Another new strategy

Another new strategy, or just a fluke. 'Peg tacklers appeared to be not respecting the 5 yds on a punt or kick off that Lamar was fielding. Especially if it was only the 5 yd, and not 15 yd penalty. Once or twice OK, its a judgment call by an official, but it appeared to me on every ball fielded they didn't even try to stay clear. Maybe the league could consider 'unsportsmanlike conduct', or give the tackler a yellow card and heave him the next time. Maybe even a penalty on the coach for 30 yds.

Cats aren't the only team with runback capability even the Arg****s have one. This is another one for the league.

Not a new strategy at all. The Also used it on almost every punt return the year they started to allow blocking. They realized that the five yards they were giving up on the penalty was far better than allowing a bug return. Odd that the other teams didn’t do the same against them given their returned at the time, Johnny Rodgers.

The rules today are different, with the 15 yard penalty when there’s no bounce. But they also allow for a 15 yard penalty even if the ball hits the turf if the kicking team player doesn’t make an effort to leave the 5 yard zone. Anyone ever seen that called? I’ve seen the 25 yard unnecessary roughness penalty called when the kicking team player doesn’t let up and hits the returner, but never the other one.

There are far too many penalties on punts, the rules slow the game down and at least half the punts are flagged.
I would like to see something like the "fair catch" - if the returner decides to catch the ball without calling fair catch he's fair game and it wouldn't matter if the defenders were 5 yards or 2 yards away. Otherwise he calls for a fair catch if he thinks the defenders are too close. No touchbacks though, the receiving team would still have to pick the ball up, the kicking team would not be allowed to touch it first.
This would eliminate penalties and the debate over was he 5 yards or 4 before tackling. It would cut down on injuries and speed the game up.

NO! NO, NO, NO!

Do. Not. Like.

I like the fact that returners are forced to play the ball on punts. The five yard zone, while not perfect, does provide some level of protection for the returner, as he gives him time to look down again after fielding the ball in order to avoid the rush. The fact that there are a lot of penalties is more down to the five yards being an inexact measurement, especially when a playing is approaching from an angle. Maybe they could change it to be five yards up-field rather than a five yard circle? Not sure if that would make sense or not, but at least it would be easier to determine, as they could then use the field markings.

I greatly dislike the fair catch.

I like the 5 yard restraining zone.

If there is a need to reduce the number of infractions-- and I agree there is-- the solution is pretty straightforward I think. Just increase the penalty for violation. Try 15 yards for any infraction and I think the restraining zone will be respected much more often.

Agree. And as I mentioned before, there is already a rule to allow for a 15 yard penalty if the player doesn’t attempt to leave the restraint zone. It may just be a matter of letting players know that it’ll be called more often (as in, it will actually be called).

A simplistic solution that won’t work. A punt that bounces can take almost any direction off the bounce - sometimes even backwards towards the onrushing tacklers. That makes it virtually impossible for tacklers to avoid the five yard zone even when they have the best intentions of doing so. I believe the five yard no-yards penalty when the punt bounces is a compromise instituted mainly for that reason.

Continuing your “NFL-Canada” campaign?