NFL to use narrower goal posts at Pro Bowl
By Phil Naegely
For the Pro Bowl, the goal posts will be narrowed a total of four feet.
The NFL is at it again when it comes to experimenting with rule changes. Some rule changes are a breath of fresh air and other changes have just been foolish. This time the league has elected for narrower goal posts to be used at the 2015 Pro Bowl.
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This news comes after the league experimented with moving back the extra point to 33-yard attempts during the preseason. For the Pro Bowl, the goal posts will be narrowed four feet, from 18 feet to 14 feet. The league shouldn’t explore this issue further and change it for meaningful games. The width of the goal posts changing is a novel idea for the Pro Bowl. Also, teams will have two timeouts per quarter instead of three per half. If there is an unused timeout from the first or third quarter, it will carry over to the second or fourth quarter, respectively.
It appears the league is trying to make the Pro Bowl more interesting and get the fans more interested. Their first move on this front was to move the Pro Bowl from the week after the Super Bowl to the week before. This also included the league’s decision last year to have possession to change after the first and third quarters.
Decisions made for the Pro Bowl should not carry over to meaningful games. The width of the goal posts or the extra point attempt as a whole is the last thing the league should be concerned about. There are bigger and more worthwhile rules changes that need to occur. One of those discussions is the Dez Bryant catch/no catch and changing that rule as soon as possible. Likewise, the NFL should be focused fully on the New England Patriots and DeflateGate after 11 of the 12 balls were reportedly declared under-inflated.
For the Pro Bowl, narrower goal posts is worth having. It will make it harder for the kickers and the chance of missing an extra point or a field goal will be greater. If the league really wants to make extra points and field goals challenging, then they should take after the Arena Football League. Their goal posts are more narrow and give kickers a real challenge even on extra points. It would make extra points not a given point anymore.
It will be interesting to see what the league’s intentions are for narrowing the goals posts at the Pro Bowl. Will it just be for the Pro Bowl or is it something that is on the horizon to change for the 2015 season.
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