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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.you guys need to watch the games from the early 70's..Fearsome Foursome...Jim Brown...the Skins with those nutty undersized safeties and huge lineman...today it's more or less WWF...like I really care what a Brandon Marshall has to say..Paul Warfield...Otis Taylor...they'd MURDER this league today
I'm not sure how this is really all that complicated. The yardage markers do not have to change at all. Two guys are holding the sticks, one at the 6yd line (guy A) another at the 16 yd line (guy B).
"Holding offense, ten yard penalty to be enforced on first down distance".
Guy B doesn't move, Guy A carries his stick from the 6yd line to the 26, or more simply, each moves 10 yards (or 5yds). They are actually pretty good at it since they do it about 40-50 times per game anyway.
Say what?? I'm not sure what you watched, but that was a catch by Calvin Johnson. There were no bobbling.
This is a case where the rules clearly contradict one another. Johnson clearly gets both feet down, gets his left arm down and his butt down. He clearly has control of the ball until his momentum brings his right arm around and the ball touches the ground. It's only then that Johnson let's go of the ball. There was no bobbling unless you erroneously think that based on him switching the ball from his left hand to his right hand.
If this was a running back, it would be a TD. Especially since the RB would have been down by contact AND with the rule that the ground can't cause the fumble. Which in this case it clearly did.
I've watched that Calvin Johnson play dozens of times and at no time did I think it was a catch, nor should it have been. I've seen so many times where the reciever has full posession until he hits the ground and then juggles it a little bit and it's ruled not a catch. This one wasn't even close and people are up in arms about it. I don't get it, it wasn't a catch, he dropped the ball when he went to the ground.
One more thought on PI, do away with the BS about playing the man and not the ball. You should be able to stand between the receiver and the ball. It shouldn't matter which way your head is facing. It's just another way of trying to referee intent.
The problem is that the science of the chain gang requires Guy A to always mark the line of scrimmage of the first down of the set. It's not impossible to change his behavior in a certain circumstance but is it worth the procedural and statistical complexity? Also, how will fans and announcers cope with the new system? Part of the reason Guy A exists at all and its not just Guy B with a 3-yard chain is so people at the game can eyeball where the set of downs started, just for comparative purposes. In the NFL and college, there's even a yard marker, one with an X on it, that marks where the offensive drive started, just so play-by-play guys can say "this drive started way back at the 12 yard line" just by looking at the field.
I mean, I like the idea, but I don't think any league is going to change the way the chain gang has worked for a hundred years.
After 1st down, the original line of scrimmage is trivial. The only thing people really care about is how many more yards to go and how many downs. Making it easier for play-by-play guys is a low priority in my book. The guys moving the chains can handle it.
The league will probably not amke any of these changes. I think it is just an exercise in us posters to suggest things WE might change...