NFL - NEWS & NOTES

NFL wants officials to emphasize illegal contact fouls this season



The NFL often instructs on-field officials to focus on particular points of emphasis ahead of the season and this year’s focus is going to be on illegal contact fouls by defensive players.

A league spokesperson told Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com that they have asked officials to pay closer attention to those fouls. Defensive players are prohibited from contacting receivers more than five yards off the line of scrimmage while the quarterback has the ball and is in the pocket.


The change in focus comes after a sharp drop in illegal contact fouls. There were an average of 97 penalties for illegal contact between 2002 and 2020, but there were only 36 fouls called last season.

The league has made illegal contact fouls a point of emphasis two other times in the last 20 years. Both of those instances saw a sharp rise in the calls, so the early weeks of the regular season should send a hint about if the same thing will happen this time around.

PFT

 

Really goes to show how tough it is to ref an NFL game.

 

Certain DBs like Ramsey are ignored when it comes to illegal contact. I don’t like when they emphasize it because it usually is used to screw great defensive effort.

 

Do you realize you just stated that, in essence, the NFL emphasizes cracking down on great defensive effort that is illegal?

 

Yes, but my problem is some DBs are exempt from the crack down and none of them are ever Steelers.

 

Uh, Gid . . .

The crackdown hasn't started yet.

 

But last time they cracked down on illegal contact they let players like Richard Sherman and Ramsey get away with it while everyone else got hammered with penalties.

 

They were cracking down on it for a couple of years and then last season kind of let it go. I like it better when they let it go because they don’t treat all DBs the same.

 

The league should understand that a better game is one that generally has less flags. I'm assuming they have more rationale behind refocusing on this penalty than "there were fewer flags thrown than usual".

I'm not a fan of the "chicks dig the long ball" direction that the league continues to move in every year. Defense is still a part of the game, and one that many of us enjoy.

I'm sure the first few weeks will be filled with lots of flags, frustrated defenders, and free yards. And then the following few weeks will be filled with defenders trying to play within the rules, giving up a ton of catches, and seeing offenses score more easily. And, by the end of the season, things will be back to they way they were before the season, because the best competitors in the world at this sport aren't going to change their habits overnight because the league called a few more penalties.

 

If they (refs) call it by the 'letter of the law', I think its a good thing. The emphasis is being placed on plays developing after 5 yards from scrimmage when the ball is snapped, thats all. WR's will and should have a better chance at being open without the interference, which has been going on for a while. Too much bumping and hand interference past 5 yards is screwing up routes of the WR's. This should bode well for all teams on offense.

Im all for getting rid of the hand contact/interference, when it comes to WR;s running patterns past 5 yards from scrimmage.

 

lol. This will be true and kinda already happened with the 'lowering of the helmet' phase of the game recently.

 

Ravens kicker Justin Tucker signs four-year extension through 2027 season

The best kicker in the NFL has regained his rightful spot atop the compensation board.

The Baltimore Ravens and Justin Tucker have agreed to terms on a four-year extension worth $24 million with $17.5 million guaranteed, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Monday. The team later officially announced the signing.

The money is well spent. Tucker owns a career field-goal conversion rate of 91.1 percent, is both a five-time All-Pro and five-time Pro Bowler, and he was named to the NFL's All-Decade Team for the 2010s.

He's still drilling kicks better than the rest. The 32-year-old Tucker added to his sparkling resume by resetting the NFL's record for the longest converted field goal, crow-hopping into a 66-yard attempt inside Ford Field and skipping it off the crossbar to send the Ravens to victory and Tucker's uniform to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Tucker's new deal returns him to the throne as the highest-paid kicker in the NFL, usurping Steelers kicker Chris Boswell just one week after Pittsburgh temporarily vaulted him to the top of the pay chart with a four-year, $20 million extension.

Tucker's contract runs through the 2027 season, at which point he will be 38 years old. Baltimore is banking on Tucker's incredible consistency to continue through the majority of this decade, a wise decision at an otherwise fickle position.

NFL.com

 

Which way is your preference, Gid ?

 

Letting it go, because there’s no benefit for our teams in the AFCN when they call it more often.

 

Tucker and Boswell are currently the best two kickers in league history percentage wise.

 

Butker and Koo are between Tucker and Boswell

NFL Field Goal % Career Leaders (since 1938) | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

Baltimore Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins has passed his physical and come off the physically unable to perform list, the team announced Monday.

