Penalties

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=457331 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=457323

Couple of interesting reads.
I must admit that I have found myself and several people I know somewhat disenchanted this season, and this is a big part of it…the game flow is gone. Now, these are new standards, and I hold out hope players will adapt to them in time, and that the replay issues will improve, but I have to agree mainly with Forde. It seems like so many sports are going this way…that the physical nature of contact sports may some day soon be their undoing…the very thing that once made them thrive. I am all for player safety, don’t get me wrong, but there is a difference between blatant fouls and incidental. Now I also realize that you need to eliminate the grey area as much as possible, but boy…this is a huge shift to get used to. I also fear that players are going to eventually start backing off defensively out of fear of a penalty.

Examples:
There are what…say 6 punts per team per game on average, and roughly half of those end up going out of bounds on the return, so that is, for argument sakes, 3 times a game. The average return is about 8 yards. So if you take those 3 punts x 8 = 24 yards, and say you have a 50/50 chance on being late on the hit, the average 3 * .5 * 15yrd penalty = 22.5 + whatever they have returned…if they are on the sideline it doesn’t pay to touch him

The average completion % is about 61.6%, the average yards per attempt is 7.7, per completion is 12.5, and each team fries about 28 passes per game. So, if you are rushing the QB does it pay to hit him or just scare him? I would say that touching the passer seems to be about a 15% chance of a penalty andf that the average QB gets serious heat to hits 10% of the time…10% heat * 15% chance of penalty * 30 passes * 15 yard average penalty = 6.75 yards average per passing play, vs 7.7…add the weighted factor of extending a drive, and I think these numbers are pretty equal…now don’t get me wrong, these numbers are far from exact, but it makes one ponder it a bit.

I am not saying I am against the penalties, I am simply saying the learning curve for players has been painful, and it is going to be a big curve for any new player because no other league is as stringent on it at the moment IMO. Thought this was an interesting way of looking at it...I don't put a pile of weight in it, just wanted to compare the perspective a bit...I still say smack the guy and get some fear in his mind.

Good articles. These games that drag on forever and have no flow due to the constant penalties are hard to watch. Hopefully it sorts itself out. Games should not be going over 3 hours, ever, unless there's overtime or some other unusual factor.