New NFL Rules.

[PRIME1]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story;jsessioni ... nfirm=true

» Incidental facemasks: The foul for incidental grasp and release of the facemask has been eliminated. Twisting, turning or pulling the facemask will remain a 15-yard personal foul.

» Forceout rule: The forceout rule has been eliminated. A player who receives or intercepts a ball must land with both feet inbounds. This affords the receiver and defender equal opportunity to complete the play.

» Reviewable plays: Instant replay will expand to include field-goal and extra-point attempts as well as illegal forward handoffs. This provides a mechanism for correcting an obvious onfield officiating error.

» Second half coin toss: Clubs will now have the option to defer the opportunity to kick or receive the kickoff to the second half.

» Muffed snap: It will now be a live ball when a direct snap from center to a player who is in position to receive a hand-to-hand snap goes untouched. It was previously called a false start, but now either team may recover and advance the untouched snap.

[themattman]

They all appear like good changes to me. The forceout rule will probably have the most effect on the game though.

[BerserkBen]

Incidental facemasks: The foul for incidental grasp and release of the facemask has been eliminated. Twisting, turning or pulling the facemask will remain a 15-yard personal foul.

That is also a new college football rule as well but I'm not sure about the others.

[Dizik]

I'm all for the no forceout rule, provided that the refs are going to start calling more passing interference fouls.

[mattsteg]

I'm all for the no forceout rule, provided that the refs are going to start calling more passing interference fouls.

More? WTF do we need more interference penalties slowing the game down for?

[JJCDAD]

» Forceout rule: The forceout rule has been eliminated. A player who receives or intercepts a ball must land with both feet inbounds. This affords the receiver and defender equal opportunity to complete the play.

So now the defender can "catch" the receiver and carry him out of bounds?

[PRIME1]

I'm all for the no forceout rule, provided that the refs are going to start calling more passing interference fouls.

More? WTF do we need more interference penalties slowing the game down for?

I think "pass interference" is one of the most abused rules in the game. It needs to be called less and reviewed more.

So now the defender can "catch" the receiver and carry him out of bounds?

Guess so. That certainly would be entertaining. I can guarentee you will be seeing a lot of shoving-while-in-the-air moves.

[Corrado]

I think "pass interference" is one of the most abused rules in the game. It needs to be called less and reviewed more.

I dunno, I see some blatant defensive pass interferences go uncalled, and minor incidental stuff get called. I don't think it needs to be called less, I think it just needs to be called properly.

[Usacomp2k3]

I think "pass interference" is one of the most abused rules in the game. It needs to be called less and reviewed more.

I dunno, I see some blatant defensive pass interferences go uncalled, and minor incidental stuff get called. I don't think it needs to be called less, I think it just needs to be called properly.

I thought the rule change a couple of years ago made it quite straightforward. No contact beyond 10 yards. Period.

[Kevin]

I think "pass interference" is one of the most abused rules in the game. It needs to be called less and reviewed more.

I dunno, I see some blatant defensive pass interferences go uncalled, and minor incidental stuff get called. I don't think it needs to be called less, I think it just needs to be called properly.

I thought the rule change a couple of years ago made it quite straightforward. No contact beyond 10 yards. Period.

It's 5 yards, not 10, and there can be contact in the act of going for the catch.

Also, pass interference is a judgment call and it's not something that can be reviewed by the replay system.

EDIT: Here's the definition of the rule. And here is where illegal contact is mentioned. I'll quote it:

An eligible receiver is considered to be an obstructing opponent ONLY to a point five yards beyond the line of scrimmage unless the player who receives the snap clearly demonstrates no further intention to pass the ball. Within this five-yard zone, a defensive player may chuck an eligible player in front of him. A defensive player is allowed to maintain continuous and unbroken contact within the five-yard zone until a point when the receiver is even with the defender. The defensive player cannot use his hands or arms to push from behind, hang onto, or encircle an eligible receiver in a manner that restricts movement as the play develops. Beyond this five-yard limitation, a defender may use his hands or arms ONLY to defend or protect himself against impending contact caused by a receiver. In such reaction, the defender may not contact a receiver who attempts to take a path to evade him.

[Lucky Jack Aubrey]

» Forceout rule: The forceout rule has been eliminated. A player who receives or intercepts a ball must land with both feet inbounds. This affords the receiver and defender equal opportunity to complete the play.

It's been like that in college football forever. However, in college you only have to have one foot in bounds, so it was something of a trade-off. I'm not sure this rule change is such a good idea for the NFL, but I guess time will tell.

I'm neutral on the elimination of the 5-yard incidental face-mask penalty. Just going from memory, I don't recall it being called all that much in recent years.

I really like the ability of the coin-toss winner to defer their choice to the second half. This just seems sensible to me.

[adampk17]

IMHO....

» Incidental facemasks: The foul for incidental grasp and release of the facemask has been eliminated. Twisting, turning or pulling the facemask will remain a 15-yard personal foul.

I'm not sure about this one. Does this mean that incidental grasp and release facemasks will not be called a penalty at all or they will be called 15 yard penalties? When I originally heard about this change it sounded like the later, which I think it a poor idea. If they are being eliminated as penalties then I think this is a good change.

» Forceout rule: The forceout rule has been eliminated. A player who receives or intercepts a ball must land with both feet inbounds. This affords the receiver and defender equal opportunity to complete the play.

Bad decision IMO. It's pretty crappy that just because a reciever has to jump to catch a pass near the side lines or the back of the endzone they will never get a reception any more. It take zero skill to shove someone out of bounds.

» Reviewable plays: Instant replay will expand to include field-goal and extra-point attempts as well as illegal forward handoffs. This provides a mechanism for correcting an obvious onfield officiating error.

Good Change

» Second half coin toss: Clubs will now have the option to defer the opportunity to kick or receive the kickoff to the second half.

I'm surprise it took this long for the NFL to adopt this. College has been doing this for as long as I can remember. Good change.

» Muffed snap: It will now be a live ball when a direct snap from center to a player who is in position to receive a hand-to-hand snap goes untouched. It was previously called a false start, but now either team may recover and advance the untouched snap.

Huh? I guess I though a snapped ball was always live no matter what? Oops, I guess this is a good change then.