Should the NFL Implement Some of the XFL’s Rules?
The XFL is quickly becoming a popular sport among households desperate for football during a long NFL offseason. In my opinion, the season shouldn’t start only one week after the Super Bowl, but instead in late March or early April. Everyone who loves the sport is somewhat burnt out after a long 20+ week season. We don’t want to watch D+ players now, we want to see them in a couple months, but I digress. Besides being football, the other reason the XFL is popular is because of their different rules. They’ve taken a much more progressive approach to the rules, and we wanted to take a look to see if any would benefit the NFL.
Coaches Can Challenge Any Play
The NFL tried a version of this a few years ago, but quickly changed it back to the old way. Currently, a team gets two challenges per game and can’t challenge judgement calls. The XFL’s does away with one of the challenges but let’s coaches challenge whatever they want. It seems like a better alternative to what we have now. I believe part of the reason the NFL did away with it originally was because of how much slower it made the games. There was already less than one challenge per game but giving coaches the power to challenge whatever they wanted led to obviously an increase in red flags thrown and an increase in the average game time. This new rule wraps everything up in a neat compromise. Coaches only get one challenge, but they can do with it what they wish. Since there’s only one, I believe teams will hold onto them longer and use them only when absolutely necessary. This will make sure the egregious calls that affect the later parts of each game will be challenged and we can finally do away with spot challenges. Those never seem to work anyway.
Yes, the NFL should implement this.
Fumbles Occurring Out the Back of the Endzone are Returned to Fumbling Team
I hate this rule, but I can see how it benefits a lot of people. The main argument I hear is the fact that a fumble out of bounds anywhere else on the field is returned to the team who fumbled. I understand that point, but my rebuttal would simply be the RedZone, and specifically the one- and two-yard lines are much more important than the thirty or forty. Ball security should be the number one priority for teams in this spot on the field. If a player fumbles at the one and it squeaks into the endzone and out of bounds, his team shouldn’t get a second chance. He messed up in a disastrous fashion. The refs shouldn’t hand them the ball back and say, “You’ll get ‘em this time, champ”.
This already doesn’t happen as much as it used to due to the fact more teams are passing now within five yards of the endzone. Instead of four straight rushing attempts from the three-yard line, we are now seeing teams pass almost as much. At least teams with a competent quarterback and smart-minded offensive coordinator.
No, the NFL should not implement this.
4th and 15 Play Instead of Onside Kick (4th Quarter Only)
I had more misgivings about this rule before I found out it’s only allowed in the fourth quarter, but I still hate it. With a little help from Pro Football Reference’s Stathead tool, I was able to find that teams facing a 4th and 15 in the 4th quarter or OT were successful in their search for a first time 20% of the time. This is almost a direct replica of the percentage onside kicks were successful before the NFL changed its kickoff rule in 2018. There is no reason to switch to this weird rule. Just go back to the old onside kick rule, because again, it feels like we’re rewarding bad football. If teams are losing late in the fourth quarter and needing to complete an onside kick, they probably played poorly for 55(ish) minutes. We shouldn’t now let them get back into the game with a single, fairly simple play. Aside from that, different teams have a much easier chance at converting than others. I have no data to support this, but I don’t think anyone would argue with the fact that Kansas City or Cincinnati would have an easier time converting this 4th and 15 than Denver or Houston. So now we’re going to reward these better teams with a high chance at retaining the ball after they’ve played subpar all game? No, not a chance.
No, the NFL should not implement this.
New Kickoff Setup
This is a dumb way to solve the kickoff problem the NFL has had for a while now. They realized a lot of players were getting hurt during kickoffs, which makes sense because it’s a violent play. Their solution was to move the kicker up and extend the touchback out to the 25-yard line. Teams will be incentivized to let the ball sail into the endzone as opposed to running it out. This did a decent job at fixing the problem, but now the XFL has implemented their own solution. In their world, the receiving team’s blockers are all lined up on their own 30-yard line and the kicking team’s defenders are all five yards apart on the 35. No one can move until the returner catches the ball. This is obviously a new rule, so there are no examples to pull from, but it’s my opinion there will be a lot more run backs. For starters, we’re giving usually the fastest guy on the team a running start against everyone else. The quicker players have 40-yard dash times in the vicinity of 4.4-4.6 seconds, and this is from a stand-still position. Now they get a head start and only have to make it theoretically through the 35 and they’re home free. It will definitely make the game more exciting, but I don’t know if I want to see return touchdowns happen that regularly compared to the current system. The excitement from a kickoff return touchdown comes from the fact not very many of them happen in a season. All-time great returners like Cordarrelle Patterson, Devin Hester and Josh Cribbs records would be smashed. Additionally, I like when special teams make great plays and stop the returner at the 15. That would be impossible with the new rule and virtually guarantee a starting position around the 30 almost every time.
No, the NFL should not implement this.
Double Forward Pass Allowed
I don’t know what the NFL would look like with this rule, but I would love to see it. To clarify, teams can’t pass the second time unless they’re behind the line of scrimmage. Imagine the passing stats wide receivers could have if this was allowed. The problem with double passes right now is since the first one has to go backward, they’re fairly easy for opposing defenses to sniff out. If this rule was established, it would be impossible for a defense to know whether or not any type of screen is actually just that or rather a double pass to a different streaking receiver. Andy Reid is already salivating at all the insane play designs he could cook up if this was allowed. He’d make JuJu Smith-Schuster the second-best passer in Chiefs history.
Yes, the NFL should implement this.