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Bengals
Mark Curnutte offers the latest on the Cincinnati Bengals


Mark Curnutte started covering the Bengals and the NFL for The Enquirer in 2000. He previously wrote about urban affairs and other social issues for the Enquirer. He won the prestigious 1994 Unity Award from Lincoln University (Missouri) for "A Polite Silence," a seven-day series about race relations in Greater Cincinnati. He also has worked as an assistant features editor and features writer at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. Curnutte is second vice president and a three-year board member of the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA). He is a 1984 Miami University graduate.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

League meeting agenda

By Mark Curnutte
mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Aside from discussion among NFL owners about potential problems with their labor contract and possible need for more revenue sharing, ownership will address a number of proposals and plans next week at the annual meeting.

The annual meeting officially opens Monday in Palm Beach, Fla.

Atlanta Falcons president Rick McKay, co-chairman of the NFL’s competitive committee, talked this afternoon on a conference call about the state of the game and proposals for rules changes that will be presented to ownership.

One of the most time-sensitive bylaw proposals is to change seeding for playoffs, McKay said. Each of the four division winners in each conference would earn postseason berths, but only the two division winners in each conference with the best records would get automatic home games. The division winners with the lower two records, plus the two wildcard teams, would compete for the third through sixth seeds based on record.

The goal would be to "motivate coaches to have more games that matter," McKay said. The league wants to avoid the situation in the Tennessee-at-Indianapolis game on Sunday night, Dec. 30, in which the Colts rested their regulars because they were already locked into a seed. The Titans won and eliminated Cleveland from contention.

In the area of on-field rules, owners will vote on competition committee proposals to eliminate the force-out of a receiver, similar to the college game; it was called 15 times last season. And a force-out only would be called if a defender picked up an offensive player and carried him out of bounds.

The committee is proposing to include field goals in instant replay review, give teams the option of deferring to receive the ball in the second half on the coin toss and eliminate the 5-yard minor face mask penalty, covering all facemask violations – twisting, turning or pulling – with a 15-yard penalty.

The competition committee has eight members, who include Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, as well as a coaches’ subcommittee chaired by Colts coach Tony Dungy. Tennessee head coach Jeff Fisher is the co-chairman of the committee, which meets to study the game and propose rules changes to ownership.

The committee is proposing to create a second defensive player with a communication device in his helmet, but he could not be on the field at the same time as the other defender with the communication device in his helmet. The goal is to create a competitive balance with the offense, whose quarterback as a communication device in his helmet. At this time, no defender may wear a communication device.

The committee wants to create a five- to seven-day dead period before the start of veteran free agency during which certified agents can negotiate but not sign contracts for their clients. There would be no player visit or contact allowed with prospective new teams. The Kansas City Chiefs, among others, have complained that other teams have had contact with prospective free agents prior to the signing period.

And, as a follow-up to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's memo from earlier this month, the league wants to establish an auditing process of each team – on which a senior official with the team would sign off – that the team is following league rules and guidelines. The memo and potential action result from the "Spygate" issue in which the New England Patriots illegally video-taped the New York Jets sideline in the first half of the 2007 opening and had to forfeit their first-round draft choice.

The goal is to protect the integrity and fair competition of the game, said Ray Anderson, a league vice president.

The competition committee also studied results of the past season, McKay said.

In 2007:

-- The NFC and AFC each won 32 inter-conference games;

-- Points per game reached 43.4, the highest since 1983;

-- Yards per game reached 650.4, 10th most in league history;

-- There were 428 passing yards per game, 4.85 touchdowns per game, 13.45 penalties per game, and the average time of the game was three hours, two minutes and 59 seconds.


11 Comments:

at 3/26/2008 4:04 PM Blogger REddlegg in Colorado said...

I'm sure MB will throw in a monkey wrench like he did at the CBA.

"Business as Usual".

 
at 3/26/2008 4:19 PM Blogger ChicagoRed said...

Mark --

you mentioned instant replay for field goals, but I didn't see listed that ridiculous situation in which coaches call timeout right before the kick and the kick goes forward but then has to be redone.

After it happened and affected several games on national TV, it seemed the tide was turning against allowing that....is that not on the agenda?

 
at 3/27/2008 8:50 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

ChicagoRed, I've heard some discussions about that. Making that illegal is a problem. What if the defense only has 10 on the field? Or what if the DC notices something odd, and suspects a fake? You have to allow the defense to call a timeout.

This problem will go away by itself. After a few more teams get beat by the second kick (when the first one missed), the fad will die off.

 
at 3/27/2008 8:53 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like the idea of the higher seeds going to the teams with the better records. I'm sure the Jaguars will vote for it! They have been punished in the past, simply because they are in the same division as the Colts. That factor, along with the factor of making games at the end of the season more meaningful, makes this a very good idea.

 
at 3/27/2008 10:38 AM Blogger Unknown said...

Mark, I don't understand the part about deferring to receive the kickoff in the second half. If you win the coin toss but elect to kickoff instead of receive, aren't you automatically going to receive the kickoff in the second half? How is this any different?

 
at 3/27/2008 10:38 AM Blogger Unknown said...

Mark, I don't understand the part about deferring to receive the kickoff in the second half. If you win the coin toss but elect to kickoff instead of receive, aren't you automatically going to receive the kickoff in the second half? How is this any different?

 
at 3/27/2008 11:38 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jeff, that's not how it works. The loser of the coin toss gets to choose what they want to do at the beginning of the 2nd half. See www.nfl.com/rulebook/cointoss. So if you win the coin toss, but would rather receive in the 2nd half, right now you don't have that option. I like it when the Bengals lose the toss, because that means they get the ball first in the 2nd half.

 
at 3/27/2008 1:56 PM Blogger puccinijp said...

FYI Jeff

http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/cointoss

 
at 3/27/2008 2:51 PM Blogger Unknown said...

Wow, I never knew that. Thanks for clarifying. I just figured every team wanted the ball to start the game. That's weird.

 
at 3/27/2008 5:04 PM Blogger engelj06 said...

Uh Reddlegg MB threw a wrench in the CBA and everyone dogged him for it. Now all the owners want to opt out of it because they finally realized it was a bad deal. As much as MB does dumb things that was actually one of the smart things he did.

 
at 3/28/2008 12:10 AM Blogger REddlegg in Colorado said...

Thanks for the info mindriot,I guess your right, when it comes to money MB is always attentive.

 
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