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.