NFL refs to call more Illegal contact and defensive holding this year?

Stitch01 · Jul 18, 2014

Cool, Browner will get flagged four times a game

Ed Hillel · Jul 19, 2014

Just in time for the beefed up Patriots secondary!

mpx42 · Jul 19, 2014

The last time this was a huge emphasis, we won the Super Bowl.

Fuck Bill Polian.

CaptainLaddie · Jul 19, 2014

I don't get it. I mean, I get that people really points being scored, but they also like hits. They like defense.

dcmissle · Jul 19, 2014

Ed Hillel said:
Just in time for the beefed up Patriots secondary!

And furrowed brow annoyance over Seattle's public execution of Denver in the Super Bowl

It's Manning time, again. Thread could be titled Sons of Bill Polian.

NortheasternPJ · Jul 19, 2014

CaptainLaddie said:
I don't get it. I mean, I get that people really points being scored, but they also like hits. They like defense.

It'll make better hits and more concussions!. Now instead of slowing the wide receivers slightly by touching them the WR can run unabated at full speed right into a safety and increase the rate of concussions.

Soxy · Jul 19, 2014

The only way this makes sense is if they are instructing officials to call illegal contact and defensive holding in some situations where they have been calling DPI. That would lead to more five yard penalties and fewer spot of foul penalties, a change that I could get behind. If this is just MOAR OFFENSE!!1!1! then fuck that.

It's probably the latter.

rodderick · Jul 19, 2014

If they really ramp up the amount of OPI called, the Broncos may have to develop a whole new offensive playbook.

RedOctober3829 · Jul 19, 2014

rodderick said:
If they really ramp up the amount of OPI called, the Broncos may have to develop a whole new offensive playbook.

They won't be calling the pick play if that's what you're getting at. It would hurt the Pats too.

lexrageorge · Jul 19, 2014

Just what we need: more penalties. I realize that more face time for the referees is important to some folks.

IdiotKicker · Jul 19, 2014

Soxy Brown said:
The only way this makes sense is if they are instructing officials to call illegal contact and defensive holding in some situations where they have been calling DPI.

I'm hoping it's this, but based on what we've seen historically, I doubt it.

SeoulSoxFan · Jul 19, 2014

You know what's going to happen.

The first few games will be a half-dozen calls left and right as the zebras try to abide by the rule.

By the mid-season, there'll be a dozen controversial games where it doesn't get call consistently and people are ready to throw bricks.

By the playoffs, it'll be all about "letting the boys play" and all the calls that were made at the start of the season disappear.

Welcome to the NFL rule committee.

kolbitr · Jul 20, 2014

soxhop411 said:
Mike Pereira ‏@MikePereira 22h
[URL="https://twitter.com/MikePereira/status/490352391208710144"]link to tweet[/url]
Btw, officials were shown many plays regardingillegal contact and defensive holding. How many Seahawk plays???. None.

that seem strange to anyone? I thought SEA was the perfect example for what they will be calling more of?

The Seattle secondary is extremely talented and well-coached, so it would be churlish to imagine their success was owing to trickery and subterfuge. They were the best for good reasons. However it is interesting that according to this website they were the most penalized team in the league re: defensive PI...with all-universe Richard Sherman leading the way with 5 penalties for 98 yards.

I doubt that Seattle never committed the penalties that MP talks about....more likely that they were a) too talented to do it often, and b) not wanted to appear to be made an example of, after their eviscerating of "the best offense in NFL history".

kolbitr · Jul 20, 2014

Dehere · Jul 21, 2014

soxhop411 said:
Mike Pereira ‏@MikePereira 22h
Btw, officials were shown many plays regardingillegal contact and defensive holding. How many Seahawk plays???. None.

that seem strange to anyone? I thought SEA was the perfect example for what they will be calling more of?

Doesn't seem strange at all. Seems like the league going out of its way, probably in vain, to avoid perception that this is a Seahawk ~~rule~~ point of emphasis.

