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  • #1

    NFL emphasizes its intent to enforce illegal contact rule

    NFL emphasizes its intent to enforce illegal contact rule
    By Jim Thomas

    Of the Post-Dispatch
    08/07/2004




    MACOMB, Ill. - In his first go-around on the NFL's competition committee, Rams coach Mike Martz practically made illegal contact on pass plays a crusade during the offseason.

    Those efforts bore fruit when the NFL made illegal contact a "point of emphasis" for game officials at the league meetings last March. And this weekend at Western Illinois University, visiting game officials have started the "emphasizing."

    Referee Bernie Kukar, back judge Steve Freeman, side judge Tom Hill and head linesman Phil McKinnely arrived in Macomb on Thursday to work the joint practices and scrimmage between the Rams and the Chicago Bears.

    Among the points they are making to defensive players and coaches is that the illegal contact rule on pass defense will be more strictly enforced this year.

    "Points of emphasis simply are things that we want to pay a little closer attention to," said Kukar, who worked the Rams-New England Super Bowl following the 2001 season. "They're not changes in the rule - the rule has always been there."

    In the case of illegal contact, the league has decided - with much prodding from Martz - that its officials have been giving too much leeway to the defense. Too much leeway in terms of allowing contact more than 5 yards downfield. And too much leeway in determining what was - and what was not - incidental contact by defenders.

    "From an officiating standpoint, when you're 25 yards downfield and you're looking at this play happening ... it's pretty hard to determine where 5 yards are," Kukar said.

    That's one of the reasons, Kukar said, that game officials became more flexible over the years when trying to determine whether contact occurred 5 yards down field. Or 5 1/2. Or 6 yards.

    But not anymore.

    "All we're saying is pay more attention to that stuff," Kukar said. "Five yards is 5 yards, and any contact after 5 yards should be called."

    Also, there will be less flexibility in terms of incidental contact. Defensive players simply can't knock wide receivers off routes more than 5 yards down the field.

    Along those lines, Kukar said any pulling of a receiver's jersey by a defender now will be regarded as illegal contact. (Or holding.) No longer will game officials be asked to determine whether the jersey-grabbing actually restricted a receiver from running his route.

    There will be less gray area. At least that's the theory. But in the real world - on game day - will the illegal contact rule actually be more strictly enforced this season?

    "It's supposed to be," Martz said Friday. "So I would imagine it would be."

    Kukar had lunch with Martz on Friday in Macomb. On the practice field, Kukar and the three other game officials have been stressing this new point of emphasis with Rams and Bears players.



    __________________________________________________________
    Keeping the Rams Nation Talking
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: NFL emphasizes its intent to enforce illegal contact rule

    Thanks for the reiteration. The game was becoming a farce in the defensive backfields around the League allowing teams with less skilled defensive backs to compete with the likes of Bruce and Holt who would otherwise run roughshod through the secondery.

    Watch for the new Rams big three of Holt, Bruce and Curtis with Looker as the new Ricky Proehl to have many more YAC when they aren't weighted down with a 190lb cornerback clinging to their Jersey with the tenacity of a tic.
    The only people who will whine about this are the same one's that said the RAMS should have "adjusted" to the non-enforcement of the rules. By the same token these teams will have to "adjust" to new emphasis put on enforcement.
    Bump and run isn't being outlawed as some big name writers have put in print. True bump and RUN means you tie up the receiver at the line with constant contact all the way to 5 yards then release and RUN with the receiver and either stay with him in man coverage or pass him off to the next leval if the receiver leaves your zone.

    Just my two cents.

    It will be nice to see Bruce and Holt not have to dress themselves after every pass pattern they run if the d-back is kind enough to return their jersey to them following the play.

