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Speaker 1: dot com with Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the bet MGM studio.
Speaker 2: Well, it's good to be here. I do love it
Speaker 2: in this studio.
Speaker 1: Do you like rules? I do like rules are you're
Speaker 1: a rules person.
Speaker 2: I like knowing what the rules are.
Speaker 1: You know what you'd like to be aware of the rules.
Speaker 2: I like to be aware of the rules.
Speaker 1: So at Titans training camp, NFL referee Scott Novak came
Speaker 1: by just a few days ago. He's in town with
Speaker 1: his crew, and what would you call what the officials do? Overall,
Speaker 1: they just sort of work practice and they kind of
Speaker 1: get into shape a little bit.
Speaker 3: I think that's a good way to describe it. They
Speaker 3: are there both for their own benefit, you know, to
Speaker 3: kind of walk through things as officials, but also to
Speaker 3: provide some parameters to Titan's training camp and give them
Speaker 3: the ability to get an understanding of what officials are
Speaker 3: going to be looking for, how certain things are going
Speaker 3: to be called that season. So I mean it's training
Speaker 3: camp for everybody, and that includes the officials.
Speaker 1: And so the other thing they do is the officials
Speaker 1: make a presentation to the team and to the media
Speaker 1: about new rules, rule changes, or certain modifications. At Scott
Speaker 1: Novak did that with the media and he did a
Speaker 1: great job and the media did a great job asking questions.
Speaker 1: It was one of the most informative sessions that I've
Speaker 1: ever been to, and we wanted to share with the
Speaker 1: ot people about the rules, in particular because they're two
Speaker 1: massive changes that you're going to watch in the preseason. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the kickoff rule.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the big one. That's the one that requires
Speaker 3: the explanation.
Speaker 1: So let's start with this and why they're doing it.
Speaker 1: It's designed to increase the number of kickoff returns, and
Speaker 1: as Troy Vincent from the NFL office said on the
Speaker 1: video that they showed us to cut speed and space
Speaker 1: in order to eliminate those big time collisions. Yep.
Speaker 3: So we're trying to make it more exciting and also safe.
Speaker 1: So we're closer together. We're hoping to get returns and
Speaker 1: we want to get less people hurt. Love it all right,
Speaker 1: The kicking team will kick off from the thirty five
Speaker 1: yard line.
Speaker 2: So far, so good.
Speaker 1: That doesn't change. The other ten members of the kickoff
Speaker 1: team will line up at the opponent's forty yard line. Okay,
Speaker 1: so they are twenty five yards away from the kicker.
Speaker 1: At least nine members of the return team are set
Speaker 1: up between their own thirty and thirty five yard line,
Speaker 1: with at least seven of them at least touching the
Speaker 1: thirty five yard line. That's known as the restraining line. Okay.
Speaker 1: Players not on the restraining line have to be in
Speaker 1: the setup zone outside the hash mark.
Speaker 3: So as it stands right now, no one has moved.
Speaker 3: We're just getting set.
Speaker 1: We're just getting there.
Speaker 2: Two.
Speaker 1: And what you have is you have nineteen players within
Speaker 1: five yards of each other.
Speaker 2: Basically, okay, all right.
Speaker 1: The play does not begin until the ball is caught
Speaker 1: in what is known as the landing zone or is
Speaker 1: returned out of the end zone. Here's an important point.
Speaker 1: No players except the kicker and the returners can moved
Speaker 1: until the ball is caught by the returner. So everybody
Speaker 1: has to stay totally stationed outside of the kicker or
Speaker 1: the returners until the ball is received. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: are you're ready for the landing zone?
Speaker 2: I'm ready for the landing zone.
Speaker 1: All right. The landing zone is the area between the
Speaker 1: receiving team's goal line and the twenty yard line. Any
Speaker 1: kick that's caught in the landing zone must be returned. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right. If a kick hits in the landing zone
Speaker 1: and is allowed to bounce into the end zone and downed,
Speaker 1: or is allowed to bounce through the end zone, it
Speaker 1: comes out to the twenty like the olden days.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, all right.
Speaker 1: If the kick lands in the end zone and results
Speaker 1: in a touchback, as we know it either not returned
Speaker 1: or traveling through the end zone, the ball comes out
Speaker 1: to the thirty yard line. So if the kicking team
Speaker 1: chooses to just drive it through the end zone, it
Speaker 1: comes out to the thirty okay, five more yards.
