NFL rule changes the league must explore for 2015

Sep 19, 2014; New York, NY, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addresses the media at a press conference at New York Hilton. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

Every year, National Football League executives gather in a conference and discuss potential rule changes that the league may opt to implement for the upcoming season. In 2015, football fans witnessed some controversial calls and rules that heavily affect games but are not accurate.

Here, I’ll take a look at NFL rule changes the league must explore for 2015 and also suggest a few things the league should keep the same.

The NFL must change:

– Offsetting penalties. If a holding penalty is called on the offense and personal fouls are called on the offense and the defense during the play, those penalties shouldn’t offset, as they currently do. Instead, the personal fouls should offset and the holding penalty should be enforced, moving the offense back ten yards. In the Wild Card game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, we saw this exact scenario, and the fouls were offsetting. This isn’t fair to the team that was only flagged once during the play.

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– Personal fouls and pass interference. Often times, bogus personal foul penalties and pass interference penalties are called. Officials should have the power to go to replay and correct inaccurate calls, or the league should be able to review these types of plays in New York and communicate the correct call to the referees.

– Pass interference penalties. To continue on that last point, pass interferences shouldn’t always be spot fouls. If the interference occurred within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, it should be a 5-yard penalty; within 5-10 yards, a 10 yard penalty; within 10-15 yards, a 15 yard penalty; and only a spot foul if the interference is more than 15 yards past the line.

– Process of the catch rule. If I had to put money on it, this is the one rule I’d bet the NFL would change for sure. It starts with redefining the term “football move” – Dallas Cowboys’ Dez Bryant absolutely made a football move when he reached for the goal line in that NFC Divisional game. Plays like those, and the Calvin Johnson play, should be considered catches.

– Goal line calls. It’s virtually impossible, via current replay, to tell whether the ball crossed the goal line on a run play, because the camera angles are always sideways. The NFL must invest in goal line cameras in the pylons. There’s no excuse for why the league doesn’t have them already – football is a $15 billion industry.

– The Pro Bowl. Get rid of it. It’s a waste of time. The players who deserve to make it never do, and the Super Bowl players, who all of us would like to see in the game, don’t play. The league should implement some sort of skills challenge instead, like the NHL, NBA, and MLB have.

– The challenge system. If a coach wins the first two challenges, then wins a third, he should have the opportunity to challenge more than 3 times. The current rule where one missed challenge won’t result in a third should stand, but the league should implement a policy where as long as a coach keeps winning challenges, he’ll get another one. If a coach has won 3 out of 3 challenges, he gets a fourth; 4 out of 4, he gets a fifth; and so on.

-Fining players. The NFL fines players for things as trivial as wearing the wrongly-colored shoes during games, and eats up the money. Instead, the league should donate that money to people in need or to charities.

– The draft. The Indianapolis Colts won the “Suck for Luck” campaign in 2012, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulled their starters in the last game of 2014, presumably to clinch the NFL’s worst record and take either Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston with the first pick. If the league puts in place a draft lottery like that of the NBA (for non-playoff teams only), bad teams won’t “tank”. Fans who go to those games won’t be cheated out of their money.

– Bye weeks. Current bye weeks are too scattered across the season. Week 4 bye weeks are too early; week 12 bye weeks are too late. The league should make weeks 8 and 9 the only weeks where teams have no game. 16 teams would be off each weekend. One issue with this is that the league’s overall revenue will be down in those two weeks, but it’ll make more money in the other weeks where there are now bye weeks. It’s beneficial everywhere else, as it gives teams and players a break halfway through the season.

The league must keep:

– Kickoffs. A game without kickoffs seems boring (like the Pro Bowl). Kickoffs are huge parts of games – taking them away would be detrimental to the game, as it’s eliminating a play that could decide the game.

– Extra points. Maybe I don’t want this changed because I’m so used to watching football with the extra point at the 1.5 yard line – but with that said, look at the amount of changes I’ve recommended. Eliminating the PAT may completely mess up the game (see: Adam Vinateri in the Pro Bowl).

– The Pro Bowl in Hawaii. As stated earlier, the Pro Bowl should be completely eliminated, but if the NFL wants to keep it, the game should be in Hawaii, not at the location of the Super Bowl (as it was in 2014-15). At least give the players a nice Hawaii vacation with other NFL stars.

– Postseason format. Playoff expansion is frankly a waste of time. The current format is perfect. Having fewer than 6 teams would be unfair; more than 6 (like in the NBA) are too many. I also don’t support re-seeding – if a team is actually putrid and it won its division, the visitor should theoretically win in a rout.

– Regular season and preseason format. Coaches say that four games is the perfect amount to evaluate talent before the season. Any less than that would be too less. Any more than 16 games in the regular season is excessive.

Next: Super Bowl halftime show was near-perfect

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