Dobbins is not in the clear yet for Week 1 against the Jets, but his ability to suit up for practice in early August is the first step in his journey back to field.

"I thought he looked good in individual (drills) first day back," coach John Harbaugh told reporters. "He was out there in individual, you guys saw him, moving around, running the ball-handling drill. That'll be the first step. Maybe we add a little more every day and kind of see how the knee responds. But it seems like it's so far, so good."

As a rookie, Dobbins had 134 carries for 805 yards and nine rushing touchdowns, plus another 120 yards and four scores on 18 receptions. He was expected to take over Baltimore's backfield in 2021 and build on his 6.0 yards per carry to make a push to become a top back in the league, but he suffered a torn ACL in the preseason.

Dobbins' injury started a rash of misfortune for the Ravens at the position. Justice Hill tore his Achilles in practice less than a week later, and Gus Edwards suffered an ACL tear before the season started as well, forcing Baltimore to operate with a rotating door at running back throughout the year.

The return of Dobbins signals what the Ravens surely hope will be a reversal of fortunes in the injury category this season. Although Edwards remains on the PUP list, Dobbins is joining an RB stable that includes Hill, Mike Davis, Corey Clement, Nate McCrary and sixth-round pick Tyler Badie.

The Ravens will follow the doctor's orders in bringing their best backfield option along in the coming weeks, but Harbaugh did tell reporters last week, "As soon as he's back out there, we'll be coaching him really hard."


Whether Dobbins is able to return for Week 1 or sometime shortly after, his electric playing style will restore something Baltimore was sorely lacking last season. A home-run threat RB is on his way back to pair with quarterback Lamar Jackson, and defenses will have to be on notice.

NFL.com

 

Patriots’ offense struggling in training camp



The departure of longtime Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels this offseason led head coach Bill Belichick to change up the team’s offensive system, with Matt Patricia — formerly a defensive coach — now calling the offensive plays. So far in training camp, it does not appear to be working.

Reporters on the scene at Patriots camp have described an ugly collection of mistakes and miscommunications, and Monday’s practice appeared to be the worst yet.


As Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal described it, “We’ve seen the offense look routinely disjointed as a new offensive coaching staff tries to install a new offense.”

Words like “disorganization” and “confusion” have been used by reporters at Patriots camp to describe how the Patriots’ offensive players appear to be picking up the new offense.

In Monday’s practice, the Patriots’ first four offensive snaps consisted of a false start by offensive tackle Trent Brown, followed by running back Damien Harris getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage, followed by an incompletion on a miscommunication between Mac Jones and Nelson Agholor, followed by a sack.

Sacks, of course, don’t truly happen in training camp because quarterbacks are off limits, but coaches blow the play dead when a defensive player would have sacked the quarterback, and those plays have been commonplace in Patriots camp. Jones is rarely having much time to throw as the Patriots’ defensive line dominates the offensive line.

There’s still more than a month before the start of the season, and perhaps all the kinks will get worked out by then. But the early reports are that the Patriots’ revamped offense is in rough shape.

PFT

 

Jets plan to play starters a series or two in preseason opener

The Jets aren’t giving their starters the night off for their first preseason game.

Head coach Robert Saleh didn’t give the first team much time in the preseason last year until the final game of the summer, but he revealed a different approach for Friday’s game against the Eagles.


“We’re planning on playing all our guys for a series or two,” Saleh said, via Ethan Sears of the New York Post. “So it’ll probably end up being a quarter. That’s for the first group and then the seconds [and] thirds will finish off the game.”

One starter who seems unlikely to play is right tackle Mekhi Becton. He left Monday’s practice with a knee injury and concern about his condition grew over the course of the day.

 

Titans sign Adrian Colbert

The Titans are adding a veteran safety to their secondary on Tuesday.

Agent Drew Rosenhaus announced that his client Adrian Colbert will be signing with Tennessee. No terms of the deal were announced.

Colbert was a 2017 seventh-round pick of the 49ers who has spent the last few years bouncing around the league. He was cut by the Niners early in 2019 and has had stints with the Seahawks, Dolphins, Chiefs, Giants, Patriots, Jets, and Browns since that move.

He has appeared in 39 games during all of that shuffling across the country. He has 109 tackles, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery over the course of his career.

The Titans list Kevin Byard and Amani Hooker as their top two safeties. A.J. Moore, Theo Jackson, Joshua Kalu, and Michael Griffin are also on hand.

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