Speaker 2: Last year, which I mean five yards is five yards?
Speaker 1: Five yards? Okay. Now here's the fun one. If the
Speaker 1: kickoff fails to reach the landing zone, say, for instance,
Speaker 1: it hits at the twenty five yard line, the ball
Speaker 1: will come out to the forty. The ball will also
Speaker 1: come out to the forty if it is kicked out abounds.
Speaker 2: Okay, interesting, So how twists?
Speaker 1: How confused are you? Right now? Marginally confused.
Speaker 3: You know, it feels like there's just a lot of
Speaker 3: if then, right, so I need one of those flow charts, right,
Speaker 3: we can clear some of this up.
Speaker 1: So when Novak was going through this and we were
Speaker 1: asking our questions, what I determined right away is there
Speaker 1: were elements of this I clearly didn't know, and there
Speaker 1: were also a couple of elements that I had sort
Speaker 1: of wrong. Yeah, So I was very thankful because the
Speaker 1: information that we received from the owners meeting back at
Speaker 1: the end of March, yeah, was not this detail.
Speaker 3: It was a lot more kind of jargon, yes, and
Speaker 3: it was a lot more probably the wording that is
Speaker 3: written in the official legal ease almost for rules. This
Speaker 3: is a lot more detailed and therefore more confusing.
Speaker 1: All right, So I'm gonna let you ask some questions.
Speaker 2: Perfect first, I got them.
Speaker 1: But first I need to mention open a Titans checking
Speaker 1: account at Pinnacle by this Friday, August second, with at
Speaker 1: least one hundred dollars and a recurring direct deposit. Now
Speaker 1: this is just through this Friday, and you could receive
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Speaker 1: member FDIC. So we're talking about the new kickoff rule.
Speaker 1: We've laid it out for you. Amy Wells has questions.
Speaker 3: I do have questions. Can I just list them? Can
Speaker 3: I just run through them? Is that okay with you?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 3: So say I'm the returner. Kickoff comes, I catch it,
Speaker 3: you catch it, and my feet are on the goal line.
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: Where am i? Am I in a landing zone? Am
Speaker 2: I in a goal? Where am I?
Speaker 1: You're actually not technically in the landing zone. You're technically
Speaker 1: in the end zone.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So if you down it, then you are in a
Speaker 1: position where it comes out to the thirty, but you
Speaker 1: can obviously run it if you choose to do so.
Speaker 2: Okay, great. What about fair catches? Can I fair catch
Speaker 2: this thing?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Fair catch is dead?
Speaker 1: More fair catch?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Well? Fair catch? Goodbye?
Speaker 2: Okay. So here's a question. After the kicker kicks.
Speaker 1: The ball, I like this one. I know where you're going.
Speaker 3: Can he keep just running as far as he wants
Speaker 3: to go until the ball is caught?
Speaker 1: Well, that's a thought because he he's running at the ball.
Speaker 2: When he kicks it, and so he can just can
Speaker 2: take you.
Speaker 1: On his momentum keeps going, You're thinking to yourself.
Speaker 2: Can his momentum carry him into a returner?
Speaker 1: No, okay, he can only go as far as midfield. Ah,
Speaker 1: so he has to stop at the fifty. He can't
Speaker 1: go beyond the fifty yard line until the play happens.
Speaker 1: The feeling is with the version of it that has
Speaker 1: happened before. In the XFL, kickers have often been involved
Speaker 1: in tackles. But no, you cannot just keep let your momentum.
Speaker 2: Carry you to infinity, carry you.
Speaker 1: To you to infinity and beyond.
Speaker 3: Okay, So how does all of this apply to, say,
Speaker 3: like a free kick following a safety.
Speaker 1: The safety yeah, also known as the safety kick.
Speaker 2: Is it really called that?
Speaker 1: That's what they called it in the rule book?
Speaker 2: Really? Have you ever called it a safety kick?
Speaker 1: I have not. I've always called it a freak kick.
Speaker 2: I've never heard a human call it that.
