NFL owners approved a series of new rules on Wednesday, including one that will increase the influence of replay officials amid ongoing demands from coaches for greater oversight of game-day officials.
Owners turned down more robust proposals for a full-time air judge, including one of the Baltimore Ravens who would have created a stand umpire. Instead, owners took the more humble step of giving the existing replay official – who sits in each stadium’s press box – the authority to consult referees on certain “ specific, objective aspects of a play when clear and obvious. landscape video evidence. present ‘, according to the language of the rule.
Replay officials cannot throw flags or reverse calls themselves. But they can now advise referees based on what they have seen during replays of possession, passed or intercepted passes, the location of the ball in relation to the boundary or end line, and whether a player has been knocked out by contact . Coaches don’t have to throw challenge flags to ask for that advice that some referees have been informally giving for years.
In other news on Wednesday’s votes, NFL owners:
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Adoption of a relaxation of the rules on the numbers that players of certain positions can wear due to extended practice teams. Running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, defensive backs, and linebackers can all carry numbers in the single digits if they so choose. Based on pre-existing NFL rules, players who want to change their numbers this season will have to buy up inventory from the NFL’s production partners. This would not apply to players who indicate in 2021 that they want to change numbers in 2022.
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Approved a one-year experiment in an effort to make recovering our side kicks easier. In 2021, the receiving team will be limited to nine players within 25 meters of the ball at kick-off. Last season, NFL teams recovered just three of the 67 onside kicks, the lowest total and recovery rate since at least 2001.
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Eliminated overtime in preseason matches.
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Changed rule that now enforces a down loss if two passes are completed behind the scrimmage.
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A rule change that ensures that all accepted penalties are enforced on consecutive try attempts, defined as an opportunity for a team to score one or two extra points in one scrimmage.