Football Rule of the Week 6-30-19

[HT721]

New rule books arrived yesterday so I thought today would be a good day to address the various changes to the rules this year. I will save the 40/25 second play clock change for later as I need to read it a bit to make sure I'm not wrong when discussing it. But these are the other changes for this year:

 

7-2-5-a : At the snap, at least five A players shall be on their line of scrimmage and no more than four A players may be backs.

 

(Previous rule required 7 men to be on the line of scrimmage. Change was made to make it easier for officials to determine if a formation is legal. Now Referees and Umpires on the field can determine if five players are on the line of scrimmage just by looking at the offensive line and your short wings can determine if there are four people in the backfield.)

 

9-4-3-o:No player or non player shall trip an opponent.

(tripping a ball carrier was legal in previous years, it is now illegal to trip a ball carrier. Per definitions tripping is defined in 2-45: Tripping is the intentional use of the lower leg or foot to obstruct an opponent below the knee.)

 

9-4-3-k: No player or non player shall grab the inside back or side collar, or the name plate ares (directly below the back collar), of either the shoulder pads or the jersey of the runner and subsequently pull (backwards or sideward) that opponent to the ground (horse-collar), eve if possession is lost, The horse- collar foul is enforced as a live- ball foul.

( Basically if you grab the jersey name plate area now it's a horse collar tackle)

 

9-7 and 6-2-1 penalties changed illegal kicking and batting from a 15 yard penalty to a 10 yard penalty.

 

 

8-5-2-a had an editorial clarification that stated that for the momentum exception to apply, the ball must remain in the end zone after the player's momentum causes it to enter the end zone.

[rjs4470]

For some reason I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around and understanding the first rule you mention about the LOS. How is this functionally different from the previous rule?

[HT721]

For some reason I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around and understanding the first rule you mention about the LOS. How is this functionally different from the previous rule?

 

You no longer need 2 receivers on the line to be legal and in theory could snap the ball with only 6 players on the field. I don’t ever see anyone snapping the ball with 6 players but it is legal to do so now.

 

It’s frankly just easier to count too. If a team comes out with the 5 players on the line numbered 50-79 then you know they are legal so long as there aren’t more four in the backfield.

[rjs4470]

You no longer need 2 receivers on the line to be legal and in theory could snap the ball with only 6 players on the field. I don’t ever see anyone snapping the ball with 6 players but it is legal to do so now.

 

It’s frankly just easier to count too. If a team comes out with the 5 players on the line numbered 50-79 then you know they are legal so long as there aren’t more four in the backfield.

 

This will make it ton easier for officials at the youth and middle school level where there are no real uniform numbering guidelines. It will also make getting lined up for extra point/field goal/punt formations. I think it's a good change, and really shouldn't change much of anything in terms of gameplay. I can't think of anything right off the top of my head on how offenses can take advantage of this new rule.

[Trinity alum]

If I understand the rule, it means that wideouts don't have to be on the line of scrimmage, but two receivers may be on the line of scrimmage. How wide do the off the line receivers need to be to not be considered backs?

[barrel]

The new LOS rule is either the same or very similar to the college rule. People tend to over think it. You can still only have 4 players in the backfield. So if your WR doesn’t line up on the LOS like was supposed to and you have 5 in the backfield it’s still a penalty.

 

What the rule helps with is when a player for whatever reason doesn’t go out on the field. Some is on the training table, which of personnel grouping, sudden change of possession, special teams and so on. It use to be if one of your WR/TE/Gunners didn’t go out and you ended up with six on the LOS you’d get hit with a penalty. Now as long as you have 5 (and in most cases those 5 have to have 50-79 numbering) you’re good.

 

The horse collar one is the one that drives me nuts. That rule has been changed and revised more times since it was put in than any other rule I can think of. I think it was changed three times in the first three years. It was also hit and miss on how it was interpreted and/or enforced. They keep tweaking it and there are other rules that they still haven’t clearly defined.

[barrel]

If I understand the rule, it means that wideouts don't have to be on the line of scrimmage, but two receivers may be on the line of scrimmage. How wide do the off the line receivers need to be to not be considered backs?

 

 

It’s not a length question but a depth question. Still can only have 4 in the backfield. There is also a strange rule about how close a back can be to the LOS. Their helmet can’t break the waist of a guy that’s on the LOS. You don’t see it much and it’s really only enforced when teams use sniffer/H backs and they get to close to the OL.