Speaker 1: But okay, So what happens that's interesting is the ball
Speaker 1: is kicked from the twenty instead of the thirty five,
Speaker 1: so fifteen yards back following the safety, but the kickoff
Speaker 1: team is still at the other team's forty. The return
Speaker 1: team is still at the thirty five. The restraining line
Speaker 1: is still in the same place, and the landing zone
Speaker 1: remains the same between the goal line and the twenty interesting,
Speaker 1: so nothing changes except the spot of the actual kick
Speaker 1: after a safety.
Speaker 2: So say there's a penalty, then what are we doing?
Speaker 1: The position of the kicker changes everything Again, everything stays
Speaker 1: the same forty, the thirty to thirty five, the restraining
Speaker 1: line in that five yard area, and the landing zone
Speaker 1: goal line to twenty nothing changes. What is interesting about
Speaker 1: the penalties though, is and this was example Scott Novak used,
Speaker 1: So penalties that had formerly been applied to the kickoff,
Speaker 1: like say a guy catches a touchdown pass. This was
Speaker 1: the example Novak used, and he taunts, so the touchdown
Speaker 1: is still good, but there's a fifteen yard penalty it.
Speaker 1: Now all of those kind of penalties have to be
Speaker 1: applied to the extra point try, So if there's a
Speaker 1: fifteen yard penalty in that instance, then it'll be a
Speaker 1: forty eight yard extra point instead of a thirty three
Speaker 1: yard extra point.
Speaker 3: Ot people, at this point, I want to give you
Speaker 3: permission to pause, if you need to rewind, listen to
Speaker 3: some of this again. We want to make sure you
Speaker 3: understand what's going on here. I'm going to have to
Speaker 3: listen to this and rewind because there's a lot of
Speaker 3: there's a lot of detail to this.
Speaker 2: This is a lot.
Speaker 1: Well, I took notes, and then I watched the video twice,
Speaker 1: and then I got online and found everything I could
Speaker 1: to read about some of these other scenarios as well.
Speaker 3: I read the official like NFL operations, whole page. There
Speaker 3: was a chart and everything. Thank you NFL. It was
Speaker 3: very well done. But there's a lot here. Let's continue on.
Speaker 2: I have more question.
Speaker 3: Go, okay, So the receiving team, according to you and
Speaker 3: your explanation, must put at least nine players between the
Speaker 3: thirty and the thirty five correct, Yes, okay, So if
Speaker 3: you do that, does it not mean that you'd have
Speaker 3: two returners deep? So why would you do that?
Speaker 1: Well, that's the rule.
Speaker 2: Well okay, so I mean all right.
Speaker 1: And in the XFL, I think they only had one returner.
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 1: But in this rule, in how the NFL is doing it,
Speaker 1: they're putting two guys deep. And what's what's interesting is
Speaker 1: let's say, now, let's say you want to try to
Speaker 1: kick something odd like that, you want to kick it
Speaker 1: with a little bit of a knuckle or you want
Speaker 1: to angle it towards a certain area. The two returners
Speaker 1: give you the ability to field the kick wherever it
Speaker 1: is in the landing zone. So if I kick like
Speaker 1: a knuckler, something that's got a bit of wobble to it,
Speaker 1: and it lands at the fifteen in the landing zone,
Speaker 1: then I've got two guys back there to potentially bring
Speaker 1: it out. Now the interesting part is, let's say it
Speaker 1: hits in the landing zone and they can't come up
Speaker 1: with it, you know, because once the ball hits the ground,
Speaker 1: it's a thing it's on. Then yeah, that's a live ball.
Speaker 4: So yeah, guys, it shouldn't be You wouldn't think it
Speaker 4: would be too big an issue with two returners, you know,
Speaker 4: and they're I don't think the league is really excited
Speaker 4: about the funny kick being part of all of.
Speaker 1: This, But it will be, well somebody will. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like everything else, somebody is going to try to
Speaker 1: stretch the rule all different sorts of ways. But again,
Speaker 1: it has to hit in the landing zone then, because
Speaker 1: if it hits outside the landing zone then it comes
Speaker 1: out to the forty. It's immediately dead at that point.
Speaker 1: So can you be that good.
Speaker 2: Can you sure somebody will be there?
Speaker 1: I think more than likely. What you will see is
Speaker 1: you'll see teams angle it two different ends to try
Speaker 1: to pen guys in.
