5 Things to Improve the NFL

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Five changes that could improve the league, which right now is still the best overall sports organization.

1. Create TWO separate pass interference penalties.

Pass interference is ruining the NFL. There should be one 10 yard penalty which is for contact, and one spot-of-the-ball penalty for blatant, flagrant contact. Too many 40-yard pass plays decided on a ticky tack penalty.

2. Get rid of the "half-the-distance-to-the-goal" rule.

Stupid, even though it is a traditional rule. A team has the ball on their opponent's one-yard line and gets a 10-yard penalty, moving them back to the 11. On the next play the defense gets a 10-yard penalty, and the offense gets the ball at the 5.5 yard line. How dumb is that? The only time this rule should apply is if you are already at the one-yard line.

3. Allow teams to stretch the salary cap with incentives to keep players longer.

If a player is serviced by one team for 5+ years, re-signing the player should not count as a full salary cap hit; rather it should be about 75% towards the cap. That rewards teams and players for staying in the same city and promotes the "hometown discount." Leagues are better when the faces of a franchise stick together over their career, and it's also good for marketing.

4. Institute a draft lottery, and install a rookie flat contract.

Too many teams lose on purpose later in the year to get a higher draft pick. In addition, getting a higher draft pick costs too much. Rookies should have a flat rate depending on the pick (would be hard to get past the Player's Union), and that should not count 100% against the cap.

5. All replay challenges should be called from an upstairs, by an objective official, rather than the referee on the field.

Too many close challenges go the way of the home team.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Hire competent full time officials, and do not allow them to interact with Polian's committee.

Change the pass interference rules as you suggest.

Institute a rookie pay scale as you suggest, however DO NOT even think about changing the drafting order. It is fine the way it is. Life is a compromise, nothing will ever have a perfect solution.

You should be able to challenge ANY call in the NFL, period. Picking and chosing what can be challenged is a fool's game. I don't have a problem with looking at the replay in a booth or anywhere else, but the emphasis should be on getting the call RIGHT and not on 'overwhelming' evidence. We don't need to protect the refs, we need to officiate accurately.

I don't care about the half a distance to the goal thing.

Your salary cap thing is interesting, but then the player can still be cut early anyway so it is simply an end around the cap unless you make the 100% cap charge procative if a player is cut ahead of schedule. And furthermore, it is never going to happen anyway...

 

[Truck]

#1 makes sense, although I doubt it would happen because it would open the refs up to even more criticism.

#2 am somewhat in favor of

#3 is a great idea. Maybe the cap hit a player receives is based algorithmically based on the years of service for that team. like cap hit = salary * multiplier; where multiplier = 1-(YearsOfService*.020) ; (ie you save 2% off the cap for each year of service on the team)

#4 I've never been a fan of rookie caps. Rookies should get paid what they're worth. Teams already have an advantage over the rookies when it comes to salary negotiations -- a team can live without the rookie. If a rookie sits out his first year of playing, that could tremendously hinder his career. Its not the rookie's fault that teams feel they're worth 50 million contract

#5 I agree with this. I see no reason for the on field ref to be looking at the replay behind the stupid black curtain. It should be like in the NHL where there is a guy upstairs who has access to a nice warm, heated booth, with all the tv screens & camera angles needed. It would also speed up the game that way. I also like BB's opinion that there should be known camera locations that are standard in all games played so that when the coach does throw a flag, the network/location/specific-game doesn't dictate whether a camera was in place to clearly see the play or not

 

[dhamz]

The last thing they should ever do is add another layer of judgement to pass interference. All that would do is make it worse. They need to simplify and clarify the rule to make it easier for refs to call. They do not need to add another layer of judgement of flagrant/non flagrant.

 

[LurkingLinebacker]

I like 1 and 5.

Pass interference is a problem and I like how you've made degrees of it similar to facemask calls. I think they've moved towards doing this with the illegal contact stuff, but more could be done. I think it has a chance to come to fruition.


As far as challenges/reviews, I think they should always come from official(s) upstairs. The one drawback may be that it would slow down the game, but then we hopefully wouldn't have the weekly "what pereirra said" thread.

 

[Pats726]

Five changes that could improve the league, which right now is still the best overall sports organization.

1. Create TWO separate pass interference penalties.

Pass interference is ruining the NFL. There should be one 10 yard penalty which is for contact, and one spot-of-the-ball penalty for blatant, flagrant contact. Too many 40-yard pass plays decided on a ticky tack penalty.

2. Get rid of the "half-the-distance-to-the-goal" rule.

Stupid, even though it is a traditional rule. A team has the ball on their opponent's one-yard line and gets a 10-yard penalty, moving them back to the 11. On the next play the defense gets a 10-yard penalty, and the offense gets the ball at the 5.5 yard line. How dumb is that? The only time this rule should apply is if you are already at the one-yard line.

3. Allow teams to stretch the salary cap with incentives to keep players longer.

If a player is serviced by one team for 5+ years, re-signing the player should not count as a full salary cap hit; rather it should be about 75% towards the cap. That rewards teams and players for staying in the same city and promotes the "hometown discount." Leagues are better when the faces of a franchise stick together over their career, and it's also good for marketing.

4. Institute a draft lottery, and install a rookie flat contract.

Too many teams lose on purpose later in the year to get a higher draft pick. In addition, getting a higher draft pick costs too much. Rookies should have a flat rate depending on the pick (would be hard to get past the Player's Union), and that should not count 100% against the cap.

5. All replay challenges should be called from an upstairs, by an objective official, rather than the referee on the field.

Too many close challenges go the way of the home team.