Edit: it was already a rule

Old Fart Tree · Jul 27, 2014

kolbitr said:
The Seattle secondary is extremely talented and well-coached, so it would be churlish to imagine their success was owing to trickery and subterfuge. They were the best for good reasons. However it is interesting that according to this website they were the most penalized team in the league re: defensive PI...with all-universe Richard Sherman leading the way with 5 penalties for 98 yards.

I doubt that Seattle never committed the penalties that MP talks about....more likely that they were a) too talented to do it often, and b) not wanted to appear to be made an example of, after their eviscerating of "the best offense in NFL history".

I would guess that it's in part because they are comfortable leaving guys like Sherman on an island, and sometimes when you're on an island and you're beat, the smart play is to commit the PI. But not having seen all of the tapes, I'm just speculating.

Dehere · Aug 5, 2014

Mike Pereira ‏@MikePereira 6m
NFL says they are offsetting this emphasis with an emphasis on calling offensive pass interference. Not an even trade in my opinion.
[/quote]

Mike Pereira knows, oh, about a thousand times more about the rules of football than I do, but I saw a presentation yesterday by the new NFL head of officiating that made me think this would be a more even enforcement that MP's tweet suggests.

The specific type of OPI that will be a point of emphasis this year is the rule that prevents an eligible receiver from making contact with a defender more than one yard from the line of scrimmage before a pass is caught. If enforced that will have a real impact on bubble screens and pick plays, and it seems like every team in the league is running 10+ of those plays a game.

Edit - Just realized that what I called a "specific type" of OPI actually describes every instance of OPI. To be a little more precise about it, the emphasis will specifically be on contact that is close to the one yard barrier and which officials had been liberally letting slide.

( . ) ( . ) and (_!_) · Aug 22, 2014

There has been a log of grumbling and comments in the media about the number of flags thrown in the preseason from:

Coaches
Players
Some actual refs
NFL exces (Blandino)

But unless I have not seen it, not a single sound bite from any of the owners. I may be wrong and might have just not read or seen anything, but I find it interesting that perhaps the most influncial group of people in the NFL have been quiet on this. Are the owners all in lock step on this decision and the fallout from all the flags? Do they ahve more information about how it will actually work starting week 1 then the rest of us? How long will owners be quiet about this into the regular season, especially if games are ridiculous or teams end up losing a game on questionable defensive holding call?

Bosoxen · Aug 22, 2014

I know from a fan standpoint, this is going to be incredibly difficult to watch. I watched about ten minutes of the Cowboys-Ravens game and, in that time, I saw four calls on the secondary. Games are really going to drag because of this and there will be plenty of complaining from the media and fans.

dcmissle · Aug 22, 2014

( . ) ( . ) and (_!_) said:
There has been a log of grumbling and comments in the media about the number of flags thrown in the preseason from:

Coaches

Players

Some actual refs

NFL exces (Blandino)

But unless I have not seen it, not a single sound bite from any of the owners. I may be wrong and might have just not read or seen anything, but I find it interesting that perhaps the most influncial group of people in the NFL have been quiet on this. Are the owners all in lock step on this decision and the fallout from all the flags? Do they ahve more information about how it will actually work starting week 1 then the rest of us? How long will owners be quiet about this into the regular season, especially if games are ridiculous or teams end up losing a game on questionable defensive holding call?

Dean Blandino said on Mike and Mike this week the impetus for this came from the owners, without identifying any.

Tom Jackson was interestingly forthright on the same show this morning. He pointed to last year's SB and essentially said the League does not want high octane offenses to sputter out in the SB. Paraphrasing: "They do not want Manning held to 8 points, or Brady to 14."

I think there is much to this, and I am not holding out much hope for more flags on offensive interference, illegal picks and the like. I think it will be one sided with the Broncos the greatest beneficiary. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Tony C · Aug 22, 2014

I will say that I suspect the complaints about the length of games are overblown. Defenses will have to adjust or else they'll kill themselves. It may take a few weeks, but I suspect the number of penalties won't increase by much.

On the flip, I love good defensive football and hate track meet arena league style football, so this still sucks insofar as it will tilt the rules further in favor of offense.

Stitch01 · Aug 22, 2014

dcmissle said:
Dean Blandino said on Mike and Mike this week the impetus for this came from the owners, without identifying any.