Speaker 2: But then if it goes out, if it goes out.
Speaker 1: Of bounds, it comes out to the forty. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So it's a dangerous dance. Oh okay. So let's talk
Speaker 2: about the elements here for a second.
Speaker 3: So say say it's a windy day, okay, an exceptionally windy.
Speaker 1: Day, Buffalo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, And so it's hard to get the ball
Speaker 3: to stay on the tee and it's the whole thing.
Speaker 3: So do you have to use one of your nine
Speaker 3: or ten or however many guys have to come over.
Speaker 2: And hold the ball. Nope, you get a free holder.
Speaker 1: You get a twelfth guy.
Speaker 2: And was can he can he run?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: So he just has to get down.
Speaker 1: He gets down.
Speaker 2: You are furniture.
Speaker 1: Yes, this question was asked the other day. It Scott
Speaker 1: Novak answered, is really good. So the twelfth guy comes
Speaker 1: on the field, so you can play with twelve players
Speaker 1: for one.
Speaker 2: Play only if he's a holder and.
Speaker 1: He comes out, he holds the ball for the kicker
Speaker 1: and then he must immediately exit the field, so you're not,
Speaker 1: so you still have ten guys at the forty twenty
Speaker 1: five yards from the kicker.
Speaker 3: So the choreography in my head is you've got eleven
Speaker 3: guys going this like I guess straight yeah, straight ahead,
Speaker 3: and then you've got one making a hard left or right.
Speaker 1: Out of town sideways guy, sideways guy? All right?
Speaker 2: Huh? Are on side kick? Still a thing?
Speaker 1: Sorda, Okay, so.
Speaker 2: What what does this mean?
Speaker 1: I'm going to help you with this. The surprise on
Speaker 1: sidekick is dead. Rats won't happen.
Speaker 2: Guys show up and they're like, wait a minute, are they?
Speaker 1: And I know that some people are going to make
Speaker 1: a big deal, but I checked on this. So oh,
Speaker 1: the surprise on sidekick, It's happened twice in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: It has but only two surprise attempts last year in
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three season, and just four in the
Speaker 1: last five years overall. And I'm just reading this. Overall
Speaker 1: NFL teams have converted two of the last fifteen surprise
Speaker 1: on side kick attempts.
Speaker 2: Hmm.
Speaker 1: So it's like, yeah, it hasn't been that big a
Speaker 1: deal now, So if you're gonna, you know, start.
Speaker 2: The element of surprise the game I grew up with.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean the game. It's not really a thing. Okay,
Speaker 1: So the the surprise on side kick is out, okay,
Speaker 1: but the on side kick is still around. But not
Speaker 1: until the fourth quarter, right, Yes, it must be declared
Speaker 1: we're going to do an on side kick. Well, they
Speaker 1: have to tell the other team so they can get
Speaker 1: lined up in the normal on side position.
Speaker 2: And then don't even do it.
Speaker 1: You can't do an on side kick unless you're behind.
Speaker 1: What So the element that they have kept in the
Speaker 1: game is that if your two scores. Mind, if you're
Speaker 1: down twenty eight to fourteen, and you score touchdown, then
Speaker 1: you can say we're going to on sidekick because you're behind.
Speaker 1: And so that will mean in the last two minutes
Speaker 1: somebody can try an onside kick in order to get
Speaker 1: the ball back and keep the game going. That's good
Speaker 1: for business, that's good for television, all of this. But
Speaker 1: the example, Scott novacused, if you're down twenty eight to
Speaker 1: nothing with a minute to go in the third quarter
Speaker 1: and you kick a field goal make it twenty eight
Speaker 1: to three, you cannot on sidekick because it's not in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. H must declare fourth quarter must be behind,
Speaker 1: can't be tied, can't be tied, Nope, must be behind.
Speaker 2: Just get rid of it at that point, like all
Speaker 2: the fun parts are gone. Get rid of it.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of elements to this.
Speaker 3: When you say i'm my brain is like smoking. The
Speaker 3: steam is coming out my ears. So is is all
Speaker 3: of this permanent? Is this just the way our life
Speaker 3: is going to be?
