New NFL Rules

Four new rules are to be enforced this year in the NFL, briefly they are:

Defensive players may not deliver a “forcible blow” to a quarterback in the knee or below unless they are blocked into him or the passer has left the pocket.

Down-by-contact plays will be subject to instant replay review. If the referee can determine the ball was fumbled before the ball carrier was down and the defense recovered it, then the defense will be awarded the ball at the spot of the recovery.

The time allotted for a referee to conduct a replay review has been cut from 90 seconds to 60.

The horse-collar rule has been toughened. Tacklers are banned from taking down ball carriers from the rear by tugging inside their jerseys.

The first one will be interesting to see how it enforced since it seems to leave some subjectivity and early rumour is that if a defender makes a borderline tackle just below the waist would call for the penalty. It seems as if the NFL will no longer allow tackling of the Quarterback...not sure how that helps the game.

I do like the review of the down by contact rule. How many times was their a potential fumble but because the ball carrier was 'down by contact' the play was not reviewable. And shortening the review time, I think, is also good. If a play can not be properly viewed and reviewed in 1 minute, it should remain 'as is'. But to insure that the proper call is made, I think those in the review booth should have already seen and filtered replays and have a 'preliminary informed' decision on the play that they could then relay that information to the reviewing referee. I think that would accelerate the reveiw process.

And early this week the NFL unvieled new uniforms for the referees. I have yet to see them on television, but from the photo to the left, I guess as of right now I am indifferent about them...

The Chargers first preseason game is August 12th against the Green Bay Packers.