Opinion: Should the NFL lighten up on some of the rules? (1 Viewer)

[bez18]

Just wanted to hear some other's thoughts and opinions. I would love for the NFL to lighten up on some of these rules! I mean, after all, it is football!!! The roughing the passer rule has become so ridiculous, you might as well put the QB in a red shirt and tie flags around their waist! How many times did you see someone's hand hit the QBs helmet and they called it? I mean, come on! It's a hand on the helmet! That's what the helmet is for. The guys like Favre, Montana, Theisman, Namath... they must be cracking up from this.

And how about how ridiculous some of these pass interference calls have been? As well as the illegal contact? Back in the day, did you ever see Jerry Rice, Art Monk, Steve Largent have problems making catches even when they were getting bumped after 5 yards?! No. Let the guys play football. There are too many rules prohibiting some contact and, in my opinion, that should NOT be.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

roughing the passer - they should ligthen up.

personally I dont think PI is called properly or often enough, but that's my opinion.

 

[Ghost Rider]

roughing the passer - they should ligthen up.personally I dont think PI is called properly or often enough, but that's my opinion.

I would also like to see some consistency when calling PI. More to the point, I would like to see offensive PI called more when it happens.

 

[AB in DC]

Agree for big penalties that are really judgment calls, like pass interference and roughing the passer. They need to add a five-yard version of the penalty, just like they do for face mask where there is both a five-yard and a fifteen-yard version. Otherwise it's way too big a penalty for what could be just a ticky tack call.

 

[jestertj]

Probably two of the most difficult rules/calls in the NFL. Both could stand to be looked at IMO. It's always tough when the officials are told to call things to the letter of the rule. Touch the QBs helmet, it's a penalty, regardless of how hard it's hit. Pass interference needs to be looked at for both offense and defense as mentioned above.

 

[Chaos Commish]

The league needs better officials, not better rules. In the current system an NFL official has to spend years on the HS level, years on the college level. If successful he'll be consigned to time in Arena footbal or NFLE. If still solid, with all his best years of officiating behind him, he gets called up to the NFL.

It's a full-time job masquerading as a part time job. It's ridiculous. Set up NFL University. Give scholarships and full-time year round training to the best prospects. Pay them enough to live very well, and do not allow moonlighting. Make it a full-time job complete with a farm system, interns, continuing education requirements, etc.

 

[Sam Quentin]

The PI rule needs to be redone.

I think they need to have different levels (like facemask or running into the kicker) where you can call a 5yd, 15yd or spot foul, depending upon if it's blatant or incidental; a mauling or a touch...

The one that drives me crazy...

In the last two minutes, the defense should have to actually tackle somebody to prevent the offense from stopping the clock by stepping out of bounds. No more of this small shove -- progrees stopped inbounds bull####.

 

[ExtraPoint]

If anything, illegal contact needs to be more strict. Sure, you get the automatic first down but its only 5 yards. When a defender knows he's going to be beat for a big play, a 5 yard penalty is worth the contact. We see a lot of players intentionally taking the 5 yard penalty in order to prevent a potential TD or big play.

Pass interference is neither called nor committed that frequently anymore. You see more illegal contact because of what I just said. The PI penalty is fair as is. Its severe enough that you dont see many defenders doing it on purpose (like illegal contact), but really not much different than a completed pass. If a pass is complete, the receiver could very well end up running for more than the 10 yard penalty from the spot of the foul. He usually wouldnt but would frequently enough. I really see no problem with the NFL's pass interference penalty.

Roughing the passer and other personal fouls, are IMO a bit of a problem. I'd like to see them changed the way the facemask penalty was changed. Facemasks used to all be 15 yards but so many of them were just accidental coming from players trying to make an honest play, that the yardage is now discerned by severity.

 

[brettdj]

I would like to see more unsportmanlike conducts called. Reggie Bush should have received 2 flags on his TD. 1 for taunting and 1 for flipping into the endzone.