Speaker 1: Now? Now it's one year trials. I mean it was
Speaker 1: voted in twenty nine to three. The Raiders, the Packers
Speaker 1: and the forty nine ers were the only teams that
Speaker 1: voted against it.
Speaker 3: But like, after seeing all of this and a year
Speaker 3: of a wrapping your mind around all of these changes,
Speaker 3: I don't think you can ever unsee it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can unsee it. They've unseen things before.
Speaker 3: Do a whole year of all of this nuance, and
Speaker 3: then it's just it's like never happened.
Speaker 1: Well, but you think about this, Only twenty or actually
Speaker 1: a little less than twenty two percent of all kickoffs
Speaker 1: were returned last year.
Speaker 2: That's not a lot.
Speaker 1: It's terrible. There were nearly a lot. There were nearly
Speaker 1: two thousand touchbacks.
Speaker 2: I know it's not good.
Speaker 1: Hey, there was not a kickoff returned in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: not one. Now, think about this, Amy, So what you
Speaker 1: had is, instead of a football play, you had two
Speaker 1: highly skilled kickers, Harrison Butker and Jake Moody.
Speaker 2: Just kicking at each other.
Speaker 1: It was like they were at the driving range. Basically,
Speaker 1: they were just seeing how far they could kick it.
Speaker 1: That's not a football play.
Speaker 2: Now you get so fired off of that.
Speaker 1: Do I kickoff? Yeah? I don't know that. I like
Speaker 1: now that I've learned all that goes with this.
Speaker 2: You don't like this either.
Speaker 1: No, I'm not saying I don't like it. I don't
Speaker 1: know that I like all that goes with it.
Speaker 2: It's like a video game play.
Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing. Using the hybrid kickoff rule, and
Speaker 1: I'm reading because I type this out. Using the hybrid
Speaker 1: kickoff rule, the XFL saw returns on ninety seven percent
Speaker 1: of the kickoffs in twenty twenty three. I couldn't find
Speaker 1: the numbers for twenty twenty four. I apologize, but ninety
Speaker 1: seven percent. No way the NFL gets that high.
Speaker 3: No chance the higher than like twenty two percent a win?
Speaker 1: Could they? You know? Troy Vinson in the video said
Speaker 1: thirty plus percent would be and I mean that would
Speaker 1: be quite an increase what I think is going to happen. Okay,
Speaker 1: I think two major things. Rich Vasacia, the longtime NFL
Speaker 1: special teams coach, said in a recent interview that he
Speaker 1: that there there probably will be tweaks during the preseason,
Speaker 1: that there will be discussions about, you know, things that
Speaker 1: just don't make sense once they see it in games
Speaker 1: makes sense. I think teams will do this in September
Speaker 1: and October. In the regular season. I think teams will
Speaker 1: have kickoff strategies. I think teams will have return strategies.
Speaker 1: I think you'll you'll get into all sorts of things.
Speaker 1: I think you'll have injuries which will cause your kickoff
Speaker 1: team to be lessened. Yeah you're saying, okay, we don't
Speaker 1: have the right makeup here. I also think people will
Speaker 1: bust some returns, which will.
Speaker 2: Be fun, yeah, very exciting.
Speaker 1: And then I think by the time you get to Halloween.
Speaker 1: Just my opinion, but by the time you get to Halloween,
Speaker 1: everybody will say we're just kicking it through the end zone.
Speaker 2: So everybody will be over it. Yep, we're trying to nuance,
Speaker 2: trying to do it.
Speaker 1: We don't we don't want to have to spend all
Speaker 1: the time to block it. We don't want to. We've
Speaker 1: got guys who are hurt, the returners. Who is that
Speaker 1: going to be?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 1: What are we going to do here?
Speaker 2: Just kick it out, Just.
Speaker 1: Kick it out of the insigne. That's just one person's opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I mean, you're probably pretty spot on.
Speaker 1: But I mean, to the OT people, that was a
Speaker 1: lot more than you thought it would be. Right.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you there's no shame in rewinding and listening
Speaker 2: twice because this is a lot of information.
Speaker 1: Does that count towards our listenership viewership? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think we get double if you actually listen to
Speaker 3: it two times, three, four or five.
Speaker 1: Please do that. Tell friends, go to neighbors, Hey, Titans fans.
