Eight is enough rule changes for NFL owners

PHOENIX • NFL owners on Tuesday followed the competition committee’s advice almost exclusively in approving eight new playing rules for 2017.

Probably the most impactful is switching ultimate decision-making responsibility on replay reviews from the in-game referee to the league’s central review operation in New York City.

Referees will still be consulted on each coach’s challenge or review, now via the use of a hand-held tablet rather than via a TV screen under a hood, farther off the field.

The move is intended to bring more consistency to controversial plays, such as what constitutes a catch.

The lone rule passed of the seven proposed by clubs, either individually or jointly, was Philadelphia’s to prohibit the “leaper” blocker of place-kicks. That is, the uber-athletic defender who tries to perfectly time a leap over the long snapper and into the backfield to block a field goal or PAT attempt.

The committee proposed the other six rules passed by owners on the last full day of the league’s annual meeting at a posh resort hotel:

• Making permanent last year’s experimental rule to eject a player after picking up his second unsportsmanlike-conduct foul;

• Experimenting for one more season last year’s rule to bring the ball out to the 25-yard line following touchbacks;

• Giving wide receivers defenceless-player protection while running pass routes;

• Prohibiting crack-back blocks by a backfield player in motion;

• Making it illegal for a team to commit multiple fouls during the same down in a designed attempt to manipulate the game clock;

• Making actions to conserve time illegal after the two-minute warning of either half.