BigDickSeymour
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Illegal contact rule is drawing scrutiny
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/28/2004
The NFL's competition committee met in late February in Indianapolis and for nine days in Naples, Fla., this month and discussed a wide range of issues and potential rules changes.
It's all done in preparation for the NFL owners meetings this week in Palm Beach, Fla. One of the most interesting things to come out of those sessions is that illegal contact on passing plays will be a point of emphasis by officials this season.
What this means, in theory, is that illegal contact will be more closely called and the rule more strictly interpreted. When NFL officiating crews make their usual rounds in training camp this summer, they will explain to coaches and players what is and what is not permissible. According to Atlanta general manager Rick McKay, it probably means there will be more penalties for illegal contact called early in the season.
By league rule, only incidental contact is allowed once the receiver is more than 5 yards down the field. The committee, in a report it will make to league owners Monday, has determined that enforcement has not been consistent with the intent of the rule. In other words, defensive backs and linebackers have been mauling receivers.
When coach Mike Martz raised this issue after the Rams' Super Bowl loss to New England, it was perceived by some as the whining of a losing coach - a maverick losing coach, at that. But when the Patriots mugged Indianapolis receivers in the AFC title game last season, Colts coach Tony Dungy made the same complaints.
Dungy is chairman of the coaches subcommittee of the competition committee. He received an ally on the topic this offseason when Martz was added to the subcommittee.
Surely, Martz made a point or two about illegal contact during those meetings in Indy and Naples, right?
"No comment," Martz said, tongue in cheek.
Obviously, Martz is very much in favor of any move to crack down on illegal contact. For years, he's been watching Isaac Bruce getting his jersey grabbed, or Marshall Faulk get bear-hugged by linebackers.
"I think it's very important," Martz said. "I think the game has been defined differently in the past few years in terms of what you're allowed to do in the secondary, than what it was prior to that."
There appears to be sufficient league-wide sentiment in that regard. Particularly since passing yards per game declined to 200.4 yards per team in 2003, the lowest level in 11 years.
Martz is a nonvoting member of the committee, but he is very much in favor of proposals to install the current instant replay system on a permanent basis and to make choreographed end zone celebrations subject to a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"Any way we can get instant replay on a permanent basis, I'm all for it," Martz said. "Now, if we want to tweak it just a little bit as the years go by, I think that's fine.
"But I think it's been refined enough to the point where we all understand it. It's become just a part of the game at this point. It's been very, very helpful in terms of correcting some of the things that may have gone uncorrected" before.
As for choreographed celebrations, Martz said, "Any celebration designed for anything other than just the emotion of the moment is wrong. I understand why people did not like the (the Rams') Bob 'n Weave, because it was deemed to be kind of an in-your-face deal. It certainly was never meant that way by the guys doing it.
"But I just feel like a player has to understand that once he gets in the end zone, there's 10 other guys that helped get him there. And to bring attention to yourself is somehow inherently wrong. That's how I feel about it.
"Now if a guy wants to do a Lambeau Leap, I could care less. But to stand there, and go through the gyrations, and pull the pen out, and pull the sign out, somehow it's not right. ... You've got to keep the integrity of the game."
I will save you all from my tyrate...for now but all I can think of is...
Source.
Edit: fixed link
By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/28/2004
The NFL's competition committee met in late February in Indianapolis and for nine days in Naples, Fla., this month and discussed a wide range of issues and potential rules changes.
It's all done in preparation for the NFL owners meetings this week in Palm Beach, Fla. One of the most interesting things to come out of those sessions is that illegal contact on passing plays will be a point of emphasis by officials this season.
What this means, in theory, is that illegal contact will be more closely called and the rule more strictly interpreted. When NFL officiating crews make their usual rounds in training camp this summer, they will explain to coaches and players what is and what is not permissible. According to Atlanta general manager Rick McKay, it probably means there will be more penalties for illegal contact called early in the season.
By league rule, only incidental contact is allowed once the receiver is more than 5 yards down the field. The committee, in a report it will make to league owners Monday, has determined that enforcement has not been consistent with the intent of the rule. In other words, defensive backs and linebackers have been mauling receivers.
When coach Mike Martz raised this issue after the Rams' Super Bowl loss to New England, it was perceived by some as the whining of a losing coach - a maverick losing coach, at that. But when the Patriots mugged Indianapolis receivers in the AFC title game last season, Colts coach Tony Dungy made the same complaints.
Dungy is chairman of the coaches subcommittee of the competition committee. He received an ally on the topic this offseason when Martz was added to the subcommittee.
Surely, Martz made a point or two about illegal contact during those meetings in Indy and Naples, right?
"No comment," Martz said, tongue in cheek.
Obviously, Martz is very much in favor of any move to crack down on illegal contact. For years, he's been watching Isaac Bruce getting his jersey grabbed, or Marshall Faulk get bear-hugged by linebackers.
"I think it's very important," Martz said. "I think the game has been defined differently in the past few years in terms of what you're allowed to do in the secondary, than what it was prior to that."
There appears to be sufficient league-wide sentiment in that regard. Particularly since passing yards per game declined to 200.4 yards per team in 2003, the lowest level in 11 years.
Martz is a nonvoting member of the committee, but he is very much in favor of proposals to install the current instant replay system on a permanent basis and to make choreographed end zone celebrations subject to a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"Any way we can get instant replay on a permanent basis, I'm all for it," Martz said. "Now, if we want to tweak it just a little bit as the years go by, I think that's fine.
"But I think it's been refined enough to the point where we all understand it. It's become just a part of the game at this point. It's been very, very helpful in terms of correcting some of the things that may have gone uncorrected" before.
As for choreographed celebrations, Martz said, "Any celebration designed for anything other than just the emotion of the moment is wrong. I understand why people did not like the (the Rams') Bob 'n Weave, because it was deemed to be kind of an in-your-face deal. It certainly was never meant that way by the guys doing it.
"But I just feel like a player has to understand that once he gets in the end zone, there's 10 other guys that helped get him there. And to bring attention to yourself is somehow inherently wrong. That's how I feel about it.
"Now if a guy wants to do a Lambeau Leap, I could care less. But to stand there, and go through the gyrations, and pull the pen out, and pull the sign out, somehow it's not right. ... You've got to keep the integrity of the game."
I will save you all from my tyrate...for now but all I can think of is...
Source.
Edit: fixed link
, I'm trying read between the lines here and what I see are coaches of the two teams that rely on finesse the most. Martz cant coach any other way and Dungy... well you gotta play to your strengths I guess.