Speaker 1: Seat geek makes it easy to find tickets so you
Speaker 1: can be a part of all the touchdown celebrations even
Speaker 1: after an exciting kickoff return. Whether you're buying or selling
Speaker 1: football tickets, seat geek is the place to do it.
Speaker 1: Seat Geek the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 1: The most disruptive idea in ticketing a ticket that works.
Speaker 1: Expect the expected from gee Seat geek. All right, are
Speaker 1: you ready for other rules changes? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Because I think that there is a kick off?
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, I mean we've we've kicked the kickoff, man, like.
Speaker 1: We well, we wanted to do that. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: this is real inside baseball stuff in terms of rules.
Speaker 1: And if you listen to the OTP for fun and
Speaker 1: for abolity and the one for you, probably.
Speaker 2: Not if you want a fun podcast, not here.
Speaker 1: But I made this decision. I'm the problem. It's me.
Speaker 3: No, this is a very important thing to understand. Well,
Speaker 3: and we have preseason football coming up in like twenty minutes,
Speaker 3: and can you.
Speaker 1: Imagine how many times we're going to have to get
Speaker 1: into the overall explanation of what this is.
Speaker 3: Well, and there's gonna be a lot of what in
Speaker 3: the world, what is this?
Speaker 2: What is happening? That is not?
Speaker 1: I can't wait. What I can't wait for is Coach
Speaker 1: mac because he's gonna go now that one comes out
Speaker 1: to the twenty. It's like, no, coach, that one's gonna
Speaker 1: come out to the forty.
Speaker 3: We should We'll just hang give him a copy here. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we'll just hang it up for him.
Speaker 1: All right. So the further rule changes after a three
Speaker 1: year study. The hip drop tackle is now illegal.
Speaker 2: I had to watch a lot of videos to figure
Speaker 2: out what a hip drop drop tackle.
Speaker 1: I did two. I did two. But the reason it
Speaker 1: is now illegal it is a play that is twenty
Speaker 1: to twenty five times more likely to result in injury,
Speaker 1: not twenty percent, not twenty five percent, twenty to twenty
Speaker 1: five times more likely to result.
Speaker 3: In injury, which makes sense. It cannot be good for
Speaker 3: the old lower extremities.
Speaker 1: So in order for an official to call a hip
Speaker 1: drop tackle on the field, the official must see three indicators.
Speaker 1: The official sees the tackler wrap the ball carrier.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: The official must see the tackler swivel the ball carrier
Speaker 1: in a way that oftentimes will just take the tackler
Speaker 1: off the ground. Yeah, so he comes up, okay, he
Speaker 1: grabs around the waist, he wraps, and then he turns
Speaker 1: the ball carrier to the point that with such force
Speaker 1: it generally takes him off the ground. And finally, the
Speaker 1: official then sees the tackler drop his weight on the
Speaker 1: legs of the ball carrier. Not good, So that's again wrap, swivel,
Speaker 1: and then finally drop weight on the on the ball
Speaker 1: on the back of the ball carrier's legs.
Speaker 3: But let's think about this. Okay, you know how fast
Speaker 3: an NFL football game is.
Speaker 1: And there're seven officials.
Speaker 3: Yeah, do we think that officials are actually going to
Speaker 3: be able to see all three of those things in
Speaker 3: real time?
Speaker 1: No? I think we will see We'll see him try
Speaker 1: and will But but do I think do I think
Speaker 1: they will get close to all of them? No? Because
Speaker 1: I mean, to see, the game is so fast, and
Speaker 1: they're at different angles, and plays happen away front, somewhere
Speaker 1: in front, to the side behind. You know, all of
Speaker 1: these things, and.
Speaker 2: People fall in strange ways.
Speaker 1: They fall in strange ways. This happens, and sometimes you're
Speaker 1: you know, you see something and then you're blocked by
Speaker 1: two other guys who are in front of the play.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not their fault.
Speaker 2: No, it's a fast moving game.
Speaker 1: It's a fast moving game.
Speaker 3: So why even put this in if you know that
Speaker 3: officials are probably not going to see it?
Speaker 1: I think, obviously, to cut down injuries, I think they
Speaker 1: will call some hip drop tackles. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: All of them that happened in the course of a game,
Speaker 1: whether called for a fifteen yard penalty or not are
Speaker 1: subject to fined.