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: NFL emphasizes its intent to enforce illegal contact rule

      It will be interesting to see just how much the league inforces this rule.
      I guess this means that you can count the Pats out of the playoffs this year. :tough:
      JUST WIN ONE FOR THE FANS
      :ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram:

      "HIT HARD, HIT FAST, AND HIT OFTEN"
      Adm. William "Bull" Halsey

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      • RamWraith
        Rams hope refs get strict on illegal contact
        by RamWraith
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        During a media presentation three months ago in Macomb, Ill., referee Bernie Kukar referred to the NFL's new point of emphasis on illegal contact as the Mike Martz Rule.

        It was Martz, after all, who pressed for a stricter interpretation of the league rule on illegal contact last offseason.

        But it could just as easily be called the Patriots Rule. Because without New England's ultra-aggressive play in pass coverage, officials wouldn't be looking more closely at contact between wide receiver and defender more than five yards downfield.

        Such contact, unless deemed incidental, is supposed to result in a five-yard penalty and an automatic first down. By making illegal contact a point of emphasis last March, the league wasn't changing the rule. It was just saying the rule would be more strictly enforced.

        At the midway point of the NFL season, has that really been the case?

        By the numbers - a qualified "yes."

        Defensive holding calls are up slightly, with 96 such penalties called eight weeks into this season, compared with 90 such penalties at a similar juncture in 2003.

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        And some Rams will tell you that in recent weeks, officials have started to look the other way at illegal contact, keeping their flags in their pockets. Rams wide receiver Isaac Bruce, for one, tactfully suggests that NFL officiating crews take a brief refresher course on the rule and how it's supposed to be enforced.

        "They're calling it, but I think they need to have another meeting on it," Bruce said. "Not too long of a meeting, they just need to continue to remind them."

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        In Game 5 against Seattle, Bruce was clearly shoved out of bounds in the back of the end zone by a Seahawks defender, but there was no flag, even though an official was very close to the play.

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        The competition committee initially planned to make lowering the helmet a 2018 point of emphasis rather than a rule change, McKay said. But after a leaguewide discussion Tuesday, owners instructed McKay to convert it to language that could be added to the rule book immediately. The league called a late-afternoon news conference and acknowledged that some parts of the rule still must be fleshed out.

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        The hardest thing to figure about the 2004 season is the impact of the NFL's desire to enforce contact or interference penalties after five yards.

        Some people you talk to tell you the impact will be minimal. Those are the same people who misjudged the impact of Charlie Weis's short passing offense on the opening years of the new millennium. The Patriots have won two Super Bowls despite not having marquee wide receivers. I still can't forget calling defensive coordinators before the 2002 season asking about how to defense the Weis's offense. Some pointed out Tom Brady's shaky numbers down the stretch run of 2001 and said that New England's short-passing attack was nothing to worry about. Guess what, other teams copied some of the Patriots ideas and the impact was huge.

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        Competition Committee members Mike Martz, Mike Holmgrem and others were appalled at the number of replays featuring cornerbacks mugging receivers and getting away with it. They had watched it with their own players during the season, but to see the extent of it league-wide was troubling.

        To come to the defense of the officials calling the plays, pass interference and illegal contact calls were enforced on a reasonably consistent basis during the regular season. After all, fans don't like to watch yellow flag after yellow flag being thrown. Football is a contact sport no doubt. The 238 interference calls worked out to an average of .93 a game, not even close to the 310 called in fewer games in 1998. Illegal contacts penalties were a manageable 79, .31 a game.

        Then came the playoffs. Both championship games became Fantasy Island for cornerbacks. The Patriots cornerbacks squat on receiver routes at about 10 yards and get very physical. Colts receivers and tight ends had their jerseys held and their bodies bumped. The situation in Philadelphia wasn't as bad, but Panthers cornerbacks bragged about how physical they were against the Eagles receivers in the NFC Championship.

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        What was determined was the illegal contact rule was poorly worded. In 1994, the Competition Committee grew tired of cornerbacks mugging receivers and put in new wording to open up the receiver's ability to get...
        -07-22-2004, 11:49 PM
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