NFL rule changes are knee-jerk fixes outside of one fresh idea

As the proverb goes, necessity is the mother of invention. As it pertains to NFL rule changes, that statement largely holds true. The NFL doesn’t tend to fix aspects of its product, whether because of safety or to address quality of play, unless it absolutely has to. Usually, at least in recent years, that springs from a controversial result on the field. A bad rule — or a bad application of a rule — leads to a botched finish. Because the NFL remains one of the few mainstream cultural centerpieces, flaws are amplified in a way that they might not be in other leagues. Ostensibly that would be a welcome measure of accountability, but even with fans yelling at the league, the NFL takes remarkably long to sort these things out. The effort to define a catch provides no clearer example. The league spent at least half a decade making the process riddled with more and more complexity before finally realizing, actually, perhaps simplification was called for. This year’s crop of proposed tweaks and outright changes is

from Yardbarker: NFL https://ift.tt/2HIMcbx