One of the most important things that will happen at next week’s Annual League Meeting in Phoenix will likely be the changes to the rules of the game – in 2018, the league specified additional use of helmet rules, made wide-ranging changes to how the NFL kickoff looks and tried to simplify what exactly a catch was. And while there will always be issues with officiating – the Saints will likely be printing ‘hypothetical 2018 Super Bowl champions’ t-shirts long into Drew Brees’ retirement – the NFL has been doing their best to make adjustments to the rules not only to encourage better player safety, but to ensure that fans get to see the best possible football on Sundays each week.
Whether they’re successful in that goal of “protecting players from unnecessary risk while keeping the game fair, competitive and exciting” in the eyes of the Roaring Riot likely varies from week to week and what side of a questionable call the Panthers land on, but each season, the league reviews what went right and what went wrong and votes are taken amongst the owners to determine which, if any, changes to the rules will be made for the upcoming 2019 season.
The NFL Competition Committee, which consists of two owners, two club presidents, two general managers and two head coaches, receives and considers input from coaches, general managers, owners, current players and NFL Legends, the NFL Players Association, medical personnel and the media, and conducts hours of discussion and film study before recommending changes to any rule.
The rules must have 24 of a possible 32 votes to pass.
Teams can submit proposals which will be voted on – last season there were multiple proposals from teams as well as from the competition committee themselves; some, like the catch simplification and what constitutes a batting of the ball, were changed for 2019. Others, like a proposal from the Chargers to make roughing the passer penalties reviewable, were not.
In 2018, the Panthers didn’t propose any changes to the NFL rulebook or points of emphasis – that’s not the case in 2019 as the Panthers were one of four teams to request a rule change to add review of designated player safety-related fouls (called or not called on the field) as plays subject to coaches’ challenge in the instant replay system. Last season, the protection of the quarterback and runners who have given themselves up were points of emphasis; in Week 2, Atlanta Falcons safety Damontae Kazee was ejected after a late hit on a sliding Cam Newton and later in the season, Panthers safety Eric Reid was disqualified for contact to the head and neck of a sliding Ben Roethlisberger in PIttsburgh.
Player safety related fouls can also include roughing the passer and the newly-instituted helmet rule.
That’s one of many rules suggested that change which plays will be reviewable – there’s even a proposal from Washington to make all plays subject to coaches’ challenge by teams or review by the officials; there are also proposals that change the overtime rules, not surprisingly including one from the Kansas City Chiefs, who lost the AFC Championship after the New England Patriots won the coin toss and drove downfield for the win before the Chiefs touched the ball in the extra session.
The Panthers have previously sent proposals to the league for rule changes, most recently in 2016 for a change in the intentional grounding rules. Check out the full list of rule change proposals here.
