Elimination of the Force Out Rule

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by BleedBurgundy

Just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on something I've noticed while watching preseason football this year...

As most everyone on this site probably knows, this past offseason the NFL competition committee chose to eliminate the "Force Out" rule whereby a receiver can not get both feet in bounds but still have a catch ruled a catch if it is determined that he would have landed in bounds with control had the defense not intervened. (that was really convoluted, but you know what I mean...)

So far in the preseason I have noticed every defense making a concerted effort to push WR's out of bounds before they can get both feet in. I think this is going to have a huge impact on Offensive strategy this year. Offenses are going to have to limit the amount of sideline patterns run by receivers or come up with some sort of adjustment to keep defenders from forcing offensive player's out. Whether it's keeping the ball low on outside routes, simply throwing to the inside shoulder or some other method, I'm really looking forward to seeing how offensive coordinators adjust.

I agree completely. This will have an affect far beyond just the plays that were controversial before because defenders are so much freer. It will especially affect endzone plays. I hope Jackson and Gray are coaching our guys to wrap up receivers as soon as they contact the ball and carry them out of bounds. I suppose if you caught a receiver in the middle of the field before his feet touched and were able to walk him to the sideline the ruling would be incomplete. At any rate, this is a big lift to the defense.