Times wires
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
NEW ORLEANS — The NFL will move kickoffs up 5 yards to the 35-yard line, keep touchbacks coming out to the 20 and allow the number of players in a blocking wedge to remain at two.
Kick coverage players now will be limited to lining up 5 yards or fewer from the spot of the kickoff.
Team owners also voted Tuesday to make all scoring plays reviewable by the replay official and referee. But they tabled a proposal to ban players launching themselves to make a tackle, and will reconsider it in May.
The league's competition committee proposed placing the ball at the 25 after touchbacks on kickoffs and banning the wedge altogether. Several coaches expressed concern about making too many changes to kickoffs, also saying bringing touchbacks out 5 more yards would affect field position too much. Coaches worried about an increase in touchbacks from the 16 percent of kickoffs last season.
"Any time there's a touchback and now it's not coming to the 20," Saints coach Sean Payton said, "I think that that probably was the most drastic of the four or five items that constituted one rule."
Making kickoffs safer was the objective, and Payton believes the owners met it, voting 26-6 for the new rule.
"The bottom line is it's … the highest risk of injury play," he said.
Browns standout returner Joshua Cribbs wasn't thrilled by the changes, tweeting: "Essentially taking returners out of the game … injuries will still take place, then what move it up again, or eliminate it (altogether)."
The replay official now can call for the referee to review any scoring play. Previously, replay officials could order reviews (on any play) only in the final two minutes of each half and in overtime.
Coaches pushed for the change in great part because they felt they didn't get a fair shake in road games.
"It's a real big competitive disadvantage," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "You don't get that look at it on the road that you get at home; they just don't show it."
CBA talks: Owners haven't talked about using replacement players if the NFL's first work stoppage since 1987 stretches on, commissioner Roger Goodell said, and the league might not keep its last contract offer on the table if bargaining doesn't resume soon.
"We have not had any discussions or consideration of replacement players," Goodell said at a news conference closing the owners meetings. "It hasn't been discussed, it hasn't been considered, and it's not in our plans."
He also said the Dolphins and four other teams have been fined or been told the NFL is investigating them for violating offseason rules prohibiting contact with players. Goodell was asked specifically about the Dolphins; he did not reveal other teams involved.
NFL general counsel Jeff Pash said the violations aren't related to the league's lockout of players, which began March 12. Even during normal offseasons, from the end of one season until around March 15, NFL rules bar teams from holding organized workouts, practice or meetings, and don't allow position coaches to supervise players.
