CFL coaches lose illegal contact challenge
Fans’ input inspires rules committee to recommend changes
The fans spoke and the CFL rules committee listened. One of the most controversial penalties of the last few seasons in the CFL will no longer be eligible to be enforced after challenges by coaches.
The rules committee announced a recommendation Thursday to change the way illegal contact on a receiver is called.
While coaches sometimes used illegal contact as a “fishing expedition” to take away big plays like interceptions or third-down defensive stops — even if they had nothing to do with the infraction — that will no longer be possible. The rules committee believed the simplest way to fix the situation was for the penalty to no longer be subject to coaches’ challenges.
“We got lots of feedback from fans — and this is part of putting the fans first in this process — and they didn’t like that challenge,” CFL senior director of officiating Darren Hackwood said. “They thought it was delaying the game for calls that we should be making on the field in some situations.”
While this may appease the fans, it will also make it more difficult for officials to enforce illegal contact and may give some defensive backs a green light to start clutching and grabbing receivers more often.
“We talked long and hard about that and basically we are going to be very tough on the officials as far as making sure they continue to call that on the field whenever it occurs,” Hackwood said. “Every week we’re going to have to be on top of them to make sure they understand the standard and that they’re calling it.”
There’s the potential that will add stress to already taxed officials, but the rules committee believes it’s important to not lighten up on the calls just because they are not subject to video review.
“It’s not that we want them to call it more,” Hackwood said. “We don’t want them to lay up on it. We think they were calling it consistently. The fear of the group was if we take it away from being challengeable, suddenly they’ ll stop calling it. That’s on us to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
The rules committee — made up of coaches, league executives, officials and representatives from the CFL Players Association — met on three consecutive days in Winnipeg during CFL Week.
The other major recommendation they will make for the board to approve (within the next few weeks) was to make potential touchdowns automatically reviewable. In the past, only scoring plays and turnovers were automatically reviewed. If a player came close to goal- line but was not ruled to have scored by the officials on the field, or was ruled out- of- bounds on a catch in the end zone, the play would not be reviewable and a coach would have to use his one challenge flag to try to get the call overturned.
“These are ones out in space — so plays around the pylon, around the goal-line that the video official and the replay official could see in the moment that we clearly got wrong,” Hackwood said. “When it should have been ruled a touchdown but the officials on the field have ruled the player down on the one-yard line.
Some other rules the committee is recommending:
Eliminate the forceout rule by requiring a receiver catching a ball to place at least one foot inbounds regardless of whether he was contacted in mid-air.
Make it illegal for any player to deliver a forcible block on an opponent while moving back toward his own goal- line, sometimes referred to as blindside blocks.
Outlaw low blocks that occur outside of the tackle box, an area that extends from tight end to tight end and from the quarterback or kicker to two yards beyond the line of scrimmage
Widen the definition of spearing to include any situation where a player delivers a blow with his helmet as the initial or primary point of contact. This does not apply to a low running ball carrier.
Eliminate a l oophole in the “sleeper” play rule by making it illegal for a player who enters the game and remains outside the numbers to receive the ball in any manner including a kick or lateral.
Simplify the rule on what constitutes a quarterback making a legal pass behind the line of scrimmage by defining it as the passer having at least one of his feet on or behind the line of scrimmage instead of requiring that the release point of the ball be behind the line of scrimmage.
Increase the penalty for pyramiding — the practice of using another player to elevate one’s self in an effort to block a kick — from five yards to 10 yards.
“We had the clear mandate from the board of governors and ( commissioner) Randy Ambrosie that the players and the fans come first and we need to look at proposals to make the game safer, impact game flow in a positive way and then clarify some situations or rules that sometimes cause us issues during the season,” Hackwood said. “I think we made some positive recommendations in all three of those areas.”