At their winter conferences this week, the NFL has introduced a sequence of recent guidelines that may change sure facets of the sport beginning this season.
And sure, these adjustments will have an effect on your Philadelphia Eagles.
Kickoff Change
The change that informal followers will discover instantly is a brand new kickoff, designed to get rid of the overabundance of touchbacks whereas on the identical time mitigating damage considerations. It’s among the many most vital adjustments to the fundamental play of the sport the league has ever seen.
The brand new rule will see the ball kicked from a workforce’s 35-yard line. By rule, 10 gamers on the kicking workforce and not less than 9 on the receiving workforce will line up simply 5 yards other than each other, however nobody could run till one of many two kick returners catch the ball. If a ball is kicked into the tip zone for a touchback, the ball might be positioned on the receiving workforce’s 30 yard line. If the ball is kicked between the 20 yard line and the aim line, the returners should discipline the ball and return it. If the ball goes out of bounds or fails to achieve the 20, will probably be positioned on the receiving workforce’s 40 yard line.
Right here’s what it might appear to be.
Final 12 months, 83.3% of kickoffs have been touchbacks, up from 65.8% in 2022, changing into a totally ineffective waste of time for everybody concerned. This rule would encourage each the kicking workforce and the receiving workforce to return kicks, bringing pleasure again into the sport whereas on the identical time limiting the sorts of collisions which have resulted in severe damage.
Of notice for Eagles followers, the workforce this low season has signed two gamers with in depth kick return expertise: Isaiah Rodgers and Parris Campbell.
The workforce additionally signed linebackers Zack Baun and Oren Burks this low season partly to bolster their particular groups, which have been a lot improved a 12 months in the past below coordinator Michael Clay. They’ll must be simply pretty much as good with the brand new kickoff rule in place in 2024.
New Replay Utilization
Instantaneous replay can now be utilized in two extra methods.
First, to find out if a quarterback was down or out of bounds earlier than throwing a go.
Second, to find out if the sport clock expired earlier than the ball was snapped.
The second rule doesn’t embody whether or not the play clock expired earlier than the ball was snapped, which appears to be an even bigger downside across the NFL.
Not delay of recreation, as a result of you must account for the official to note the play clock at 0, take a chew of his sandwich, scratch his nuts, after which look to see if the ball has been snapped earlier than throwing the flag, per rule 8, part 14, subsection iii of the NFL rulebook. pic.twitter.com/jGeh2Nd5zr
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) January 20, 2019
Why the NFL can’t be bothered to get its arms across the officers’ lackadaisical nature of adhering to the play clock is a thriller we by no means get to backside of.
The Hip Drop Deal with Banned (Kinda)
A rule that appears more likely to be controversial this 12 months, the league has mandated no extra hip-drop tackles. What are hip drop tackles? Glad you requested.
They happen when a tackler grabs a ballcarrier across the waist after which leaves the bottom with each ft to tug their full weight down on the participant. The tackler generally then lands on the again of the ballcarrier’s legs, leading to some vital accidents over the previous couple of years. League officers say one of these deal with leads to 20 occasions extra accidents than different kinds of tackles.
Nevertheless, it seems this rule is just in place for “sure” sorts of hip-drop tackles.
Wealthy McKay says hip-drop ban handed unanimously. Fascinating at all times, & particularly after PA voiced concern over extra fining.
Ban is particularly for “swivel” model of hip-drop, not all variations, which might be laborious to officiate persistently. Listed here are examples voters noticed right now: pic.twitter.com/XYWSxpQWe4
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) March 25, 2024
Yep. Clear as mud, and most gamers imagine this new rule might be practically inconceivable to precisely implement. Eagles cornerback Darius Slay isn’t a fan.
It’s about to be a variety of miss tackles
— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) March 25, 2024
Surprisingly, the Eagles’ protection solely was liable for 98 missed tackles final season, middle-of-the-pack within the NFL. However for a workforce that isn’t crammed with sturdy tacklers, this new rule may end in extra hair-pulling by Birds followers this season.
Different Adjustments
Two different guidelines of notice:
The Competitors Committee will now enable for main penalties to be assessed on the offense on performs wherein the offense turns the ball over, even when that penalty occurred earlier than the turnover. Traditionally, these sorts of penalties had been ignored by officers.
Additionally, groups will now be given a 3rd problem if both of their first two challenges are profitable. Beforehand, coaches had to achieve success in each challenges with a view to safe a 3rd.