Speaker 3: So if they go back and see it on a
Speaker 3: rerun or a video.
Speaker 1: You're getting a FedEx on Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Have a little notey note in your locker.
Speaker 1: And you owe a lot of money. In some ways,
Speaker 1: I mean, they're going to foul it. They hope to
Speaker 1: foul the hip drop tackle out of the game. They
Speaker 1: would like that. But I think in some ways too,
Speaker 1: they will find it out of the game because it
Speaker 1: really is in their opinion, that's serious. And some of
Speaker 1: the injuries. In talking to Scott Novac after the fact,
Speaker 1: the NFL official that I've referenced multiple times, some of
Speaker 1: the injuries are groose.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I believe that. I mean, it makes a
Speaker 3: lot of sense. So how is something like video assist
Speaker 3: going to plan to all of this?
Speaker 1: Well, so great, you would ask video assist or replay assist,
Speaker 1: whichever term you choose to use. Is something that has
Speaker 1: been in effect for a few years. This is a
Speaker 1: different point. Doesn't have anything to do with the hip drop.
Speaker 1: This is another change. Okay, video assist has been increased
Speaker 1: to allow the replay booth to help officials with the
Speaker 1: location of the quarterback relative to the pocket and with
Speaker 1: the location of the runner relative to the sideline. Okay,
Speaker 1: So where do you want to start. You've got questions,
Speaker 1: I can tell yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Have many questions. So what is what is the rule
Speaker 2: that it is going to be associated with that?
Speaker 1: Okay? So it's pretty simple, Okay. On a play where
Speaker 1: there is a question, yeah, about whether or not the
Speaker 1: quarterback is out of the pocket. If he's outside the
Speaker 1: pocket and he runs or he is running, he's ball carrier, correct.
Speaker 1: He is not protected the same way if he's outside
Speaker 1: the pocket and he throws the ball away, or if
Speaker 1: he's inside the pocket and he throws the ball. That
Speaker 1: obviously applies to the possibility of intentional grounding. Outside the pocket,
Speaker 1: you can throw it away. Inside the pocket, you cannot.
Speaker 1: It's intentional grounding.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So that will be something that replay assists or video assist,
Speaker 1: whatever you choose to call it. They can immediately speak
Speaker 1: to the official and say he was outside the pocket, okay,
Speaker 1: And so they can without it going to a full
Speaker 1: blown replay.
Speaker 2: So they're just going to be able to di in.
Speaker 1: On ding in and just come into the headset of
Speaker 1: the official and say that's a good call. He was
Speaker 1: outside the pocket or he was not outside the pocket.
Speaker 1: The other thing too, about the position of a runner
Speaker 1: as it relates to the sideline guys getting hit out
Speaker 1: of bounds. Sometimes you see a guy and he's running
Speaker 1: and he gets hit near the sidelines and it's a
Speaker 1: brutal collision and it appears to be a foul penalty
Speaker 1: markers throwne but he's actually not out of bounds. Right now,
Speaker 1: they will be able to look at it, and if
Speaker 1: he has both feet out of bounds, then they could say, well,
Speaker 1: he was definitively out of bounds or he was not
Speaker 1: out of bounds. Replay Assist can help with that.
Speaker 3: Wait, so how is this currently being used, Like, why
Speaker 3: are they not already monitoring that?
Speaker 1: Well, they do. They're using it some time issues spotting
Speaker 1: the ball, but we think that's going to get better
Speaker 1: this year with the censors on the football. Another one
Speaker 1: is is a ball caught or not? If they can
Speaker 1: clearly see, oh the ball skipped, they will hit replay
Speaker 1: assist and say that's an incomplete pass. Interesting, or you
Speaker 1: know that was he caught it. It makes the game
Speaker 1: more accurate and yet it keeps the game moving. So
Speaker 1: they have expanded replay assist to do those things that
Speaker 1: it has been doing, but to include location of the
Speaker 1: quarterback relative to the relative to the pocket, and location
Speaker 1: of the runner relative to the sideline.
Speaker 3: So are we just inching closer and closer to the sky.
Speaker 2: Judge, Yes, we're gonna have the sky judy in the sky.
