Seahawkfan80":zvlfj7v9 said:
If I recall correctly, the front line (of course that dont include a man in motion or that goes in motion) must be immobile for one second. Therefore if my recollection is correct, the head bobbing should stop for at least one second. That could be in the rules as at least one second and could be a timed event. I did notice that RW was doing the kick for the ball a few times and when the play clock got down to 2.....he kinda demanded the ball with the kick maneuver. I think it was more like...." Hey hiker of the ball, could you please let me have the ball before the clock hits 0? Pretty please??" I could be wrong on the pretty please..... :twisted: :stirthepot:
Here are the rules from the link I posted in the first post:
Offensive team must have at least seven players on line.
Offensive players, not on line, must be at least one yard back at snap.
(Exception: player who takes snap.)
No interior lineman may move abruptly after taking or simulating a three-point stance.
No player of either team may enter neutral zone before snap.
No player of offensive team may charge or move abruptly, after assuming set position, in such manner as to lead defense to believe snap has started. No player of the defensive team within one yard of the line of scrimmage may make an abrupt movement in an attempt to cause the offense to false start.
If a player changes his eligibility, the Referee must alert the defensive captain after player has reported to him.
All players of offensive team must be stationary at snap, except one back who may be in motion parallel to scrimmage line or backward (not forward).
After a shift or huddle all players on offensive team must come to an absolute stop for at least one second with no movement of hands, feet, head, or swaying of body.
Quarterbacks can be called for a false start penalty (five yards) if their actions are judged to be an obvious attempt to draw an opponent offside.
Offensive linemen are permitted to interlock legs.
With this said I have a few things...
First, according to the rules above, all players on the offensive team must come to a complete stop for one second following a huddle or shift.
Second, no interior linemen may move abruptly after taking or simulating a three-point stance.
Third, no player should move abruptly after assuming a set position in such a manner as to lead defense to believe a snap has started.
Forth, quarterbacks can be called for a false start penalty if their actions are judged to be an obvious attempt to draw an opponent offside.
With these four items I believe that:
1. The center or any other OL should not be able to move his head to draw the other team offside
2. The QB should not be able to draw the other team offside with any movement or other action.
Back to my original two posts... I believe that these rules leave too much room for interpretation. For example, the word 'judged' is used while referring to QBs and their 'actions'. There is a ton of room for interpretation here. The word 'Judged' implies that somebody has to make a decision based on the facts given to them but judging intent is very difficult to do. Also, the word 'actions' can mean a lot of different things. I have not dug further but actions may be defined in a different place in the rules. We were drawn off once in the Packer game by Rodgers and the snap count. I would consider yelling an action in everyday vocabulary.
I am not complaining about the refereeing in the game as this has been pretty consistently not called throughout the season but what I am trying to point out is that this does have an effect on the game. If I were D-Lineman coach, I would coach my players down to each letter in the rules. Taking on the rules I posted above into account, Michael Bennett would be correct to jump once the center moved his head. Michael Bennett is just following the rules. Now imagine being a player such as Michael Bennett. Michael Bennett can read the rules and play according to the rules. When a rule basically says no 'abrupt movement' and you see abrupt movement down the line, you are going to go as soon as you can to gain that advantage. Because of these things, I think the rule should be changed. I don't care if the rule indicates that the center can bob his head or if there can be no movement, but what I would like to see is a rule that takes interpretation away from the judgment. Bennett would have to change how he played with the rule change but at least he would know what to look for... because as I said, Bennett is playing the rule perfectly as is right now and getting bad calls against him quite often.
The QBs rule is the same in my opinion. It should be re-written so that interpretation is eliminated from the equation.
Lastly, I am naïve about the crowd noise rule. However, lets pretend that the rule still exists. I think that it should be enforced how the rule is written. If the rule can't be enforced it should be eliminated or re-written. This rule in particular is just plain silly in my opinion. The crowd, in most sports is a part of the game and I believe it should be. It is the fan that pays for the game to exist for goodness sakes...
My main point on this thread was to bring up a major problem that exists in the NFL. The NFL and its talking heads (see Dean Blandino and his predecessor) talk about writing rules to eliminate interpretation. I believe that this is and would be a good thing. However, actions speak louder than words. The NFL does not do what they say they want to do and continues to let things like this slide. This is unfair to the players but more importantly to the fans. It is hard to claim that the best team wins games when the rules are not consistent or not enforced. Enforcement is a huge part here. We often talk about consistency but rarely about enforcement. If players play by the rules and some players don't play by the rules, the players that don't play by the rules have a possible advantage if the rules that are being broken are not enforced. Here is a hypothetical.... lets pretend there is a car race but all cars must stop at stop signs. Now lets say everybody has a rule book and know about this rule of stopping at stop signs. Half of the drivers read the rule and intend on following it. The other half either didn't read the rule book, just don't give a damn, or are curious if the rule will even be called because it seems crazy that drivers should have to stop at stop signs during a race (sound familiar.... kind of like the Patriots). During the race, approximately half of the drivers will stop at stop signs and the others will not. Now lets say that during the race that nobody was called out for not stopping at the stop sign. This just gave half of the drivers an advantage.
So in a very long winded way I would love to see three things from the NFL while talking about rules... consistency, enforcement, and rules that eliminate interpretation. With these things, I believe our coaching staff would do extremely well and our players would shine (see some of Pete's Press Conferences where he talks about rules)...
