Owners Should Be Proactive When Mulling Rule Changes

SRW · Mar 30, 2008

NFL owners should be proactive when mulling rule changes
By: Mike Florio, Sporting News

NFL owners and other big shots are gathering in Palm Beach this week to promulgate tweaks and twists and turns to the league's rules, and many of the proposals typically flow from hot-button issues of the past season. But instead of reacting to issues that have drawn criticism and consternation, why not try to tie up the loose ends that will inevitably cause trouble in the future? This column ponders some of the things the owners would be looking at if the goal were not to put out the fires from prior year, but to be proactive about the future.

1. Use replay for everything

The owners will consider a proposal to allow officials to review whether a field goal was made or missed. This is a direct reaction to the confusion that unfolded at the end of a game between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens last season, when the two officials stationed, um, directly under the goal post didn't know if the ball made it through the big yellow "U".

But why not just use replay for everything? Cameras are stationed all over the place. Anything and everything can be reviewed, and thus should be reviewed.

If the general objective in using replay is to get the calls right, it should be used for every call. Judgment calls and non-judgment calls. Field goals and first downs. Every call.

Expanding the rule on a piecemeal basis when a situation arises that exposes the folly of not including a given exception within the scope of the rule doesn't suffice. The owners should apply the foresight necessary to identify the situations in which the unavailability of replay could cause problems before the problems arise. That way, they can spend time at league meetings looking forward, not backward.

And the easiest way to get there is to resolve immediately to allow coaches to challenge each and every call that's made.

2. Embrace technology

Along these same lines, the owners should actively look for ways to take full advantage of modern technology, improving the ability to get things right before a high-profile bad call creates a national brouhaha.

Super Bowl XL triggered an outcry regarding perceived officiating blunders, with one of the most contentious questions being whether Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger broke the plane of the end zone with the football for his touchdown in the second quarter. But why not put cameras in the pylons or electric sensors in the balls to help assess whether the pigskin pierced the plane?

Technology exists to help officials far more than the NFL currently uses it for. Technology therefore should be fully embraced.

3. Change the overtime rules

Eventually, it will happen. Sooner or later, a team in a conference title game or the Super Bowl will win the toss at the outset of overtime, elect to receive (as the Detroit Lions once proved, that's not always an automatic decision), drive down the field, and kick a field goal to win the game before the other team even gets the ball. And when it happens, the media and the fans (of every team but the one that won the game) will clamor for change.

So why not avoid the inevitable firestorm by fixing the problem now? We've heard many proposals over the years, but the one we like best would give the team that didn't receive the opening kick a chance to match or exceed any points scored by the opponent on the opening drive. If the game remains tied after each team has a crack at the ball, the next team to score wins.

Such a rule is fair. And it might even prompt teams to choose to kick to start the extra session. Teams other than the Lions, that is.

4. Adopt a rookie wage scale

Since the owners apparently are inclined to consider rules that seem to be barred by the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (such as the proposal to limit hair length), why not take up something that really matters? Specifically, why not take up the issue of whether rookies will continue to earn windfalls so ridiculous that bad teams no longer derive a benefit from getting the first crack at the incoming pool of players?

The time has come to reel in the money paid to the players taken at the top of the draft. And while most league observers presume that the change will come only through the collective bargaining process, why not force the issue? At a minimum, the league will win the P.R. battle.

5. Expand game-day rosters

The owners will consider the possibility of adding bodies to offseason rosters in order to account for the fact that NFL Europa roster exemptions no longer apply, primarily because there is no longer an NFL Europa.

But such a change would really have no relevance come September, when each team continues to have only 53 players on the active roster. Of them, only 45 are allowed to dress on game day.

And that's the area owners should address. With only 45 men in uniform at kickoff, players not familiar with hazardous activities like kick coverage and kick returns will end up on the field. That's because a team often concludes that it is more important to activate a backup guard than it is to use the guy who is comfortable with the physics of blocking and being blocked during the high-impact phase of the game in which multiple players suffered broken necks bones in 2007.

It won't be much more expensive to expand the game-day rosters; there already are eight guys being paid their full salaries but not available to play in games. Let the 53 men dress, and guys who aren't comfortable playing special teams won't have to.

6. Share revenues

Discussion of revenue sharing is certain to provoke the sawing of logs by football fans everywhere. But it's an important issue that could cause far more damage to the sport than the casual observer might realize.

As some of the teams enjoy increasingly greater revenues and some don't, the disparity threatens to disrupt the league's competitive balance, spawning a handful of teams that can attract the best players and best coaches -- if not through salary but through the quality of facilities and the availability of other bells and whistles that less-rich franchises can't afford.

Eventually, there will be two classes of franchises. And the worst-case scenario ultimately could be two separate leagues - one in which the teams share everything, and one in which it's every man for himself.

The NFL can avoid such troubles only by truly sharing all revenues. More accurately, the teams should share profits. Strangely, this subject is always discussed in terms of revenues and not profits. The Cincinnati Bengals are among the lowest in the league revenues, but are one of the most profitable. It's a complex issue, and the owners need to devise a long-term solution in order to secure the long-term viability of the sport.

7. Cheaters shouldn't prosper

As the powers-that-be profess a desire to implement rules aimed at preserving the integrity of the game, the best way to do so is to fashion stiff penalties for teams that cheat - and to have a genuine commitment to catching and punishing those who think that they're smart enough to get away with it.

The past seven months have featured two instances of documented cheating. The New England Patriots were caught videotaping defensive coaching signals, and the San Francisco 49ers recently were nailed for tampering with Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs. But many league observers and insiders believe that other teams have engaged in similar conduct, without consequence.

To fix the problem of cheating, the league needs to do more than identify a periodic sacrificial lamb. Though an aggressive effort to bust all cheaters could make the sport look bad via the public airing of far more dirty laundry than anyone knew existed, similar concerns haven't stopped Commissioner Roger Goodell from taking action against players who can't comply with the rules of the sport or the laws of the land.

So will teams be held to a similar standard? Unless they are, the problem of cheating will continue to exist.
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Owners Should Be Proactive When Mulling Rule Changes

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