{"id":1188,"date":"2010-09-22T11:42:37","date_gmt":"2010-09-22T15:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/?p=1188"},"modified":"2010-09-23T08:36:31","modified_gmt":"2010-09-23T12:36:31","slug":"other-football-rule-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/?p=1188","title":{"rendered":"Other Football Rule Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 18-game proposition, which from everything I’ve read appears to be a done deal, prompted me to think of some other possible rule changes. Here’s 2 other changes that I think have merit:<\/p>\n

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  1. Eliminate the divisions and reduce to 2 conferences. The schedule would consist of 1 game between all teams in a conference and then the schedule could be filled out with several inter-conference games. As of now, each conference has 16 teams, so that’s 15 games intra-conference leaving the opening for 3 inter-conference games. Playoffs take the top 6 teams from each conference and the playoff format remains identical with the top two teams getting a bye-week.\n

    This preserves rivalries, perhaps augmenting them since teams only get 1 shot at one another each season. Plus, this makes crystal clear who the cream of the crop are. Mainly though, I think this augments the playoff scenarios. No more crappy division winning teams when there are better teams in a more competitive division. Or rather, we no longer have that argument because it’s all settled on the field.<\/li>\n

  2. Make field goals worth points based on distance. I think there are 2 scenarios:\n
      \n
    1. Field goals are worth a minimum of 2 points up to 30 yards, and then increase by 1 point for every 10 yards further. So 17-30 yards worth 2, 30-39 worth 3, 40-49 worth 4, 50-59 worth 5 and 60+ worth 6.<\/li>\n
    2. Makes field goals less than say, 40 or 45 yards worth 3 points (I’m not sure what a good dividing line is, my sense is 45. Looking at league stats would make it pretty clear.) Make anything beyond worth 4 points.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Mainly, this affects the ends of games and keeps teams in a game even longer. Basically, the minimum safe lead becomes 2 touchdowns (14 points). For instance, under scenario ‘A’ a team down 10 late has a new path to tie, or even win the game. To tie, they need 2 50+ yard field goals. It’s a lot easier to move the ball to the 35 or so than to score touchdowns. Less time comes off the clock for each drive as well.<\/p>\n

      Arguably there are also new strategic considerations that come into play. Does a team down 10 immediately settle for a 50+ yard field-goal to preserve time on the clock, or do they try to finish the drive and score touchdowns? When inside the 10, does a team settle for 2 now, or go for it on 4th down because 2 points isn’t worth it?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Of the 2, the variable-point field goal is more interesting, IMHO. But I like both and don’t think either is so crazy as to be dismissed without merit. I’ve had other thoughts, but these 2 I think are simple and enhance the game in interesting ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The 18-game proposition, which from everything I’ve read appears to be a done deal, prompted me to think of some other possible rule changes. Here’s 2 other changes that I think have merit: Eliminate the divisions and reduce to 2 conferences. The schedule would consist of 1 game between all teams in a conference and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1188"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1190,"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions\/1190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahd.lamafam.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}