Fansided

NFL rules committee to discuss football size, ‘Calvin Johnson rule’ & replay expansion

By Will Osgood

Aug 23, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher talks to side judge Tom Hill (97) against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 23, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher talks to side judge Tom Hill (97) against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The NFL rules committee will have quite an agenda this offseason when it meets. 

When Jeff Fisher and the rest of the NFL rules committee meets this spring at the NFL Owner’s Meetings, they will have much to discuss, more in fact than normal.

More from NFL

In addition to ‘Deflate-gate’, the Dez Bryant catch in the NFC Divisional round was a controversial play in this year’s playoffs which has reopened the conversation about redefining the “act of a catch”. Additionally, defining just what makes for a “defenseless player” in regards to hitting them and replay in general will be reviewed.

“There are a number of proposals this year, probably the largest number I’ve seen with respect to instant replay”, Fisher said when asked Friday at the NFL Combine.

Fisher does not want to see instant replay increased so that penalties can be reviewed, but that discussion will take place when the committee convenes.

So too will pushing back extra point attempts to 35 yards, as was done in the 2014 preseason’s first two games as well as this year’s Pro Bowl. That, too, is a measure Fisher does not favor.

“I don’t want to kick a 19-yard field goal to win a game and then miss a 35-yard extra point attempt in Green Bay when it’s 20 degrees.”

But it will be the football inflation size and “Calvin Johnson rule” which will be the most notable items up for discussion.

The New England Patriots apparently got away with deflating footballs in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts in January, and were reported to the NFL by the Colts. There currently is a range of pressure which game-used footballs are supposed to land in, but the reality is that the league does not watch these things very closely.

That seems to be a thing of the past. With the Patriots’ ‘deflategate’ controversy, the league will now be much more emphatic about checking each and every football that is used within a game. Exactly what that procedure looks like will be decided by the committee in April.

So too will the possible redefining of what makes a catch when a player goes to the ground. Most football analysts believe that based on the game itself, Dez Bryant’s fourth down catch in the playoffs should have remained a catch.

But based upon the current rule book, rules experts such as Fox Sports’ Mike Pereira agreed the catch had to be overturned. The rules could change this offseason as well.

More from FanSided

Home/NFL