Four weeks of NFL football are in the books, and parity abounds. Tom Brady was outdueled by a Hahvahd quarterback, the Bills and Lions are a combined 7-1 and the Eagles and Steelers are a combined 3-5.
But we here at Rules of the Game are finally getting over the euphoria of actually having a season, and settling back into our usual rule-mongering, nitpicking nature.
While Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners were hungrily grabbing even more of the NFL revenue pie from the league's players, they still found time to make more of a mess of the rules. Today, we will break down some of the new changes, see how their implementation has affected the game over the first four weeks and rank them with the always simile-rich "Necessity Factor."
Moving Kickoffs Up
The ruling that led some to declare the end of football as we know it has had less of an effect than many feared. Devin Hester was quoted early this year as saying that the five-yard change in the kickoff spot is "taking the whole return game out of the picture."
But a quick look at the numbers from the first four weeks of the season shows that that isn't the case. So far there have been four kick return touchdowns, averaging out to exactly one per week. In 2010, the league averaged 1.35 per week.
Meanwhile, no player averaged more than 30 yards per return the past season. But four players are above 30 yards per return this year, with three of them averaging above 34 yards.
The other concern was an increase in touchbacks. While only 16.4 percent of kickoffs in 2010 were touchbacks, in the first two weeks of the season 49.5 percent of kickoffs were. But if we have already shown that the big plays are still there, what was happening on the 33.1 percent of kicks? Well, kick returners were bringing them to about the 20-yard line and getting tackled, amounting to little more than a glorified touchback.
Ironically enough, out of the 31 players that through three weeks have enough returns to be ranked, Hester is in the middle of the pack at No. 14. Perhaps if he did a little less whining and a little more practicing, he'd still be having success, even after the change.
Necessity Factor: Another Peyton Manning commercial. It's not hurting anyone, but could have been done without.
Automatic Challenges on Scoring Plays
I've always worried that coaches didn't quite have enough challenges. But I also understood that giving them more could lead to red-flag abuse. The NFL seems to have found the perfect compromise, mandating challenges that don't cost the coaches on any scoring play.
So far, the rule has been enforced without much controversy. It has helped to make the game more accurately officiated and has had an effect on big plays in multiple games in the early weeks. Sure, it slows things down a bit, but NFL games are already quite long and taking a few extra minutes to make sure everything is in order is more than worth it.
Necessity Factor: A full-time police patrol for Ben Roethlisberger. We are all better off.
Penalties for Coaches Challenging Plays
Yep, that's right; the league is now punishing coaches for being on top of things. If the coach accidently throws the flag, even if the refs choose not to review, it's a 15-yard penalty. The Raiders were the first to be hit with this new rule in Week 2.
But outside of simple coach mishaps, it also restricts coaches from challenging calls not looked at. That almost cost the Chiefs this weekend, when the Vikings were given a touchdown on which Michael Jenkins didn't get two feet down.
Necessity Factor: A pet dog for Michael Vick. Just say no.
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Ethan Sturm is a junior majoring in biopsychology. He can be reached at Ethan.Sturm@tufts.edu.
