LOS ANGELES – When the Rams were on the practice field at training camp Thursday, NFL referee Shawn Hochuli and his 9-man officiating crew were there as well.
Prior to practice, Hochuli and his team spoke to a group of reporters for nearly 30 minutes about the rules changes that will be in place for the 2024 season and how officials are preparing, primarily covering the hip-drop tackle and the new kickoff format at length.
Hip-drop tackle
NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent in a video shown to reporters explained that the mechanics of a hip-drop tackle look similar to the horse collar tackle. The hip-drop tackle, according to Vincent, has a 20-25x injury rate, which is what drove the league to remove it from every level of the game of football.
After observing the last three seasons, the NFL then came up language to define three key indicators of the hip-drop tackle:
- The tackler wraps the runner
- The tackler swivels his hips to move his body across the back of the runner
- The tackler unweights his body and drops, contacting and trapping the back of the legs, ankle or foot
According to Vincent, the tackle is subject to discipline by the league, whether a flag was thrown on the play or not. Additionally, "because the official is observing the action from only one angle, he or she may not always be able to clearly see all three indicators, and officials have been instructed to call only action they clearly And obviously confirm as a foul," Vincent said.
A reporter asked Hochuli how officials will account for physics when, say, a running back spins away from contact and the secondary defender (or tackler) is spinning with the running back.
"We're going to see how it goes, right?" Hochuli said. "I mean, those are acts that, again, like there's certain (plays) – a UNR, a hit to a defenseless receiver – where the gentleman goes up and catches the ball, he's coming down, and the defender doesn't necessarily mean to hit him in the head, but we call it a level change. Gravity brings the receiver's body down, and he's aiming for the chest, but he gets him in the head. The act is still the same, the foul or the injury is still aspect is still there. So the only thing I can answer is, I'm sure there's going to be some of that where there's no intent, but we're just going to have to kind of figure it out as we go. And the league obviously will direct us as we see certain plays like that that hey do or don't want it as a foul."
Ultimately, it will be a situation where the officials will be learning as the games are played.
"I'm sure there's going to be some of that where there's no intent, but we're just going to have to kind of figure it out as we go," Hochuli said. "And the league obviously will direct us as we see certain plays like that that you know they do or don't want it as a foul."
Hybrid kickoff format
Hochuli also confirmed that on kickoffs, the ball must be in the cavity of the tee or "resting against it."
"What they don't want is they don't want it kind of going sideways, horizontal, where the point of the ball is not inside the cavity of the tee," Hochuli said.
Training camps and film from other leagues (XFL) have helped NFL referees prepare for the new format, and preseason games will serve the same purpose. Ultimately, though, it will be a lot of learning as they go, given those experiences are just a "snapshot" of the format.
"I think the goal of the kicking team is to land the ball inside that 20 yard line, in the landing zone," Hochuli said "And then, in theory, if they could get it out of the back of the end zone, or create a touchback after having hit the 20, then they're benefiting, because the ball is going to go to the 20-yard line. So I would guess that that would be a team's goal overall. So we'll be interested to see ways the kickers, you know, might try and get the ball again to land in the 20 and get it out of the end zone. Maybe we'll see more line drives. Maybe we'll see more kicks put into corners, you know, that kind of thing. But there is a heavy penalty for either a landing short of that 20-yard line. The ball then goes to the 40, if you landed at the, you know, short of the 20, or if you hit it in the end zone, now we're going to the 30."
Expansion of replay
In the video, Vincent said "further expansion of replay will allow game officials in certain situations to receive objective information through the replay assist process regarding location of the quarterback relative to the pocket, the runner relative to the sideline, or limited specific information on certain fouls, as the league continues to utilize video technology to help team officials."
Additionally, a head coach will now be allowed a third challenge if he is successful on either of his first two.
