Football Zebras.com

AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, Sunday 7 p.m. (ET), NBC

Walt Coleman is the referee today for the annual all-star game from Honolulu.

In order to minimize injuries, the Pro Bowl plays modified rules that protect the players. Basically, pass rushes are shut down, and standard formations are used. The following list is a summary of the rule modifications from the league’s Record and Fact Book:

• The offensive formations must have a tight end and have no more than two receivers on either end. No motion or shifting is allowed.
• The defense must line up in the standard 3–4 formation, evenly spaced, with linebackers in a two-point stance (three-point stance permissible in goal-line situations). Outside linebackers can rush the quarterback in short yardage or inside the 5-yard line.
• Safeties must play man-for-man or with limited zone coverage (3-deep with strong-safety rotating and no 5-deep zones).
• Intentional grounding rules are relaxed when the quarterback throws to the line of scrimmage to avoid a sack.
• On punts, the defense can rush 6 players, 3 per side. On placekicks, the nose tackle can be the 7th rusher.

If the game ends in a tie, they will play an overtime period.

For the first time, players will be permitted to use Twitter on the sideline and will communicate with the fans via the #ProBowl hashtag. However, each bench only has one computer; mobile devices are still not permitted.

Since the game was moved to the off-week prior to the Super Bowl in the 2009 season, the two Super Bowl teams will have their players substituted for by the next highest qualified players at the vacant positions.

In last weekend’s wild card playoffs, two instances of lost fumbles revealed a gap in the NFL rulebook that will likely be under review by the NFL’s Competition Committee in the offseason. The rules, as everyone understood them, were supposedly revised to close a loophole

In the Lions-Saints game (video), referee Tony Corrente correctly ruled that Saints quarterback Drew Brees fumbled the ball while line judge Darryll Lewis ruled it an incomplete pass. Lewis blew his whistle, and in the continuing action of the play, the Lions recovered the loose ball. Corrente announced:

The ruling on the field is a fumble and recovery by Detroit.

By that ruling, the Lions were not entitled to advance the ball. It seemed equitable under the circumstances, but it was wrong according to the rulebook. We will explain shortly.

In the Steelers-Broncos game (video), Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw a backwards pass that struck the ground. Referee Ron Winter correctly ruled this to be a loose ball under the rules. Line judge Gary Arthur ruled it an incomplete forward pass, which then shut the play down, including a recovery by the Broncos.

Winter was correct that there was no remedy for the Broncos. When they tried to challenge the play, Winter allowed the Broncos to take the challenge back.

In both cases, the offense, by rule, is to retain possession for an “inadvertent whistle.” The offense even had the option of replaying the down; an option that seems to have not been offered to the Steelers (and, by extension of not allowing them to retain possession, the Saints, too).

However, the Lions could have gotten the ball, if they challenged through replay only. Because of the recovery in the continuing action, a Lions recovery can be granted under the video rule, but not on the field. From the NFL Rulebook, Rule 15, Section 9:

The Replay System will cover the following play situations only:…

(c) Other reviewable plays:…

(3) Ruling of incomplete pass when the recovery of a passer’s fumble by an opponent or a teammate
occurs in the action following the fumble. …

Note 1: If the ruling of down by contact or incomplete pass is changed, the ball belongs to the recovering player at the spot of the recovery of the fumble, and any advance is nullified.

Note 2: If the Referee does not have indisputable visual evidence as to which player recovered the loose ball, the ruling on the field will stand.

The Broncos cannot, because the rulebook is clear to state “fumble or backward pass” when it applies; it only rules on “fumble.” This was deliberately written into the rulebook this way when the change was made.

That said, the spirit of the ruling ought to be the same. First, a referee should be able to make a ruling on the field that he can make in replay. Also, a fumble and a backward pass should be equivalent for this particular rule. By allowing a recovery following the whistle, the rules should allow similar plays to be handled similarly, without nuanced distinctions of how the ball became loose in the first place. (Note, also, that the rule ignores recoveries of a muffed punt, for example.)

This will likely be on the Competition Committee’s agenda for potentially revising the rules. We will make a note of it.

It is no secret that we are very much opposed to the NFL’s modified sudden death format for the postseason. (Rather than repeat, see our rant from last year and our other posts.)

