Rule changes for 2008

[CoupleOfFew1]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tarkus

This is a little clearer: Teams that win the coin toss can now defer until the second half. Impact: Significant. NFL officiating chief Mike Pereira said the majority of college coaches in 2007 opted to defer and receive the second-half kickoff. "I think you may see deferrals later in the year as you have weather issues," said Titans coach Jeff Fisher, who is the co-chairman of the NFL's competition committee. "If you've got a club that's known for playing good defense, you could see them [defer]. It's going to be interesting to see what the philosophies are going to be." http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7...-impact-on-NFL

But if you won the coin toss and choose to kickoff in the first place then you would get the ball in the 2nd half anyway..isn't this the way it has always been? Like in Madden if you win the toss, you get the choice whether to kick or receive. Im still a little confused.

[Tarkus]

Quote: Originally Posted by J0nnD0ugh

You're not Tarkus from simtropolis are you?

Afraid not...

Quote: Originally Posted by CoupleOfFew1

But if you won the coin toss and choose to kickoff in the first place then you would get the ball in the 2nd half anyway..isn't this the way it has always been? Like in Madden if you win the toss, you get the choice whether to kick or receive. Im still a little confused.

I was too at the beginning cuz I thought that by choosing to kick off & giving up the ball gave you the 2nd half choice but no...

It's that you got the choice, not what you chose with it. The loser of the coin flip would get the 2nd half choice. This new rule allows a team that wins the coin toss at the beginning of the game to defer that choice. By choosing to allow the other team to choose, it makes you, in essence, the default 'loser' & the team that has the 2nd half choice...

[bgeno]

The coin toss is the way they do it in high school too... so I've got a lot of experience with that:

Basically, at the start of each half, one team gets to make a decision (kick/receive or defend endzone A/defend endzone B). Whoever wins the coin toss gets the decision in the first half and the other team gets the decision in the second half.


Assume Team A wins the coin toss:

Team A wins the toss and chooses to receive or kick in the first half, Team B gets to choose whether to defend endzone A or endzone B. It could also go the other way; Team A wins the toss and chooses to defend endzone A or endzone B, Team B gets to choose whether to kick or receive.

The same set of decisions would be presented to Team B start the second half.

HOWEVER, Team A can also choose to defer its decision to the second half, allowing Team B to make a decision to begin the first half.



Why this matters:

Like Jeff Fisher said, it could be really big in games altered by weather. Suppose there is a lot of wind at the stadium and snow is coming down like crazy... passes just flutter against a wall of wind and runningbacks are running half the speed they usually do.

Let's go back to the Team A/Team B scenario:

Team A is tough on defense... They're confident they can force multiple three-and-outs this game, but their offense is sputtering this season. Team A wins the toss. They defer their selection to the second half. Team B elects to receive because they've got a good offense and they're ready to attack the weather.

In the first half, Team A's offense is struggling, but their defense is on top of its game, as expected. They've stopped team B to 3 or 4 3-and-outs and haven't let them cross midfield yet.

Now it's half-time. The two teams come out to mid-field.

Team A gets the decision this time. Again, they can kick, recieve, defend endzone A or defend endzone B. They elect to kick. "Why?" you ask. "That means Team B got the ball to start both halves!" Well, Team A had trouble moving the ball all game long, but the defense has been sick. So why not kick it to Team B, let them start around the 30 yd line, force a 3-and-out, then have them punt. So now, you've got a chance of a blocked punt, a shanked punt, maybe even just a poor punt with a decent return......

And suddenly, you're winning the field position battle just because you let them have the ball first.

