Owners mull rule changes for upcoming season
NEW YORK >> NFL owners will consider proposals next week to cut regular-season overtime from 15 minutes to 10; eliminate players leaping over the line on kick plays; and expansion of coaches’ challenges and what can be reviewed by officials.
In what promises to be a busy annual meeting next week in Phoenix that will include discussing the Raiders’ potential relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas, the 32 owners also will vote on changing the mechanics on replay reviews and other items intended to reduce downtime during games.
The Eagles proposed four rules changes, including abolishing the leaping techniques that league football operations director Troy Vincent said Thursday “don’t belong in the game.”
Seattle and Buffalo co-authored a proposal allowing a coach to challenge any officiating decision, whether a foul is called or not. Also proposed: • As Commissioner Roger Goodell outlined Wednesday, owners will consider having all replay decisions made by the officiating staff at league headquarters in New York, in consultation with the game’s referee. The ref would no longer go “under the hood” to view replay, instead being provided a Microsoft tablet on the sideline to look at the play. It will take at least 24 yes votes to pass.
• Definitions of a defenseless player will be extended to a receiver running a route, whether he is looking back for the ball or not, if he is hit in the neck or head area. That will be true even within the legal 5-yard chuck zone at the line of scrimmage.
• A 40-second play clock willbeinuseforextrapointsif TV coverage has not gone to a break. Halftime length will become more standardized at 13 minutes, 30 seconds from the endofthefirsthalftothekickoff for the second half.
• Referees will be allowed to make replay announcements during TV breaks and not wait for the network to return to its coverage.