The NFL is going to look at the rule about fumbling in the end zone.
Troy Vincent, executive vice president for football operations for the NFL, told reporters on Wednesday the league will look at the rules about mistakes outside of the end zone.
It punishes the crime too harshly. It gives too much credit to the defense. When a player lost control of the ball after it has reached the end zone, it goes out of bounds.
If the ball goes beyond bounds just before the penalty line, the attack keeps the ball where it went out of bounds.
This means that if the ball hits the goal, it goes back and the defense gets the ball at the 20-yard line.
This is something Chris Simms and myself have fought over for years. He thinks of the end zone as safe space. It is what he calls “North Korea.” If you lose banned land, you will have to pay for it.
The rule comes from a time when rules were even stranger. There was a time when an offensive pass that fell short in the end zone gave the ball back to the defense.
It is not the same thing to look at something and change it. It has been looked at by the league before. It hasn’t changed by the league. After all, it helps one team more than it hurts others.
It doesn’t make sense. It also doesn’t lead to better scores. It stops things without a good reason. For a change, the NFL might do something.
I didn’t think it would change until it happened in the Super Bowl. Millions of casual fans watching the event would be confused by the rule that doesn’t make sense, and there would be a real push to change it.
Until the rules are changed, players need to follow the rules and protect the ball even more carefully when it’s close to the goal.
Some people do and some don’t. Some, including quarterback Derek Carr, have gotten as close to the goal line as possible but lost their grip just in time to break the plane, giving the ball to the defenders.
This year, Vikings wide Justin Jefferson slipped control as he got ready to catch the ball to the end zone.
The ball went over the goal accordance and out of bounds, so what could have been a score was actually a touchback by the Eagles.
The rule is uniform for both teams, yes. That doesn’t make a rule good. Also, this rule doesn’t give you more points. It means you get fewer points.
While the NFL is trying to get more points, this rule gets in the way of the bigger goal. So, now is the time to free North Korea.
To make things even worse for teams, the NFL’s vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent, told reporters on Wednesday that the fumble-out-of-the-end-zone-touchback rule is being “looked into” by mysterious forces.
You probably already know this, but just in case: if someone fumbles the puck during play and it goes out of bounds and across the plane of the other team’s end zone, the other team gets control of the ball. The defense has the ball.
The offense is upset about a rule that makes sense in its own right but has been made into a monster because the league wants to get rid of all the things that stand between you and a Sunday full of ridiculously high fantasy scores.
I’ve never understood why people are so angry about this rule. People on the other team say that the defense isn’t gaining possession because they aren’t getting anything back. They are just getting ahead because someone was careless with the ball near the end zone.
Offensive players are treated to the grace of babies when they take their first ice skating lessons. It’s like Russian judges scolding American figure skaters for not blinking enough: defense players get in trouble.
Giving up the rule would not only make the playing field more even, but it would also make the end zone less holy.
People who are against the rule also say that if an attacking player fumbled the ball and it went out of bounds just before the pylon, nothing would happen.
So why does fumbling the ball just after the pylon lead to a touchback alongside a change of possession?