The league is bold about its goals. The league wants to bring in $25 billion in revenue in the next ten years. The league has made $11 billion per Sportico since the beginning of the Pandemic. No local revenue dollars are included.
The NFL has put its paws on the game too often in the haste to reach its goal. Taunting was a point of emphasis after the NFL relaxed its stance on touchdown celebrations. The facemask of a downed player should not be squatted over by a defensive player. Refs don't need to ruin a rookies best performance of the season with a taunting penalty on a reserve defensive end who celebrated a critical third-down sack with a martial arts kick.
Rules are needed for defensive contact with pass catchers. If defensive backs are allowed to pull wide receivers down from behind, football would be dull. The treat of the year is a 25-22 game. The NFL has been emphasizing the rules in the passing game since Manning lost in the playoffs to the New England Pats.
After the Manning-Brady Bowl, the league put an emphasis on contact between defenders and pass catchers. The referees were told to call the five-yard chuck rule after the Colts complained that the New England defense was mauling pass catchers.
The league decided 20 years later that defenders making contact with pass catchers on passing plays is a problem. The referees in the National Football League have been told to focus on illegal contact penalties. From 2002 to 2020 the penalty was called an average of 97 times a year. The competition committee ground some tape and noticed that a lot of the calls were missed. The lack of illegal contact penalties is not due to defensive backs and linebackers being more athletic, it is due to referee error.
The problem the NFL has from last season in wide receivers living their NBA dreams by flopping is a problem I would have liked to see in the report. First down is a result of pass interference. Pass catchers can make it look like their process to the ball is being impeded if the ball is underthrown. In a game where the flip field position is important, an offense can get a huge gain on an action that has nothing to do with football.
The quality of the game is damaged by that play. Some of the best athletes in the world compete against each other to get the ball.
The physical group and individual battles that happen during plays are what makes the league entertaining. The focus of the competition committee shouldn't always be about more penalties. It's the most frustrating part of the game. It's better to have fewer that can be called. The game should be made safer but also entertained.
I hope this illegal contact edict isn't like the taunting one of 2021. The competition committee just did it because it bothered some of the members, and didn't do anything to improve the game. The upcoming illegal contact penalties might make the game better, but offenses not being awarded field position in the red zone on bad throws would be a noticeable improvement.
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