Seahawks Training Camp Report: Rules Discussion
by John Morgan on Aug 1, 2008 5:02 PM PDT
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PrintNot a lot of info to discuss from the PM practice. Depth and/or catch-lightning-in-a-bottle defensive linemen Larry Tripplett and Chris Cooper are both banged up. As I just stated, teams sign players like Trip and Coop for two reasons: To improve internal replacement level, i.e. improve depth; and to increase the chance that one player, for whatever reason, breaks out. It happens, and it's always good to have talent around just in case someone "figures it out".
The other news of note is that Reggie Hodges is doing a fine job of playing himself into a job on another team.
PLAYER OF THE DAY
Reggie Hodges. The free-agent punter is pulling double duty while Ryan Plackemeier completes his rehab from surgery to repair a torn pectoral. In addition to punting, Hodges also is holding for the field goals and PATs – a definite plus, since the other option with Plackemeier out would have been quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.But this afternoon, Hodges' primary task was punting – and he launched one boomer after another.
There's no real reason Ryan Plackemeier shouldn't be able to recover and regain punting duties, but a performance like this should help Hodges get consideration from other teams.
Since news is light, I thought this would be a good time to discuss some of the rule changes. Specifically the rule eliminating force outs. Is it a good rule because it eliminates ambiguity? Or is it a bad rule that allows defenders to bully receivers around the sidelines? I'm not sure how I feel just yet and wanted to see if anyone had a stronger, clearer opinion on the matter.
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Rules
I don’t mind the force-out change. I liked the force-out rule in principle, but it was unenforceable. I also like to see a rule change that favors the defense for once. I do sort of mind loosing the 5-yard facemask. I think that is a pretty big safety issue to stay away from the facemask, and I liked that officials could hand out a minor penalty for borderline behavior, as a warning. I worry now that some facemasks will go uncalled, and others will get 15 yard penalties, when they deserved 5s in both cases.
I’m more concerned about rule enforcement. Do you guys remember last year in the first few rounds of the playoffs, when all the officials seemed to get together and decided to stop calling as many holding and PI penalties and just let guys play more? It was commented on by many announcers and pundits. I don’t think I like the idea that officials are changing enforcement policies based on the situation, and I certainly would have liked to see some the holds and PIs that Green Bay committed in the divisional playoff game that went uncalled get flags. As a more “finesse” team who doesn’t commit penalties anyways, Seattle was really hurt by that policy, I think, and the NFL officials at least owe the public an explanation if they actually made a league-wide decision to cool it with the penalties and let players play and why, or if the routine penalties going uncalled had some other explanation.
I've thought the same thing on many occasions!
Why risk Matt getting hurt (although slight) at all on a hold. And we all know how great Seneca’s hands are… oh, that and if the play is broken he could run it in no problem. I thought this is exactly where a scrambling QB was brought in anyway! I mean, it’s absolutely a perfect niche for him. Catch it, place it… oops trouble, hmmm, guess he’ll just have to run it or throw it. Too bad he’s just a punter and not a QB… oh wait that’s right… HE IS!!!!
And anyway, aside from all this poignant rambling, it ALWAYS works on Madden. Need I say more? There, if it’s in the game, it’s in the game… and he should be in the game at this time!
Does this mean I have to like Diogu now???
force out
once d-backs figure it out that rule change is going to force offenses to stay away from the sidelines more. a fade into the corner of the end zone isn’t going to be very effective if the defender can just forget the ball and throw the receiver out of bounds. what are they going to do if the defender just catches the receiver and piggybacks him to the sideline? it’s going to be weird.
They've accounted for that
Apparently, if the defender physically carries the receiver out of bounds without giving him a chance to touch the ground, that is still a catch. The part of the rule they got rid of was just pushing the receiver out.
In all honesty, how much of a difference will the rule change make? How many force-outs were called? I probably watched close to 30 games last season, and I can only remember seeing a handful of force-outs called – 4 or 5 or something like that.
As a follow up...
how does everyone think this will effect two minutes offense and last minute comebacks?
Really good points UW Alex
I’m not saying we would have beaten the Pack, but the zebra’s new-found sense of leniency really hurt us.I was surprised they got rid of the force-out rule. The most obvious answer to John question is that it will negatively affect two-minute drills and last ditch comebacks. However, it is good to see a rule change favour the defence and if offences prepare in new and innovative ways we could see a new dimension of two-minute offence
Forec outs
I approach this problem from a different angle than most I think. For me, the practical effects of if the rule benefits the offense or the defense are secondary and the real issue comes from how it effects the integrity of the game.
The force-out rule upsets the the essential point of competition between the DB and the WR. At its most basic level, you have two guys competing in a game of balance, speed, reactions and leaping ability trying to get at a ball literally being thrown up for grabs. Now along a significant portion of the field, the DB does not really have to compete in this contest and just needs to stay close enough to push the WR out. Fades are all but gone from the game this way.
I agree that the league has gone a long ways towards making the DB’s job more difficult the past few years, but this is a misstep in my opinion.
I agree that the no-forceout rule probably benefits offenses
but I think it just makes sense from a Football standpoint. If a defender makes a legal play at the offensive player, he should be allowed to knock him out of bounds in the course of making that play. The rule was too subjective the way it was before. Also:
...the force-out rule… if a player does not get his feet down and is forced out of bounds it is now an incomplete pass. The caveat to that is if he is clearly going to come down but a player carries him out. The force-out happens far less often than you would guess, the referee who sat with us, Pete Morelli, saying about 14 times last season.
So. they can still call a forceout if I guy is going straight up inbounds and his momentum clearly would have brought him down in bounds. I don’t think passing games will be any different from the rule change. Some of the other changes may have more of an effect:
There are no 5-yard facemasks anymore. Only 15-yard intentional facemask penalties.A direct snap from center to QB that is not touched is now a live ball. It used to be dead if it was not touched.
All muffed handoffs are now live balls.
An offensive player (Marion Barber) can no longer grab a defensive player’s facemask or it is a 15-yard penalty.
Defensive players can now wear speakers in their helmets.
No incidental facemask helps offense. Muffed snaps/handoffs being whistled dead almost never happened that I can recall. It will be interesting to see how much offensive facemask penalties are called—hardly ever would be my guess.
As for the defensive “QB helmet”, it remains to be seen how that will play out. Neither Lofa nor Russell want to wear it, so apparently Deon Grant will have it. That doesn’t make much sense to me and I think they should just tell Lofa that he’s wearing it, then have Marshall stay quiet most the time. If Grant wears it, maybe it would be Mora talking to him in the earpiece.
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