[allBthere]

Quote: Originally Posted by bgeno

The coin toss is the way they do it in high school too... so I've got a lot of experience with that: Basically, at the start of each half, one team gets to make a decision (kick/receive or defend endzone A/defend endzone B). Whoever wins the coin toss gets the decision in the first half and the other team gets the decision in the second half. Assume Team A wins the coin toss: Team A wins the toss and chooses to receive or kick in the first half, Team B gets to choose whether to defend endzone A or endzone B. It could also go the other way; Team A wins the toss and chooses to defend endzone A or endzone B, Team B gets to choose whether to kick or receive. The same set of decisions would be presented to Team B start the second half. HOWEVER, Team A can also choose to defer its decision to the second half, allowing Team B to make a decision to begin the first half. Why this matters: Like Jeff Fisher said, it could be really big in games altered by weather. Suppose there is a lot of wind at the stadium and snow is coming down like crazy... passes just flutter against a wall of wind and runningbacks are running half the speed they usually do. Let's go back to the Team A/Team B scenario: Team A is tough on defense... They're confident they can force multiple three-and-outs this game, but their offense is sputtering this season. Team A wins the toss. They defer their selection to the second half. Team B elects to receive because they've got a good offense and they're ready to attack the weather. In the first half, Team A's offense is struggling, but their defense is on top of its game, as expected. They've stopped team B to 3 or 4 3-and-outs and haven't let them cross midfield yet. Now it's half-time. The two teams come out to mid-field. Team A gets the decision this time. Again, they can kick, recieve, defend endzone A or defend endzone B. They elect to kick. "Why?" you ask. "That means Team B got the ball to start both halves!" Well, Team A had trouble moving the ball all game long, but the defense has been sick. So why not kick it to Team B, let them start around the 30 yd line, force a 3-and-out, then have them punt. So now, you've got a chance of a blocked punt, a shanked punt, maybe even just a poor punt with a decent return...... And suddenly, you're winning the field position battle just because you let them have the ball first.

This doesn't make sense...the 'loser' has never chosen anything. If they kick at the beginning - they recieve 2nd half and vice versa. Basically the winning team choses whether they want the ball right away or in the second half. All this rule does from my understanding is complicate matters.

Either its meaning is #1'you will do the opposite of what the loser picks to do in the 1st' or
#2'you can have a scenario where you potentially get the ball twice if the loser of the coin toss decides to kick'
I highly doubt #2 - and if that was the case every single team would take the ball every time
The rule is just dumb imo - the way it was, was just fine where basically the coin winner desides if they want the ball right away (major majority of the time this is the case) or to kick and by default get the ball in the 2nd half.


**** also, in this new scenario if you want to kick because it's windy...the other team by default decides which endzone they want...negating the kicking rationale
there is no scenario to me where this makes much sense.

[TheShizNo1]

I don't like this. Even playing in high school I never liked the idea.

[mercalnd]

Quote: Originally Posted by allBthere

This doesn't make sense...the 'loser' has never chosen anything. If they kick at the beginning - they recieve 2nd half and vice versa. Basically the winning team choses whether they want the ball right away or in the second half. All this rule does from my understanding is complicate matters.

Actually the way bgeno wrote it is accurate.

[allBthere]

Quote: Originally Posted by mercalnd

Actually the way bgeno wrote it is accurate.

so you're saying this past nfl season where the giants won the SB, if they won the coin toss and decided to kick, the patriots in the second has could have decided to recieve...because I don't think that was or ever has been the case.

[mercalnd]

Quote: Originally Posted by allBthere

so you're saying this past nfl season where the giants won the SB, if they won the coin toss and decided to kick, the patriots in the second has could have decided to recieve...because I don't think that was or ever has been the case.

Interesting that you bring up that particular scenario because it came up in an interview with Coughlin during media day. He was asked whether he would choose to kick or receive and he sarcastically said "Yeah we'll choose to kick cause we know they struggle on offense so we'd like to give them an additional possession to help them out".

You never actually choose to kick off. The way you do it if you win the toss and would prefer to kick off is that you choose which side you want to defend, leaving the other team to choose whether to kick off or receive. They obviously have to choose to receive because otherwise they'll kick off to start both halves since you are choosing whether to kick or receive to start the second half.

Whoever chose to kick or receive in the first half gets to choose their side in the second and vice-versa.