Tom Jackson was interestingly forthright on the same show this morning. He pointed to last year's SB and essentially said the League does not want high octane offenses to sputter out in the SB. Paraphrasing: "They do not want Manning held to 8 points, or Brady to 14."

I think there is much to this, and I am not holding out much hope for more flags on offensive interference, illegal picks and the like. I think it will be one sided with the Broncos the greatest beneficiary. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Pats offense will do just fine with the new rules.

IdiotKicker · Aug 22, 2014

It would be one thing if you could point to last year's Super Bowl and day that ratings declined significantly. But it was the most-watched game ever. Even with all the defense.

Look, there are two reasons why you alter how penalties are called. The first is to prevent injury and should be applauded. The second is to change the style of the game, and should be rightly criticized if it makes the game less entertaining. We'll have to see a bigger sample size, but initially, it appears that this is a big step backward in terms of game quality so far. By week 8 we should have a pretty good idea of whether or not this is here to stay.

Bosoxen · Aug 22, 2014

Tony C said:
I will say that I suspect the complaints about the length of games are overblown. Defenses will have to adjust or else they'll kill themselves. It may take a few weeks, but I suspect the number of penalties won't increase by much.

On the flip, I love good defensive football and hate track meet arena league style football, so this still sucks insofar as it will tilt the rules further in favor of offense.

I don't agree. Focusing on calling these penalties will have one of two effects: 1) either defenses will be called for more penalties, prolonging drives, driving up scoring and dragging games out further (particularly late in the 2nd and 4th quarters, where the clock will stop) or 2) defenses will adjust and offenses will have more room to operate, which will also drive up scoring.

Anything you do to penalize defenses will help offenses. When you help offenses, they will score more points. When teams score more points, games tend to take longer. No, we're not talking about adding 30 minutes to games, but even adding 5-10 minutes will have an effect. What will likely end up happening is that afternoon kickoffs will be pushed back from 4:15 to 4:30.

gryoung · Aug 22, 2014

The officials are over-playing the "new" calls in the preseason to deliver the message. Once regular season games begin, I expect there will be less ticky-tac calls than we're seeing in the preseason.

dcmissle · Aug 22, 2014

Stitch01 said:
Pats offense will do just fine with the new rules.

If we can stay healthy.

One other point. I'm far from the greatest Pete Carroll fan, though I greatly respect his ability to coach. Especially defense.

If the Pats for whatever reason don't win the next Super Bowl, I'd absolutely love the Seahawks to pitch another near shutout.

I do not like Arena football, nor do I like the League playing favorites, even if, as TJ suggests, Brady and Co. are one of two favorites.

This crap has eclipsed David Stern proportions in terms of putting a thumb on the scale.

Stitch01 · Aug 22, 2014

I think the point of emphasis sucks and is going to get adjusted, but if we have to play under the new rules Im fine going to war against Peyton Manning with the Pats offense and Revis.

Tony C · Aug 22, 2014

Bosoxen said:
I don't agree. Focusing on calling these penalties will have one of two effects: 1) either defenses will be called for more penalties, prolonging drives, driving up scoring and dragging games out further (particularly late in the 2nd and 4th quarters, where the clock will stop) or 2) defenses will adjust and offenses will have more room to operate, which will also drive up scoring.

Anything you do to penalize defenses will help offenses. When you help offenses, they will score more points. When teams score more points, games tend to take longer. No, we're not talking about adding 30 minutes to games, but even adding 5-10 minutes will have an effect. What will likely end up happening is that afternoon kickoffs will be pushed back from 4:15 to 4:30.

I think we agree, rather than disagree (only I'd say 2 is much more likely than 1).

Bosoxen · Aug 23, 2014

Tony C said:
I think we agree, rather than disagree (only I'd say 2 is much more likely than 1).

What I meant is that I don't agree that it's overblown. It's a very real possibility that will have tangible effects on game times.

Though, I suppose one could quibble whether a few minutes is worth getting worked up over. One's mileage may vary at that point.

NFL refs to call more Illegal contact and defensive holding this year?

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