Above all..the NFL HAS to addresss the officiating, how it is done in a lareg way. Full time officials that get a LOT of practice in teh off season and technology to AID in calling games. Maybe using instant replay in an ongoing manner so that would eliminate the whole throwing teh beanbag thing. If it was done upstairs and done quickly, it might not even lengthen games all that much. I think without a doubt the whole 'chain game" thing is 40 years too old...and since they have NOT at all brough that facet of teh game into the 21st century, it's really needed. Full time officials...who study what is and whatis NOT a penalty so they are more consistent.

As far as 1 goes..maybe maybe not..how about making PI calls reviewable...OR PI calls over 15 yards..so that these long gainers on penalty can at least be looked at. Half the distance is fine with me alaways worked..do NOT see a large problem with that.
I agree that somehow helping teams with vets who have been with a team > 8 years or so...or a set number might be good. Some sort of situation that would allow vets who have been with a team STAY as opposed to being cut...NOT sure of the details..but just it would be good.
A rookie flat cap?? OR slotted contracts...somehow slotted would be better..so that the very high picks which are now unreasonable are flattened out a bit..(IT seems now there is a sharp rise at some point..and many teams do NOT wish for a high pick because of it...) NOT sure a lottery works...will have toi think on that one.. Replay upstairs?? See what I said about officiating.. Good ideas..

 

[Sivy]

PI callls should DEF. be challengable, its basically a game changing penalty, and if its called wrong, it could have bad effects.

 

[bradmahn]

1. Touching the receivers should be illegal no matter where on the field. It really gives the defense an unfair advantage and we need to protect our receivers longer.
2. Make any interference call an automatic first and goal situation at the one yard line for the offense. We don't know how far the receiver would have gotten if he had caught the ball. This covers all bases.
3.Piping in crowd noise should be legal. It's called HOMEFIELD ADVANTAGE for a reason. Time to take the NFL into the 21st century.
4.No more outdoor stadiums. Weather gives an unfair advantage to teams who don't play in domes. It's long overdue.
5.The competition committee should really be only one person, otherwise we get bogged down in bureaucracy. I nominate Bill Polian.

I think all these changes will bring the nfl back to the way it was supposed to be played.

Kudos to you, sir, as a troll with a sense of humor.

 

[Zuma]

1. Create TWO separate pass interference penalties.
:yeahthat:
2. Get rid of the "half-the-distance-to-the-goal" rule.
:yeahthat:
4. Install a rookie flat contract.
:yeahthat:

......................

 

[alamo]

1. Create TWO separate pass interference penalties.

Yes, absolutely.

2. Get rid of the "half-the-distance-to-the-goal" rule.

Too minor to care much about. And it's not really that great an idea; I have no problem erring on the side of making the offense earn a TD, considering that they have 3 points more or less in the bag.

3. Allow teams to stretch the salary cap with incentives to keep players longer.

ABSOLUTELY NOT. Not only does it undo the purpose of the hard salary cap -- cost certainty which promotes as level a playing field as possible -- but it will result in an NBA-style mess where there is little free agency movement among top players and the leage stagnates.

4. Institute a draft lottery, and install a rookie flat contract.

Lottery no... again, look at what a mess the NBA is.

Flat contract: the current system over-rewards the top draftees. A flat contract would under-reward them. The current system needs to be tweaked so a high draft pick is not a penalty to a poor team, but a flat contract will never fly. And making it not count against the cap serves no purpose.

5. All replay challenges should be called from an upstairs, by an objective official, rather than the referee on the field.

No. The referee is the best and most experienced official on the field, why would you want to give replay authority to someone who isn't as qualified? Plus the referee has a better idea of the on-field context of what he is seeing, and he has talked to the challenging coach. Changing it would be a step backwards. I see less home-team bias from the referee than from the less senior guys on the crew.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Five changes that could improve the league, which right now is still the best overall sports organization.

1. Create TWO separate pass interference penalties.

Pass interference is ruining the NFL. There should be one 10 yard penalty which is for contact, and one spot-of-the-ball penalty for blatant, flagrant contact. Too many 40-yard pass plays decided on a ticky tack penalty.

2. Get rid of the "half-the-distance-to-the-goal" rule.

Stupid, even though it is a traditional rule. A team has the ball on their opponent's one-yard line and gets a 10-yard penalty, moving them back to the 11. On the next play the defense gets a 10-yard penalty, and the offense gets the ball at the 5.5 yard line. How dumb is that? The only time this rule should apply is if you are already at the one-yard line.

3. Allow teams to stretch the salary cap with incentives to keep players longer.

If a player is serviced by one team for 5+ years, re-signing the player should not count as a full salary cap hit; rather it should be about 75% towards the cap. That rewards teams and players for staying in the same city and promotes the "hometown discount." Leagues are better when the faces of a franchise stick together over their career, and it's also good for marketing.

4. Institute a draft lottery, and install a rookie flat contract.

Too many teams lose on purpose later in the year to get a higher draft pick. In addition, getting a higher draft pick costs too much. Rookies should have a flat rate depending on the pick (would be hard to get past the Player's Union), and that should not count 100% against the cap.

5. All replay challenges should be called from an upstairs, by an objective official, rather than the referee on the field.

Too many close challenges go the way of the home team.

1. they already have this.... it's called holding and then PI. I think the penalty assessed in the red zone should be not as harsh. To place the ball on the 1 is a HUGE game changer.

2. so what should the penalty be? I think half the distance is fair.

3. the rich would get richer.... teams would lock up their good players then have the money to raid other teams.



4. Agree on the flat rate.... but bad teams should get the better pick. ala celtics. if a team wants to tank games it's up to them

5. the refs on the field should control the game.

 

[ALP]

create a competition commitee of individuals not involved in any specific football team

 

[Joker]

destroy all Polians