this is just stupid. Teams aren't going to keep kicking FGs like they are now. They'll just change their FG range. The end result will be a similar % of misses. However the long range kicks, you know the ones that are actually exciting, will drop. Most of those will be replaced with unreturnable punts.

KontradictioN said:

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Exactly. Has there ever been another time in history when so many rules were changed in such a short time? Why is something being changed every off season now, it seems?

VectorPrime said:

Just stop messing with the game please

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FOE SERIOUS! I can't remember a time since I've been watching/playing sports that so many rules were changed in such a short time period. Every off season now? It's just excessive now. All of these things are also having an impact on the record books. Things are getting too convoluted now.

The NFL moving the goalposts!?! Never!

VectorPrime said:

Just stop messing with the integrity of the game please

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Fixed it for you.

Hammer of Thor said:

Isn't adding a chip to the kicking ball a violation of the standard materials allowed in a football per the rulebook? #integrity....

This is an interesting idea, and in general I prefer this to the extra point from the 15 yard line. Even though no one does it, in theory having the extra point and the 2-point attempt from the same line of scrimmage allows for the possibility of a fake. And if narrower goal posts means more teams go for it on 4th down outside of the red zone, that adds to the game's excitement as well.

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ThatllMoveTheChains!!! said:

So they can add chips to the balls to try to determine if the should mess with the game, but not to accurately figure out if the ball crossed the goal line...

Also this is just stupid. Teams aren't going to keep kicking FGs like they are now. They'll just change their FG range. The end result will be a similar % of misses. However the long range kicks, you know the ones that are actually exciting, will drop. Most of those will be replaced with unreturnable punts.

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Two conflicting yet equally compelling points.

I did five minutes of research and discovered that the goal posts have been 18 feet, six inches apart since the 1920's (I also discovered that the "End Zone" is a product of legalizing the Forward Pass in 1905. Until then, the Goal Line was the OB line...but I digress.)

A lot of things have changed in the last 100 years, so I guess it's reasonable to ask whether the game originally envisioned Kickers playing the role that they do today or whether a game where "Four Downs" were more routinely played than they are today inside the opponent's 40 yard line was what was envisioned. Let's face it, "Field Goal Range" is anything inside the 35 for a team with a very good K and inside the 30 for a team with good/average K.

The consequences of taking four feet off of that width would seem to be:
Increase the economic value of very accurate and relialbe K's like Gostkowski and Vinatieri.
More teams playing four downs outside the 20 or even the 15 if the K isn't that reliable.
More teams opting to build Domes to have an advantage in their H games.

I can see this either way. I guess, to use the words of @VectorPrime above, it comes down to what you regards as "messing with the game."

Would narrowing the distance between the Uprights by a little over 20% represent messing with the game?

Or is it the presence of Domes and the incredible improvements in the science and skill set of the "Long Snapper, Holder, K" combination that have "messed" with how the game was intended to be played in the first place?

I honestly don't know.

So the receivers are making too many receptions, by this rationale they should make the ball smaller as well so it can increase the difficulty?

What part of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Do these bumbling morons not understand? I understand at least what they're trying to get at with the player safety rules, but seriously....

You now flag coaches 15 yards for saying a naughty word or two to the refs? What's the point in this? Where are we, Canada?

ThatllMoveTheChains!!! said:

So they can add chips to the balls to try to determine if the should mess with the game, but not to accurately figure out if the ball crossed the goal line...

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Using technology to accurately determine whether a ball has crossed the goal line would be removing significant gray area from the game. The current regime has shown over and over again that it only modifies rules to increase the gray area. The more gray area there is, there more opportunity for NFL to manipulate the outcome of games.

So the NFL wants to narrow the goalposts so teams will go for it more on 4th down.

That means more offensive and defensive plays.

This decision means that potentially in-game concussions will most likely go up.

So glad the league is focused on making the game safer.

VectorPrime said:

Just stop messing with the game please

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Yeah, why does this front office think it needs to make major rule changes every season? WTF?

Tuck said:

Yeah, why does this front office think it needs to make major rule changes every season? WTF?

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Incredible egos.. they want to put their "stamp" on the game

varjao said:

So the receivers are making too many receptions, by this rationale they should make the ball smaller as well so it can increase the difficulty?

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Brady likes his balls smaller so they'll never go for this.

For now, the experiment will be confined to the preseason. It could extend to Thursday night games in the regular season.

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Did I read that right? How freaking unfair is that to just do it on Thursday night games!