Speaker 1: The eighth official who makes calls from from the booth, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's going to happen. I mean, that's essentially what this is.
Speaker 1: It's just this official, the eighth official basically has not
Speaker 1: been empowered to be involved in everything. You know, do
Speaker 1: they occasionally buzz in on certain things, and you know,
Speaker 1: we're not one hundred percent sure. One of the things
Speaker 1: that's difficult in our job calling the game is oftentimes
Speaker 1: they'll say, oh, completed pass, and they'll run up and
Speaker 1: mark the ball, you know, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the pass is not complete. They won't say upon further
Speaker 1: review taking it right, they won't say I mean, they
Speaker 1: won't say anything. So we're calling the game and it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: Smith made the catch up at the forty yard line, Well,
Speaker 1: why is the ball back at the twenty yard line?
Speaker 1: You I mean, as an announcer, you think you've lost
Speaker 1: your mind, You're like, I mean, so I don't think
Speaker 1: they're going to start making an announcement that you know
Speaker 1: it was changed, but it would sure help if it did.
Speaker 3: How is this going to impact the challenges by the
Speaker 3: old challenge, because that's important part.
Speaker 1: The challenge thing has gotten interesting because now if you
Speaker 1: get one this is new rule. If you get one
Speaker 1: of your first two challenges correct, not both, but one,
Speaker 1: you get a third challenge.
Speaker 2: So you only have to get one right here.
Speaker 1: And I have to get one right third. Yes, interesting because
Speaker 1: a lot of what you were seeing is you were
Speaker 1: seeing teams challenge something in the first forty five seconds
Speaker 1: of a game and lose the challenge, yeah, and or
Speaker 1: early in a game whatever, and.
Speaker 2: Then something happens later.
Speaker 1: Well, then something happens and they're afraid to use their
Speaker 1: even though they're very sure, but they're terrified to use
Speaker 1: the second challenge because even if they got it right,
Speaker 1: they're out of challenges for the rest of the game. Right,
Speaker 1: So now, I mean, this is just one more way
Speaker 1: they're trying to get things right.
Speaker 2: So that's what necessitated that change.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it adds to the strategy of the game and
Speaker 1: hopefully more correct calls are made.
Speaker 3: Mike, this is mind blowing. I feel like we have
Speaker 3: covered so much ground. You think I feel smart, I
Speaker 3: feel stupider, But I think I will feel smarter once
Speaker 3: I see it.
Speaker 1: On the FET. Why would you say you feel stupid?
Speaker 3: Well, because there's a lot of stuff rolling in my
Speaker 3: head right now. Like it's gonna take me a minute
Speaker 3: seeing this in the preseason a couple times, especially all
Speaker 3: the kickoff stuff. I'm going to have to see it
Speaker 3: in action a couple of times to start to get
Speaker 3: a feel for what it is.
Speaker 2: And hearing it.
Speaker 3: You know what this really does lining all of this
Speaker 3: up and really going like move by move within the kickoffs.
Speaker 2: It makes what we see out at practice.
Speaker 3: It contextualizes some of what we see during the special
Speaker 3: teams periods now, because that is a very different thing
Speaker 3: it is. So this this provides some context, which is good.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have to see it in action a little
Speaker 3: bit to get used to it.
Speaker 1: I think people just turn this off about five minutes
Speaker 1: into it.
Speaker 2: Oh No, I think that like truet people are riding.
Speaker 1: With, they like to know.
Speaker 3: And they like to understand, and then they like to
Speaker 3: find it. When we get it wrong.
Speaker 2: It's remember what you said.
Speaker 1: I've never heard that appen.
Speaker 3: Oh they don't say it to your face. Really, just
Speaker 3: find it's fine, It's okay. I stick out for you
Speaker 3: every time, much like high school.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 3: I think this was a really really good idea. I'm
Speaker 3: glad that we were able to do this. I mean,
Speaker 3: to get some questions answer.
Speaker 1: It just felt like listening to Scott Novak. I was
Speaker 1: listening and the media was asking their questions, and I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought the OT people would enjoy this.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, I enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: Class. I'm glad you had a great time. I sure
Speaker 1: did it for Amie Wells, who really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: I'm Mike Keith and I was just sort of But anyway,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you joining us for the O T P.
Speaker 2: I don't believe you got that today.