Every year the National Football League (NFL) owners meet to discuss and vote on new rules that could help improve the game.  Rule improvements from the past include protecting a receiver from being hit after running five yards down field and allowing a team to have one defensive player on the field with a radio, just as one offensive player of a team is allowed one.  Those improvements, along with many others in the past, have helped NFL football develop into a better and safer game.   This year the NFL has implemented some controversial rule changes that actually go against the very goal of the game itself.

I do not need to explain the specifics of football: one team is on offense and tries to put the ball into the endzone, while the other team is on defense and tries to prevent the team on offense from scoring.  This is a simple fact that John Madden, somewhat famous for stating the obvious, would straightforwardly say.  So the defensive player wants to get to the quarterback at any cost in order to prevent him from advancing the ball.  That simple fact was in the mind of Kansas City Chief safety Bernard Pollard when he went to tackle New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on the opening weekend of the NFL last year.  Pollard was knocked to the ground, but reached for Brady at the last second, resulting in Brady being injured for the whole season.  Now Bernard Pollard will be hit with a 15 yard penalty if he performs the same action next season.

Also new in the rule book, if the kicking team has more than five players bunched together pursuing an onside kick, it will be a five yard penalty.  Kickoff wedges are now limited to only two players, a 15 yard penalty being the consequence if the rule is broken.  The initial force of a blindside block now cannot be delivered by a helmet, forearm or shoulder to an opponent’s head or neck or a 15 yard penalty will ensue against the guilty player.  Simply put, any rough collisions are going to be eliminated in a game that focuses on blocking and tackling.  

However, although it seems I am in opposition to every change, I am not completely against every newly instated rule.  Team owners have passed rules that help the referees on the field get the call right.   Plays in where it is not clear if the quarterback threw an incomplete pass or fumbled the ball will now be able to be reviewed.  Some famous plays that this rule immediately calls to mind are the 2001-2002 Oakland Raiders/New England Patriots Divisional playoff game where Brady’s fumble was ruled an incomplete pass, later leading to a Patriots victory, and more recently the San Diego Chargers/Denver Broncos game where quarterback Jay Cutler’s fumble being ruled an incomplete pass.  Cutler seconds later threw a touchdown pass and Denver’s two point conversion was successful en route to a Denver victory.

Every sport needs to tweak their rules in order to make the sport better, but the way the NFL has blatantly protected offensive players from any sort of physical contact from a defensive player is just incredible.  I understand that the rules help to protect players from major injuries such as Brady’s, but taking these certain plays in football takes away from the game.  Football is not football without hard, physical contact and two players competing against each other.