With Sunday football back upon us, it’s a good time to ask about the potential for more rules changes being considered currently by the NFL. The rules in the NFL change only at a glacial pace which is generally a good thing. You don’t want to mess too much with a winning formula. But they do change on occasion. Some have been minor tweaks with varying levels of success. A few have been really boneheaded moves which were later abandoned, but some have been truly spectacular. (The advent of the forward pass is widely considered the greatest innovation and achievement of the 20th century, though penicillin and the moon landing are a close second and third.)
One of the biggest bones of contention is the current issue of altering the overtime rules. Should the starting kickoff position (currently the 30 yard line) be changed? More controversially, should the game end after the first score by either team? Some are saying that this gives an unfair advantage to the winner of the coin toss, since they only need a field goal to win and the other team then gets no chance to respond. By the same token, opponents of the change point out that if your defense isn’t good enough to stop the other team short of field goal territory when the chips are down, you really didn’t deserve to win anyway. What do you think?
The Jets (3-0) meet one of the other undefeated teams in the league today, the New Orleans Saints. Those of us in New York above Dutchess County will unfortunately be treated to the craptastic Bills playing the even more craptastic Dolphins because of stupid NFL and network broadcast agreements. (I’m putting in a Jets widget below, though, so you can at least follow the score.) I am holding on to hope and will pick the Jets defense to keep the Saints off the field and beat them in a low scoring grinder of a game.
Elsewhere in the league, I’ll take Green Bay over the Vikings on Monday night to prove that Favre is still past his expiration date. I’ll also pick Baltimore in a blowout over the deadbeat Patriots, the Titans to pick up their first win over the Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steel Curtain to continue to rust and lose to the San Diego Chargers.
Your picks?