Defenders can no longer “land on the passer“ during pass

"A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as 'stuffing' a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball, even if the rusher makes his initial contact with the passer within the one-step limitation provided for in (a) above. When tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture (e.g., during or just after throwing a pass), a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down or land on top of him with all or most of the defender's weight. Instead, the defensive player must strive to wrap up the passer with the defensive player's arms and not land on the passer with all or most of his body weight."

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2426 ... rs-penalty

This is going to be pretty hard on the defender, who will now have to turn the QB after he has him wrapped up to prevent falling on top of him. And once he has turned the QB, he will have to be careful not to “violently throw him down.”

This is going to make legally tackling a QB very difficult, as long as the QB throws the ball.

I predict we're eight years away from it turning into flag football and teams are hanging 100 points on average defenses because the defense has to just stand around most of the time. :|

Wow. They are always coming up with stupid rules for the marquee guys.

When are they going to implement the do not pass the line of scrimmage do not collect 200 dollars rule, so that Russell is actually protected.

Seriously though, I do not like it one bit. It won’t be called for Russ regardless, because refs consider him a running qb regardless of set up.

Hmm....inspired by

They are killing the game of football.

RolandDeschain":29utee3b said:

I predict we're eight years away from it turning into flag football and teams are hanging 100 points on average defenses because the defense has to just stand around most of the time. :|

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I'll take the under on the number of years.

RolandDeschain":c2np50kb said:

I predict we're eight years away from it turning into flag football and teams are hanging 100 points on average defenses because the defense has to just stand around most of the time. :|

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I'd say 8 years or one really bad injury (or worse)

Stupid. How are defenders even sposed to know the ball is out of his hands?

hawknation2018":1fg19obz said:

This is going to make legally tackling a QB very difficult, as long as the QB throws the ball.

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Just tackle him, the rule is to prevent the nonsense of trying to hurt or intimidate the QB by tossing him or putting all of their 350 lbs weight on top of him trying to hurt him.

I mean, I love it when our guys do it...........but it pisses me off when it happens to Russell. So I can see how the rule is a good thing.

Another rule set up that will require refs to make really hard decisions in important situations and continue to make the game harder on defenses. Wonderful. Can't wait to see drives extended from QBs taking regular shots just after releasing the ball for an incompletion.

Let's just get the flag football going already.

JGfromtheNW":32nqjs9q said:

Another rule set up that will require refs to make really hard decisions in important situations and continue to make the game harder on defenses. Wonderful. Can't wait to see drives extended from QBs taking regular shots just after releasing the ball for an incompletion.

Let's just get the flag football going already.

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This.

Heaven forbid we put the accountability on the actual quarterback to make sure he gets rid of the ball soon enough so that a defender can't legally hit them. Why, that might make it more difficult to gain yardage on offense, and we just can't have that. Hell no.

Next they will have the defender announce his intentions “ stop or I’ll be forced to tackle!” And read him his rights under the new CBA.... before proceeding with the cuddle.

Rules like this cause so many problems. Refs now have to measure intent. Was he trying to injure? Was his tackle too rough? Its very subjective and will only lead to inconsistent calls and more damn flags and game changing calls.
This is another terrible rule giving the refs (and possibly the league) too much influence on the game.

When are they going to issue tutus to QBs?

brimsalabim":15bb695x said:

Next they will have the defender announce his intentions “ stop or I’ll be forced to tackle!” And read him his rights under the new CBA.... before proceeding with the cuddle.

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LOL pretty much

The Game is going to lose a lot of fans by going away from what made it
this far..Injuries are part of sports and it's funny that I see way more since
they messed with the rules than before.
All the rule changes do is make soft and weak players for the most part.
I understand the helmet hits ect but anything else?Noooo

If Russell Wilson wasn't so incredibly fun to watch, I would already be out, this is ridiculous and I don't envision myself watching this league much longer.

I have no idea how it will effect ratings, but the casuals out number us and most of them won't care if it helps there fantasy stats, so many new fans have come along the last 10 yrs or so do not even realize how much better the game was in the 90's into the mid 00's. 1994-2007 was the league's prime, The 70's & 80's were cool too in their own way. it's all been downhill since the new CBA, and whenever it was when the league inacted the defenseless player rules.

I would take great pleasue in watching the league have even lower ratings than it did last year. The NFL can die in a fire.

brimsalabim":1vy7litp said:

Next they will have the defender announce his intentions “ stop or I’ll be forced to tackle!” And read him his rights under the new CBA.... before proceeding with the cuddle.

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Cuddle play on 3...break.

Now what is the cuddle play??? It is where the QB goes back and gets hit for a 15 yd unsportsmanlike cuddle. First down.

Honestly, why even bother watching now?

JGfromtheNW":25rk9iam said:

Another rule set up that will require refs to make really hard decisions in important situations and continue to make the game harder on defenses. Wonderful.

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This is why this rule is a horrible idea. It will be very difficult to officiate fairly and consistently. They need to be doing less of this, not more. The refs already have a job that's impossible to get right much of the time due to the complexity of the rules and the nature of the game.

And LOL at the flag football comments. While the NFL isn't as brutally violent as it used to be, it's still pretty damn far from flag football.