Vikings Message Board.Com

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10007 ... -nfl-rules

Some interesting thoughts here about rule changes that could help make the NFL more interesting. Granted, most, if any, will never happen, but it is kind of a fun read.

My favorite is rule three:

Bump-and-run, physical pass coverage is allowed everywhere on the field until the ball is in the air.

No more bogus illegal contact penalties for inconsequential handsy stuff. No more ticky-tack pass interference calls. Let's make receivers fight to get off the line of scrimmage and fight to get open downfield. Let's play defense!

That penalty fort the hit on Brees was a JOKE. I really hope they look at that kind of thing in the offseason.

What happened to Nascar in early 2000, is happening all over again with the NFL. First, pass rules and change equipment in an attempt to promote safety. Which causes a lack of excitement that originally brought in the fans. Once the ratings start dropping and the stadiums sit half empty, the next step is change other rules to promote competition, while the remaining fans become disgusted with the farce that has been created. Once you go down this road, there is no turning back.

Sounds good on paper, but it could be a nightmare. Permit contact down field and then how hard does it then become to determine whether a pass was in the air? It certainly won't make officiating any easier.

Biggest problem with the NFL today, IMO, is that it's just plain getting harder and harder to call penalties in real-time on the field. It's like the NBA has been for the past 20 years. You get just as many bogus calls as you do missed calls and good foul calls become almost random.

There are so many TV cameras at every game played in the NFL today that I think that they should have a couple of officials just watching video and calling penalties and making rulings on things like completions and turnovers from the booth, before any kind of review is even called for.

Biggest problem with the NFL today, IMO, is that it's just plain getting harder and harder to call penalties in real-time on the field.

Agree completely. They say you can call holding on every play, and you probably could, but to be able to see, and determine if it's worth throwing the flag, on every player the guy is watching? Impossible. And the way they tend to lean toward not throwing the flag. How many times do you see pass interference they miss, or that they easily see, it seems completely random. So much going on and only so many eyes. IMO they need to start to make/change rules based on what the refs can handle. So the huge amount of iffy calls aren't quite as iffy. A big example is catches. Before it was control + two feet or body part down. That was far more simple than the rule now. This nonsense with "action of the catch" or whatever it is. If a player has the ball, control, and two feet or a body part, it should be a catch. How many times does a player have the ball clearly controlled, a knee lands, and than AFTER they have "caught" the ball, they lose it and it's called incomplete? Or fumbled it and called a "non catch". Instead of adding more rules, they should be simplifying the rules they have.

There are so many TV cameras at every game played in the NFL today that I think that they should have a couple of officials just watching video and calling penalties and making rulings on things like completions and turnovers from the booth, before any kind of review is even called for.

Definitely, with the technology they have now. There should be at least one dedicated review official watching every play from the booth with access to a quick ability to rewind/slow motion etc a play. By the time a flag is thrown a guy in the booth should have watched the play a couple times and already be able to send down a ruling.

The 12 offensive players against 11 defensive is really a stupid Idea.