Interesting ideas. Not sure I like limiting possibility of punt returns. But the one idea about limiting teams to a certain number of punts per game adds some different strategy, especially late in the game. Might be gimmicky but maybe something they could test out in preseason.
naah. I vote no.
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The reverse rouge is an interesting idea. I wouldn't mind seeing the league experiment with it in a few preseason games to see how it goes.
The best idea from the article is the "normal" one, of getting the ball in play faster so the defences are on their heels. The league should try to speed up the game regardless of whether we want more or fewer punts.
I'll add a few other ideas:
-
Increase the no-yards halo around the returner to 10 yards.
This would, in theory, lead to more room to run and longer returns, which should make coaches less eager to punt. -
Treat kicks that go out of bounds inside the 20 the same as those that go out of bounds between the 20s: 10-yard penalty and re-kick.
This would, in theory, make coaches less likey to punt past the 55 yard line. I think they'd more likely try FGs. -
Make coverage team players stay behind the line of scrimmage until the ball is kicked.
This would also give more room for the returner to run the ball back and would discourage coaches from punting as much.
I don't think we'd need both 1 and 3. But 2 could be combined with either change.
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Why do anything with it? I like it just as it is. Also don't forget the broadcast still has to get commercials into the show or there is no broadcasts. All this has to work together.
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Don't need to change anything. The CFL has a dynamic and exciting kicking game. Leave it alone.
Instead of wasting time on uneccessary rule changes, the league should be focusing on how to get the teams back on the field safely.
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Punting puts the "foot" in football. Can it be improved? Everything can be improved. Limiting the number of punts takes the "foot" out of football so that is not the way to improve the game.
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I agree. I don’t have a problem with punting the way it is now, though I’m probably inclined to do away with the coffin corner exemption and force punts to be in bounds so there can be a return.
But I wouldn’t mind preseason experimentation with rules that create more room for returners to do their thing and see how it goes.
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Sorry to be the downer guy on this, but, someone has to say it. This is just an out and out stupid suggestion. Beyond stupid even. Had to check the date to ensure that I hadn’t time warped to April 1st.
There are more punts than NCAA and NFL because there is one less down. Simple. Punts are part and parcel of the game strategy, in the sense of changing or setting up field position.
The purpose of defence is to stop the defence and force the opposition offence to punt. Eliminating or reducing punts would be like watching an NHL no contact, three person all star game. Interesting at first, but quickly becoming boring.
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This all started by ONE comment by ONE non-CFL fan complaining about the amount of punting in the CFL to somebody who runs a CFL podcast that gets advertised on 3DownNation. Then, some bright-eyed millenial takes that as a rallying-cry against punting. Let's change the ENTIRE game to satisfy that ONE person who doesn't even like the League
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Leave it to 3DownNation to come up stories like that.
What are they really promoting.
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The only thing I would like to see change and I have to agree with Capitol_Dave is that all punts must land in the field of play. I know it takes skill to do a coffin kick but it takes away any chance of return. Might as well watch the No Fun League kicking it out of the endzone.
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Well I tend to take whatever 3 down says, lately especially, with a grain of salt. But at least this article was about the league itself and not that Chase Claypool caught a pass.
The league considers rule changes every year, some get adopted, some die on the operating table. Never hurts to discuss alternate rules whether we agree or disagree. There isn’t going to be a hell of a lot of new things to talk about for the next 3-4 months.
Limiting punts after midfield would take a certain element out of the game. But it could add more TDs and field goals - or maybe big returns off long missed field goals. Wouldn’t hurt to see it in one preseason game
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Ya…everybody craps on the ONLY pub that is CFL focused.
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I remember what the CFL off season used to be like 25 or 30 years ago - lucky to have 5 newspaper articles on it between Dec. 1 and May 1. They haven’t played a down in 11 months and at least someone is still talking about it.
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It has become glaringly obvious that the main focus of 3DN is the advertising revenue from their click-bait articles. For crying out loud, Dunk uses both Arash Madani and Rod Pederson as legitimate CFL journalists. The first is a moron who goose-steps to Rogers Communications to bad-mouth the League at every opportunity; and the second is a disgruntled former employee who is an unadulterated Roughriders boot-licker who was fired for being an idiot.
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They also have a great piece on Kevin Glenn and another good piece on Craig Dickenson studying the 3 minute drill.
After they eliminate punting, they could also ban running plays, which some people find boring. And then forward passes that travel less than 10 yards downfield.
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Good ideas, ExPat, how about adding that the defence has to count three “steamboats” after the snap before they can rush the passer?
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I would like to see kicking out of bounds anywhere be the same. I would like it to be that the receiving team has a choice to take the ball where it went out, or have them re kick 10 yards back. If they keep kicking the ball out of bounds, eventually it is going to be where the receiving team want to take it. If they kick from the endzone and it goes OOB, then it is a safety.
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I’d say we are entering a second golden age of kick returning in the CFL, so I oppose any rule that would take the ball out of the hands of guys like Dedmon, Logan and Rainey.
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