NFL to Defenses: Hands Off!

When it comes to pass interference, the rules haven't really changed; they are just going to be enforced. Sort of like current airport security. After an egregious meltdown in officiating last season, which included a glaring inability to stop or even recognize an interference call, the NFL has brought the hammer down.

After five yards, there can be no contact with a potential receiver. But this is not soccer. Football is a contact sport. A defensive back should be able to use his hands. I am not suggesting that defenses check out the gold chains under a receiver's jersey, but I am proposing that there is nothing wrong with a defender fighting for position when turned toward the ball.

Unfortunately, the NFL wants to go from a policy of complete tolerance to total elimination. Yes, things did get out of hand last year, but the disestablishment of all defensive rights will not help the game. If preseason officiating holds true through opening day, a DB will be profiled, targeted, and judged guilty simply for the position they play.

Now in the NFL, there is only black and white. Incidental contact is virtually non-existent. If contact is made, it is automatically the defenses' fault and a first-down is sure to be awarded. The line between defending with caution and defending with fear has become blurred.

The only absolute is that there are no absolutes and what is absolutely true is you can't stop contact on receivers after five yards. Contact between two guys running as fast as they can at each other while trying to focus on a ball coming to them can't be expected to go away. Defensive fair rights to the ball are just going to have to be accepted. If not, speed receivers like Marvin Harrison are going to wind up with mind-numbing stats.

The only reason the NFL is so up in arms here (okay, maybe a little pun intended) is that offense sells. Last year, average passing yards per game were at a 10-year low. The high-flying Rams of 1999 were exciting. The limited, controlled offenses and dominant defenses of the Patriots and the Ravens are not. You don't see the NFL hammering down on offensive holding.

If the league tried, you would have defensive linemen with 30 sacks a year and quarterbacks lucky to make it through half a season. What the league fails to understand with its strict enforcement of the pass interference rule is that there will be no drama if the defense must play off the ball. As anyone knows, just a half-inch of space is considered open for professional receivers in the NFL. Imagine what Randy Moss is going to do with a foot of space.

Illegal contact and defensive holding must be called only if it actually interferes with catching the ball. Clearly, a defender who grabs a handful of jersey to keep a receiver from getting away deserves a flag, but if his hand comes in to block a pass away at the same time as the ball and hits the receiver's hand incidentally, there is simply nothing that can be done about that.

If the NFL can not come to some kind of rational ruling, they are going to head down the same boring predictable path that the NBA has done. There is going to be a foul every time a receiver is touched. Hail maries are going to be thrown regularly and the strategy of "run down and get hit" will become the norm. Watching the launched ball and wondering how the hell the receiver is going to manage to come down with it provides excitement.

However, the NFL needs to realize that drama is the key part of that excitement. If I know that a receiver has to fight like hell to catch the ball, rather than only make sure he gets bumped, I'll be a lot more interested. How about you?