The 32 NFL team owners had their annual meeting and agreed to have several changes to the rules of the game approved.
The highlight of the gathering is the prohibition of all forms of Chop blocking for the players, ie, below the defensives waist or legs. Until 2015 some blocking to the legs was still legal according to the NFL rulebook, which resulted in many injuries in the defensives, as we can evidence from the list of related leg injuries including knee problems and strained leg muscles throughout the League.
The experiment of placing the ball in the 15 yard line for each extra point. The NFL attempt to make the extra point a more complicated play worked as many extra point attempts have been extremely successful since 1977. The ruling will become permanent for the ball to be placed on the 15 yard line for every extra point attempt.
Other rule changes agreed in the meeting are as follows:
Communication from coaches to players will be allowed by the headset installed in the helmet, whether the player is on the field or not communication will be maintained.
The tackle area called the horse collar, the -around the neck area- will be expanded, with the rule change after the assembly. If a defensive holds an offensive from the area where the player’s name appears in their jersey, he will be punished.
The delay of game penalty will apply now when a team tries to call a timeout and no longer has permission to do so (intention of only stopping the game after using them).
The 5-yard penalty against any eligible receiver leaving the field, then returns and reaches to touch a forward pass attempt has been eliminated. Before the ruling this situation counted as a loss of down.
In the case of a player receiving a double penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. It is intended that the player should be ejected but the issue still remains unchanged as the meeting did not reach an agreement.
