Lack of kickoffs among changes
♦ The Atlanta Legends will play in Orlando as part of the upstart league’s opening day Saturday.
:KHQ WKH ÀHGJOLQJ $OOLance of American Football held four H[KLELWLRQ JDPHV UHFHQWO\ LQ 6DQ $QWRQLR something was missing. Kickoffs.
“We were all looking around saying, ‘Does anyone miss kickoffs?’ The answer was, no, we did not miss them,” said Mike Pereira, the NFL’s former vice president RI RI¿FLDWLQJ DQG D FRQVXOWDQW IRU WKH latest attempt at a spring league.
So, yes, when the eight-team AAF kicks off this weekend, there will be no kickoffs as a nod to player safety and one of many twists to make games faster.
There will be plenty of other differences between the NFL and the AAF, which was founded by Bill Polian, a Hall of Famer and former NFL general manager, DQG &KDUOLH (EHUVRO D ORQJWLPH 79 DQG ¿OP SURGXFHU
Among them will be a ninth member RI WKH RI¿FLDWLQJ FUHZ FDOOHG D 6N\-XGJH ZKR ZLOO EH LQ WKH SUHVV ER[ DQG FDQ instantly correct “obvious and egregious” RI¿FLDWLQJ HUURUV OLNH WKH RQH WKDW PDUUHG the NFC championship game. Overtime will be different, too.
The AAF opens Saturday with the San Diego Fleet visiting the San Antonio Commanders and the Atlanta Legends at the Orlando Apollos. Games continue 6XQGD\ ZLWK WKH 0HPSKLV ([SUHVV YLVLWing the Birmingham Iron and the Salt Lake Stallions at the Arizona Hotshots.
Those games will start without kickoffs. There will still be a coin toss, with the winner deciding whether to receive or defer. The team that gets the ball will simply send out its offense to start from its 25.
³7KH SOD\HUV JRW XVHG WR LW YHU\ TXLFNO\ ´ Pereira said in a phone interview from his home in Sacramento. “It’s a bit of a timesaver. Our goal is to play in 2½ hours.”
Perhaps the most timely change is the SkyJudge, who is able to use realtime technology to correct clear errors involving player safety anytime during a game and pass interference inside of ¿YH PLQXWHV OHIW LQ WKH IRXUWK TXDUWHU
The SkyJudge was already in place before the non-call late in the NFC championship game that pretty much cost New Orleans a spot in the Super %RZO 1)/ RI¿FLDWLQJ FKLHI $O 5LYHURQ called Saints coach Sean Payton after the JDPH DQG DGPLWWHG WKH JDPH RI¿FLDOV missed the helmet-to-helmet hit and pass interference penalty by Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman.
Pereira said it was modeled in part after the college targeting rule, which allows replay to step in and call targeting HYHQ LI ZDV QRW FDOOHG RQ ¿HOG RU WDNH it off if was called but wasn’t not really targeting.
“If you get a helmet-to-helmet spear DQG LW¶V QRW FDOOHG RQ WKH ¿HOG LW FDQ EH SLFNHG XS E\ WKH QLQWK RI¿FLDO ´ 3HUHLUD said. “He has the ability to do it in real time. It doesn’t go to replay . ... He can FDOO GRZQ WR WKH ¿HOG DQG VD\ µ+H\ spearing on No. 33 of Birmingham, 15-yard penalty, let’s go.’
³,W¶V FRUUHFWLQJ HUURUV RQ WKH ¿HOG E\ DQRWKHU PHPEHU RI WKH RI¿FLDWLQJ FUHZ without having to go to replay to do it and having a three-minute stoppage to do it.”
,I WKH 6N\-XGJH JHWV D TXLFN UHSOD\ KH could view it before the ball is snapped. 7KH\ MXVW FDQ¶W GHOD\ WKH QH[W VQDS