Every-Thing Sports
Jermaine Every: NFL 2018 rules changes/points of emphasis
Aug 21, 2018, 6:03 am
The NFL’s Competition Committee is made up of a mix of personnel. The current members of the committee are as follows: Rich McKay (chairman) – president, Atlanta Falcons, John Mara – owner, New York Giants, Stephen Jones – owner, Dallas Cowboys, Mark Murphy – president, Green Bay Packers, Ozzie Newsome – general manager, Baltimore Ravens, Mike Tomlin – head coach, Pittsburgh Steelers, John Elway – general manager, Denver Broncos, and Sean Payton – head coach, New Orleans Saints. Two each of team owners, presidents, general managers, and head coaches make up the committee which is appointed by the commissioner.
Every year, they review different rules and make changes to them, or add new rules. Some rules are reviewed, but not changed, and highlighted as a point of emphasis. Here are the rules changes for this year: use of helmet, kickoff rules, the infamous catch rule, illegal batting or kicking of the ball, and a couple of other minor tweaks. The points of emphasis are as follows: sportsmanship, illegal contact or other acts downfield, protection of runners who give themselves up, protection of quarterbacks as usual, protection of snapper on PAT’s and field goals, gunners going out of bounds, and use of officials’ whistle. If you want to read in further detail, here’s a link to the NFL’s Operations page listing them and their explanations.
So far in preseason, the ones that have been complained about or scrutinized the most are the helmet rule, protection of the quarterback, and protection of the runner. There have been a ton of clips on Twitter of different calls that have been called into question. The helmet rule is so ambiguous, it will have a life of its own much like the catch rule (which still hasn’t been totally settled). Defenders have been called for penalties when the offensive player has initiated the lowering of the head contact! Protection of the quarterback has taken on a whole new level of pussification of football. Defenders are now asked to not land their full body weight on the quarterback when they take him to the ground. So you must perform a sound tackle, not use your helmet as a spear, and make sure the physics are appropriate. If that isn’t stupid enough, the fact that a quarterback can dive head first, not be hit in the head, and gain yards by diving calls the rule into question when a quarterback dives at the goal line. If he scrambles, dives head first at the goal line, and a defender hits him in the shoulder/neck area to prevent a score, will a flag be thrown?
I understand keeping the game safe. I’m all for it. I have relatives who make a living off this game and want to see them succeed for years to come. I have the privilege of writing about the game I love, so of course I want to see it succeed. But, there are some things I can’t get with. One of them is stripping some of the natural tendencies of defenders, ball carriers, and pass rushers. If we take away from natural instincts, are we truly seeing the product so many of us want to see? Or are we bowing to pressure and giving into outside influences? There are more important issues the league should be focusing in on (like the actual source of anthem protests and dealing with player behavior off the field), instead of minute tweaks and changes of rules to appease potential lawsuits. The NFL has a work to do on and off the field. They won’t please everybody, but they sure as hell don’t want to lose too many supporters while attempting to skirt hot button issues.
Each football game of a season carries much more weight than one game in a 162 Major League Baseball schedule. That reality, combined with the National Football League campaign opening and with it the most anticipated season in Texans’ history, the Astros are relegated to second banana this weekend. Just the way it goes despite the Astros’ phenomenal extended run from 10 games out of first place in mid-June to now having control of the American League West race and a likely (though definitely not yet certain) eighth consecutive year of postseason play.
It is reality that getting swept out of Cincinnati cost the Astros two games in the standings to Seattle the last two days and trimmed their division lead to four and a half games going into this weekend. There was nothing shameful about getting swept. It’s not as if they choked. They got outplayed and beaten in all three games. Stuff happens within a 162-game season. The 2019 Astros were vastly better than the 2024 Astros. The 2019 ‘Stros posted the best record in franchise history at 107-55. In Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole they had the two best pitchers in the AL. The Reds finished 75-87 in ’19. In the lone Astros-Reds series five years ago, Verlander and Cole started two of the three games. The Reds swept the Astros out of Cincy by scores of 3-2, 4-3, and 3-2. Stuff happens. The following week the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez. There is no Yordan coming to fortify the offense now, but wait! Is that Kyle Tucker's music?
The Astros host the NL champs this weekend
It’s highly unlikely but it’s still a possible World Series preview at Minute Maid Park this weekend with the Astros home for three games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The reigning National League Champions woke up under .500 July 11, but since then have been sizzling with 33 wins against just 15 losses. Over the same time frame the Astros are 27-21. The Diamondbacks by a large margin have scored the most runs in MLB this season, and that’s while playing the last nearly three weeks without Ketel Marte because of a high ankle sprain. Marte has been far and away the best second baseman in the game this year. He may return this weekend in a designated hitter role. The Arizona offense overall has been sensational, however it has vulnerability against left-handed pitching, in significant part because it typically takes lefty-hitting platoon beast Joc Pederson out of the lineup. The D’Backs are 55-35 in games facing right-handed starters, just 24-27 in games started by opposing southpaws. The Astros have lefties Framber Valdez and Yusei Kikuchi set to go in the first two games this weekend. While the Astros deal with the Diamondbacks the Mariners are in St. Louis for three against the Cardinals.
Eleven Diamondbacks have had at least 200 plate appearances this season. Only one of them has an OPS below .725. The Astros also have 11 guys with at least 200 PAs. Five of them lug around sub-.715 OPSes: Jeremy Pena (.714), Jake Meyers (.664), Mauricio Dubon (.645), Jon Singleton (.697), and Chas McCormick (.566).
Maximizing Tucker's return
Speaking of returns, Tucker fiiiiiiinally should see action for the first time since his June 3 bone bruise. Oh wait, broken leg. Shame on the Astros for their BSing over this and other injuries. Yeah, Alex Bregman slept funny. Whatever. To boost the lineup Tucker doesn’t have to be the .979 OPS MVP candidate he was when felled. Ben Gamel has done some good work, but over time he’s Ben Gamel. Same for Jason Heyward. If Tucker's legs are under him his power is a B-12 shot and only Yordan is in his league in on-base percentage. Joe Espada has decisions to make as to how slot the batting order. Against a right-handed starter Jose Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, Bregman one through five makes sense with Tucker dropping down below Yainer against a left-handed starter. No question those are the top five in some order. How much of a workload Tucker is ready for bears watching. Presumably he doesn’t initially play the outfield day in day out. When Tucker DHs obviously Bregman (and Yordan) can’t so Alex’s ailing elbow holding up is key. One might say hopefully the bone chips don’t fall where they may. Tuesday the Astros start a stretch playing 16 days in a row.
Keep hope alive!
If you’re an Astros fan holding out hope of chasing down the second seed to avoid having to play the best-of-three Wild Card series, say it with me, whatever nausea it may induce: “Go Dodgers Go!” Hurt as it might, business is business. The Dodgers play host to the Guardians. The Astros trail Cleveland by five games with just 22 to play, but do finish the regular season with three games at Cleveland. It's pretty much over for the Astros to catch both the Orioles and Yankees.
Season-long trends mean nothing once the playoffs start, and that’s a good thing for the Astros provided they are in the playoffs. They continue to flat out stink in close games. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Reds has the Astros record in one-run games at 15-24. In two-run games they are 10-14. Correlatively, the Astros also continue to routinely fail late in close games. The Astros have played 14 games that were tied after seven innings. They have lost 11 of the 14. In games tied after eight innings they are 7-13. Every team loses an extremely high percentage of games when trailing after eight innings, but the Astros haven’t pulled out a single game they’ve trailed going to the ninth. 0-50. Oh and fifty. But hey, the White Sox are 0-92!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.