Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

THE OTHER RANDOM FOOTBALL LEAGUES THREAD


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

Quote

Longtime ESPN announcer Steve Levy and former Alabama and New York Jets quarterback Greg McElroy will serve as the lead broadcast team for XFL games on ESPN in the league's return season, the network announced Wednesday.

Levy and McElroy will call the league's first game -- the Seattle Dragons against the DC Defenders -- on Feb. 8. They'll also handle Saturday games on ABC, the West final and the XFL championship game on April 26.

Tom Luginbill will serve as a field analyst for the Saturday games, and Dianna Russini will also work as a reporter.

Luginbill worked for the XFL during its first incarnation in 2001, winning a title with the Los Angeles Xtreme before the league shut down.

For Sunday games, Tom Hart will be on the play-by-play, with former NFL wide receiver Joey Galloway and former NFL punter Pat McAfee serving as analysts.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/29/2019 at 5:04 PM, Pete said:

The AFL has shut down all six local franchise operations while they try to retrench and determine a path for financial solvency. One idea being floated is for them to go the Big3 route, practicing in a centralized location then playing games in random cities throughout the year.

It’s over.

 

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Kuetsar said:

I think the NCAA is going to be suing somebody. . . and the Lions and Panthers too.

For real, I see Oregon, Auburn, Oklahoma, Kentucky. Hell, the 2nd last ones on the right look like they could be Patriots alternates.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a more comprehensive list of the major rules changes from the ESPN article: 

Quote

The XFL's eight teams opened training camp this week and will kick off their 10-week regular season Feb. 8. Most of the on-the-field product will look familiar to fans, but a two-year project to innovate some aspects of the game led to a number of significant changes. They include:

Spoiler

 

  • A kickoff designed to discourage touchbacks and increase the likelihood of a return: The ball will be kicked off from the 30-yard line, but the coverage and blocking teams will line up at the receiving team's 35- and 30-yard lines, respectively. Only the kicker and returner can move until the ball is caught, or three seconds after it hits the ground. A touchback will be spotted at the 35-yard line. Kicks out of bounds will go to the 45-yard line.
  • Players can't leave the line of scrimmage on punts until after the kick. Any kicks that go into the end zone or out of bounds will be marked at the 35-yard line or wherever the ball went out of bounds, whichever is better for the receiving team. The idea is to discourage fair catches and "coffin corner" kicks, while providing more incentive to go for it on fourth down.
  • Three options after scoring a touchdown: a 1-point play from the 2-yard line, a 2-point play from the 3-yard line or a 3-point play from the 10-yard line. There is no option to kick an extra point.
  • A shootout-style overtime: Each team will get five single-play possessions from the 5-yard line. If the game is still tied at that point, the rotating possessions will continue until there is a winner. The XFL hopes that overtimes will be rare, in part because of the multiple options for points after touchdowns.
  • A rule that allows two forward passes on one play, providing the first doesn't go past the line of scrimmage. The purpose is to encourage creative trick plays without the risk of losing possession of a lateral or backward pass, which is a live ball if it hits the ground.
  • A requirement for only one foot to be in bounds for possession. XFL director of football operations Sam Schwartzstein said the change is easier to officiate quickly. It also is better for player safety, Schwartzstein said, because players take more unbraced falls while trying to place both feet in bounds.
  • A total of nine officials on the field, one of whom will be dedicated solely to spotting the ball to minimize downtime between plays. XFL head of officiating Dean Blandino said most XFL officials have experience at the Division I college level. Blandino, the former NFL officiating chief, has been consulting with the XFL for more than a year. He performed a similar function for the Alliance of American Football (AAF) last spring.
  • A video official who can intervene on significant non-reviewable plays when involving player safety, or on any calls inside of five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. There will also be booth-initiated reviews of traditionally reviewable plays using Hawk-Eye technology that ingests video directly from the broadcast truck.
  • Allowing offensive linemen to be up to 2 yards downfield when a pass is thrown, with the hope of minimizing flags on run-pass option plays.
  • A series of tweaks that the XFL hopes will cap game times at 2 hours, 45 minutes. (NFL games typically run about 3:06.) The tweaks include a running game clock that won't stop after incomplete passes or when players go out of bounds, except inside of two minutes in each half. Additionally, there will be a 10-minute halftime, two timeouts per team per half and no coin tosses. The home team will always make the choice to kick, receive or defer to start the game. The visitors will make that choice to start overtime.

 

 

Spoilered for size.   Though that OT sounds insane and fun.   Though both defenses will be dead by possession 4 from running on and off the field.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wait is Dean Blandino working for the XFL now?   I guess he was just a Fox guy so it is fine

The special team rules I think are much better than the NFL.  It allows actual returns on kicks and punts and still keep a little bit of the safety issue that makes them suck now in the NFL.   The double forward pass I don't know about

Edited by hammerva
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know what...I like almost all of those rule changes. They all sound pretty fun and the shootout was something I kinda hoped the NFL would do a long time ago so it's neat seeing the XFL do it. Penalizing kicks out of bounds on kickoffs to try to force kick returns is great.

Plus, thank Christ, you only need one foot down. I love that rule in college football and never understood why the NFL didn't adopt it. I think I disagree with the notion that it makes plays easier to review because I've seen plenty of sideline catches wind up with lengthy reviews, but still, only needing one foot down is awesome.

Out of all the different rules, the only one I'm not a fan of are incomplete passes or running out of bounds stopping the clock. It's probably because I prefer college football over the NFL, but again I would have liked to see a tweak on the clock stopping to move the chains. Maybe you mix a little bit of incomplete passes not stopping the clock with pausing the clock to move the chains on first downs, I don't know, but a little bit of this and a little bit of that would have been preferred. 

The other part about the clock is that it reeks of shit that MLB has tried to reduce their game time with the goal being to shorten games by a whole 15 minutes. It's 15 minutes, who cares? That's not enough of a chunk of time to even mean anything. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Craig H said:

The other part about the clock is that it reeks of shit that MLB has tried to reduce their game time with the goal being to shorten games by a whole 15 minutes. It's 15 minutes, who cares? That's not enough of a chunk of time to even mean anything. 

Advertisers. That's valuable time where eyes will watch your product. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Plus it is a psychological thing

A movie is 2 hours

A 2 hours and 15 minute movie becomes "over 2 hours"

Also - networks are going to love it if can consistently fit your game in a specific window

So 2 hours is way easier to program around than 2 hours and 15 minutes (Apply the appropriate sliding scale for whatever the game become ie: a 2 hours and 45 minute game is "almost 3 hours")

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...