Hopefully we won’t have to reference them, but here are the new overtime rules:

• Modified sudden death only applies in the cases where the team receiving the opening kickoff scores a field goal on the opening drive. In all other cases, standard sudden death will apply (a touchdown, a safety, or a field goal after first possession).
• If there is any change of possession or the receiving team does not recover the kickoff, they have surrendered the first possession, and standard sudden death applies.
• If a field goal is scored, the trailing team will receive the ensuing kickoff. Then, if the trailing team…
  • …scores a touchdown, the game ends, and the touchdown decides the result.
  • …loses possession, including on downs, the game ends immediately.
  • …scores a tying field goal, the overtime reverts to a standard sudden death.

Last year, we wondered (in a pun-filled headline) if a pull of an opponent’s long hair could be one of the elements of an illegal horse-collar tackle. One of the criteria of a horse-collar tackle is to grab a player from the shoulder area and pull him backwards. Since long hair that sticks out of the helmet is essentially considered part of the “uniform,” we thought this was possible.

Referee Mike Carey answered our question on Sunday on a tackle by the Jared Cook of the Titans. Cook tackled Rashean Mathison on a special-teams play by grabbing a handful of hair. Carey said the penalty flag on the play was being picked up:

There is no foul for a horse-collar. The runner was grabbed by the hair which is legal. The half is over.

Seeing as long hair could be grabbed by an opponent, you would think that a coach would ban their players from having their locks flowing from the back of the helmet.

Not so fast, coach. Buried in the 301-page collective bargaining agreement between the players and the NFL, is this little nugget in Article 49, Section 2:

Personal Appearance: Clubs may make and enforce reasonable rules governing players’ appearance on the field and in public places while representing the Clubs; provided, however, that no player will be disciplined because of hair length or facial hair.

Mathis in a 2009 file photo courtesy Erjenkins1 at en.wikipedia.

In order to minimize injuries, the Pro Bowl plays modified rules that protect the players. Basically, pass rushes are shut down, and standard formations are used. A summary of the rule modifications from the league’s Record and Fact Book:

• The offensive formations must have a tight end and have no more than two receivers on either end. No motion or shifting is allowed.
• The defense must line up in the standard 3–4 formation, evenly spaced, with linebackers in a two-point stance (three-point stance permissible in goal-line situations). Outside linebackers can rush the quarterback in short yardage or inside the 5-yard line.
• Safeties must play man-for-man or with limited zone coverage (3-deep with strong-safety rotating and no 5-deep zones).
• Intentional grounding rules are relaxed when the quarterback throws to the line of scrimmage to avoid a sack.
• On punts, the defense can rush 6 players, 3 per side. On placekicks, the nose tackle can be the 7th rusher.

If the game ends in a tie, they will play an overtime period.

For the second season, players selected from the two Super Bowl teams will not compete in the Pro Bowl.

It was a solution looking for a problem.

In 1941, the NFL adopted the sudden-death overtime into the rulebook, initially to break ties only in divisional playoff games (at that time divisional playoffs were similar to baseball’s one-game playoff). It was expanded to include the league championship (actually, all postseason games, including the future wild-card playoffs) in 1946, with the first use in the 1957 championship game now known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” In 1974, the league allowed for a single overtime period to be added to regular season and exhibition tie games.

Up to the conclusion of the 2009 season, that was the entire history of the modification to overtime rules. Three sentences only, and in each case, expanding overtime to a wider set of games.

No extra innings. No field-goal shootouts. No rematches. Its brutally final and decisive verdict of fortune is so very defining of football, comedian George Carlin famously contrasted it to baseball’s relatively relaxed and semantically smooth system of extra innings. (Story continues after this comedy break.)

Last March, change came for the sake of change. As Competition Committee co-chairman Rich McKay stated, “sometimes you want to get ahead of a problem and not behind it.” The change was to protect the game from something so unfair, that it was feared it would tarnish the result of sports’ ultimate championship game. According to McKay, “we really felt like you wouldn’t want that game to end — a Super Bowl, a conference championship game — where there’s a kickoff, one pass, field goal, game over.”

