NFL Rule Changes

It should be one of the quietest weeks in the NFL calendar but we all know nobody knows how to grab an offseason headline like the National Football League. So nobody should be surprised that the Shield has people freaking out on the daily about rules changes in March.

Yesterday it was the new hip drop tackle. Today it’s the brand new kickoff rule. Yesterday it seemed like everyone was pissed off and butthurt and bent about the hip drop rule… even the NFLPA was protesting. From what I can tell, the reaction to the new kickoff is much more positive. 

I also like the new kickoff rule better… but mostly just because the Ref Show will have a harder time ruining it. The Ref Show is gonna make enforcing the hip drop a nightmare, we all know this, we can all see it coming. But the new kickoff rule is just a new kickoff format… much harder for the Zebras to botch the hell out of.

And when I say new kickoff format, I mean totally new. I mean kickoffs in 2024 are gonna be unrecognizable to long time NFL fans. But very familiar to XFL fans. All 12 of them.

Because the league actually borrowed this format from the XFL. Here’s the format: 

During the 2024 season, kickers will continue to kick from the 35-yard line, but the other 10 players on the kickoff team will line up at the receiving team's 40-yard line. At least nine members of the return team will line up in a "setup zone" between the 35- and 30-yard lines. Up to two returners can line up in a "landing zone" between the goal line and the 20-yard line.

So essentially, the coverage team and the return team are gonna line up 5 yards from each other now on the return team side of the field. The kicker will be all alone at his own 35. And the returner or returners will be all alone behind their own 20. Like I said, massive massive change.

The point of this change, at least according to the league, is to create more returns while also lowering concussion rates. And those both sound like good things to me. I’m all for it if it makes more exciting plays and fewer head trauma injuries. That makes a hell of a lot of sense to me too.

But for the record, so does banning the hip drop tackle. We’ve all seen a dude get hurt with a hip drop tackle and we’ve all had the same thought… seems pretty dangerous. And seems pretty stupid. Nobody enjoys seeing one of their dudes go down because of a hip drop tackle. In fact, when it happens, everyone screams the same thing… IT SHOULD BE BANNED.

Except when they banned it, everyone said the same, opposite thing… TERRIBLE RULE. 

I don’t think the idea behind the rule is bad. But my worry is enforcement. Because the Ref Show can and will ruin any rule. So of course they can and will ruin this rule. Especially when the language for this rule is so CONVOLUTED off the jump.

You think people are still confused about what a catch is? You think the Ref Show is still confused about what a catch is? Just wait til they try to wrap their tiny brains around this language, this is how the league describes a hip drop tackle:

“When a defender grabs a runner with both arms and “unweights himself by swiveling and dropping his hips and/or lower body,” then lands on the runner and traps his legs below the knee.”

Oh, thanks for clearing that up guys… thanks for putting that in terms absolutely nobody anywhere can ever understand.

“Unweights himself by swiveling”.... The hell is that supposed to mean? Unweights himself by swiveling? Did they go out of their way to make this unnecessarily confusing? 

In the end, that last part will be the key I think, the “lands on the runner and traps his legs below the knee” part. That’s how we’ll be able to spot a hip drop. That’s probably what the Ref Show will have to key on. Especially since there’s no way they’re ever gonna figure out what “unweights himself by swiveling” means. 

Classic Ref Show... Take what should be an obvious rule covering a blatantly dangerous play and make it so convoluted and confusing that enforcement becomes near impossible.  Remember, we still aren’t clear on what a catch is. But that’s what they do to every rule, that doesn’t make the hip drop a bad rule. It just makes it another rule for the Ref Show to butcher.  Good look enforcing that rule. 

And of course, defensive player are pissed: because the only significant rule changes involve them.  Defensive players will have you believe, these rule changes don’t make the game safer, the make the gamer harder. For us. They’ll ask when was the last time there was a rule change that made it more difficult for the offense.  They’re right, every year, the league does something that makes the defense’s job harder and the offense’s easier, all in the game of “player safety.”  I get both sides. The league needs its stars on the field: they have to do everything they can to put the best product out there; defensive players will say it’s an un-level playing field. Maybe, but my biggest concern is the ref show: I’m fine with the rule, but I’m fine in thinking the refs will be able to enforce it; because they won’t; the rule isn’t a disaster: but thinking the ref show can consistently identify and enforce it, will be.

And that’s why right now I prefer the new kickoff format. Because it’s a rule change that’s almost Ref Show proof. Although I’m sure they will do their very best to ruin this one too.