CFL RULE CHANGES HAVE PLAYERS ON DEFENSIVE.

The CFL’s new rule changes are designed to increase offence, but some defensive players are wondering if the league has gone too far.

“I don’t mind if our offence is scoring a lot,” joked Calgary Stampeders defensive back Keon Raymond during a break at the Playground to Pros football camp in Saskatoon before becoming more serious.

“When you start to take the defence out of the game it’s tough. Fans enjoy a big hit. They enjoy crucial stops in a game. If it’s always 60-to-something, you’re talking about Arena Football (League) then. You don’t want that. It will kill the integrity of the game.”

The CFL’s board of governors passed a handful of rule alterations Wednesday designed to open up the game.

Perhaps the most prominent among them is a defensive player cannot “create or initiate contact that impedes or redirects an opponent beyond five yards” of the line of scrimmage.

Regina Leader-Post columnist Rob Vanstone reported teams combined for an average of 45.7 points per game last season, a 13 per cent decrease from 2013 (52.4 ppg). He also noted scoring on offence dropped at a more pronounced rate — going from 48.7 to 37.7 ppg — as per the CFL’s head statistician, Steve Daniel.

“They’re trying their best to speed it up,” Raymond said. “Some instances they’re putting handcuffs on (us), me being a defensive back. It’s already an offensive game, even with the pass-interference rule, the five yards.

“But they’re trying their best and that’s their job to make the game more entertaining.”

The new rules extend to special teams.

The five interior linemen on the kicking team are now prohibited from leaving the line of scrimmage until the ball is kicked. Failure to do so results in a 10-yard penalty.

“Just looking at them on paper, there’s some that I disagree with,” Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive back Graig Newman said.

“That whole punt rule thing, that goes against my whole game. But I think I’ll be able to adjust to it just fine. I’ll just have to deal with it.”

However, Raymond and Newman are intrigued by one set of changes.

Distances for converts have been changed. For single points, the ball will now by kicked from the 32-yardline rather than the 12.

League statistics showed 99.4 per cent of kicks for a single point were made last season. For field goal attempts from between 31 and 33 yards, the success rate was 81 per cent.

Two-point attempts will also be moved in to the threeyard line from the five.

“If you have a bad field goal kicker, why not go for two (points)?” Raymond said. “There will probably be more two-point conversions. If you’re on the three-yard line, I’ll go for two. You’ve got 20 yards of end zone.”

“They’re really trying to promote it as an offensive league,” Newman said. “This is just another way to do that — score some more points and give the fans something to cheer about rather than an extra point, which is kind of a lacklustre play.”