The league owners, on the recommendation of the Competition Committee, passed a system of “modified sudden death,” but did so in a cowardly fashion: by deliberately moving the item up on the owners’ meeting agenda so that coaches and players were not present to raise any objections with the plan.

Overtime now allows for a rebuttal by the team that surrenders a first-possession field goal. There was supposedly a fundamental unfairness that a defense that allowed a team to advance into field-goal range was somehow determined by the flip of a coin. Since the kickoff location was moved to the 30-yard line in 1994, the percentage of field goals on the first possession went from 17.9 percent to 26.2 percent. While a significant statistical difference, the Competition Committee pins this solely on the kickoff location rule, rather than the other rules changes in that span that favored the offense, particularly in the passing game.

The modified sudden death applies only to playoff games. However, in 27 postseason overtime games, only three — including last year’s NFC Conference Championship — were decided on a one-possession field goal.

The Competition Committee had other proposals. “I have a file that’s this thick with overtime recommendations and changes,” said co-chairman McKay, without divulging some of the alternate proposals.

Modified sudden-death overtime rules

As best they can be summarized, without needless complexity, the modified sudden death will differ as follows:

• Modified sudden death only applies in the cases where the team receiving the opening kickoff scores a field goal on the opening drive. In all other cases, standard sudden death will apply (a touchdown, a safety, or a field goal after first possession).
• If there is any change of possession or the receiving team does not recover the kickoff, they have surrendered the first possession, and standard sudden death applies.
• If a field goal is scored, the trailing team will receive the ensuing kickoff. Then, if the trailing team…
  • …scores a touchdown, the game ends, and the touchdown decides the result.
  • …loses possession, including on downs, the game ends immediately.
  • …scores a tying field goal, the overtime reverts to a standard sudden death.

Week 16: Vikings at Eagles

Tonight’s game in Philadelphia had to be postponed due to a coastal winter storm that is forecasted to bring blizzard conditions to the area. It is the first Tuesday game since Oct. 1, 1946, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, when the Giants played the now-defunct Boston Yanks.

Oddly, this game was originally scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m., when conditions were not bad for Philadelphia, but the game had already been moved to primetime under the flexible scheduling provision for Sunday Night Football. By 8:00, the conditions are expected to be far too dangerous for the public.

Philadelphia hosted the 1948 NFL Championship game at Shibe Park between the Eagles and the Chicago Cardinals in a heavy snowstorm. Despite the league office considering a postponement, commissioner Bert Bell allowed the game to be played (video from E-footage.com).

The decision to postpone the 2010 game is the right one from a public-safety standpoint. As incredibly awesome as the sight might have been of a heavy snowstorm, it is not worth jeopardizing the safety of the fans, game personnel and emergency services. In the end, it is just a football game.

Rule 17 of the NFL rulebook outlines the procedures that the NFL took in making a decision today:

Article 4. The NFL affirms the position that in most circumstances all regular-season and postseason games should be played to their conclusion. If, in the opinion of appropriate League authorities, it is impossible to begin or continue a game due to an emergency, or a game is deemed to be imminently threatened by any such emergency (e.g., severely inclement weather, lightning, flooding, power failure), the following procedures (Articles 5 through 11) will serve as guidelines for the Commissioner and/or his duly appointed representatives. The Commissioner has the authority to review the circumstances of each emergency and to adjust the following procedures in whatever manner he deems appropriate. If, in the Commissioner’s opinion, it is reasonable to project that the resumption of an interrupted game would not change its ultimate result or adversely affect any other inter-team competitive issue, he is empowered to terminate the game.

Article 5. The League employees vested with the authority to define emergencies under these procedures are the Commissioner, designated representatives from his League office staff, and the game Referee. In those instances where neither the Commissioner nor his designated representative is in attendance at a game, the Referee will have sole authority; provided, however, that if a Referee delays the beginning of or interrupts a game for a significant period of time due to an emergency, he must make every effort to contact the Commissioner or the Commissioner’s designated representative for consultation. In all cases of significant delay, the League authorities will consult with the management of the participating clubs and will attempt to obtain appropriate information from outside sources, if applicable (e.g., weather bureau, police).

Article 6. If, because of an emergency, a regular-season or postseason game is not started at its scheduled time and cannot be played at any later time that same day, the game nevertheless must be played on a subsequent date to be determined by the Commissioner.

The NFL has ramped up its policy on avoiding concussions, and the policy has not excluded the referees. With high speed collisions involving the umpire position, the NFL has permanently moved the umpire to the offensive backfield, nine years after a pilot program of the switch was tried in the 2001 preseason.

The most violent collision from the 2009 season didn’t even involve the umpire, but a back judge covering a kickoff return. Rich Reels was bruised up quite a bit and had to sit a week out when he was caught off balance and hit by an upfield blocker. In addition to Reels’ injury, there were reports of concussions and other injuries. The league even considered giving the umpire a helmet.

The umpire position will be opposite the referee in the offensive backfield.

The umpire will now be located in the offensive backfield, rather than the center of the defensive backfield. The umpire will operate on the side opposite the referee, who is generally positioned on the side of the quarterback’s throwing arm. However, after the two minute warning in either half, the umpire will return to the defensive backfield.

There are no changes indicated in the 2010 NFL rule book under the umpire’s duties as a result of this change. (Oddly, the position of the umpire is not and never was discussed in the rule book, despite other officials’ positions being indicated.) However, there is a private manual for officials that express finer details of officiating mechanics which was overhauled.

The umpire will have to quickly set in position after maintaining the ball spot at the line of scrimmage. Once an offense comes to the line, the umpire must retreat to the offensive backfield (while avoiding the players moving from the huddle to the line of scrimmage) rather than a few yards behind the ball. Usually, the offense has to wait about a second for the umpire to be set, but it will likely take longer with the new positioning.

It will be interesting to see some of the bugs worked out in the preseason, and we will update you on any refinements as we are aware of them.

The original image used in the illustration is credited to Pats1 at en.wikipedia.

NFL OWNERS APPROVE ‘MODIFIED SUDDEN DEATH’

Unintended consequences of the new rule (that we see) are:

• Overtime can end on an unspectacular loss on downs, or worse, a measurement.
• Now, imagine a team is short on fourth down by measurement, the other team begins to celebrate a win, and the replay booth challenges the first-down spot — and the offense gets the first down! That is going to be an ugly scene, with a capital UGLY!
• There is less risk in tying the game at the conclusion of regulation, rather than boldly going for the lead.
• A team scoring the opening-possession field goal can follow up with an onside kick, ending the game if they recover (OK, that would be kinda cool, I suppose).
• The inequity supposedly created by the kickoff return offering field-goal prime field position is not remedied if both teams score field goals on their first possessions. This is because the next possession is sudden death, and it begins with the oh-so-dreaded kickoff.
• Defensive errors, magnified in overtime, can be softened when a second chance is awarded after surrendering a field goal.
• Somehow, a single drive in overtime ending in a field goal is unacceptable, but a game-winning field goal that breaks a tie at the expiration of the fourth quarter is just fine without a retaliatory possession by the losing team.

We will be adding to this list as a stream of consciousness. Add your suggestions in the comments.

Week 11: Browns at Lions

In addition to the squabbling in the Browns locker room over the quarter-extending penalty, there was a confusing substitution on the second chance awarded to the Lions by penalty (video).

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford suffered a separated shoulder after being hit on a Hail Mary pass, which, by rule, requires a player to sit out for a down. While the gamebook shows the official scorekeeper was confused (it is listed as two consecutive timeouts by the Browns, which is not allowed) the Lions were assessed a fourth timeout because of injury. This is granted without penalty, according to Rule 4, Section 5, Article 4:

(d) No yardage penalty will be assessed for the first excess team timeout.

Should a fifth timeout be required for an injury, it would result in a 5-yard penalty.

Backup quarterback Dante Culpepper entered the field for the untimed down, which the caused  Browns to call a timeout to assess the situation. This opened the door for Stafford to return, even though he had not sat out for a play, under the same rule/section/article above:

(c) The player must leave the game for the completion of one down, unless:

(i) the injury is the result of a foul by an opponent; or
(ii) either team calls a charged team timeout.

Of course, the Browns will blame the officiating, rather than accept that they allowed a quarterback with a separated shoulder throw a last-chance, game-winning touchdown.