Cleaning up the CFL game

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This article was published 13/04/2016 (3775 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Glen Johnson unbuttons his blazer and hunkers down in a three-point stance, trying to explain a subtle — but potentially mammoth — change to a CFL rule.

The league’s senior vice-president, football, and a longtime official has been in Winnipeg the last couple of days in the first stop of information sessions with the league’s coaches, media and fans.

And, clearly, he’s passionate about both explaining the rule changes for the 2016 season and helping the game get better.

“Penalties remain an issue,” said Johnson. “They are too high and we have to reduce them.

“We’re not trying to take 10 or 15 penalties out, we’re trying to take hundreds out of the game.”

Earlier this month the CFL’s board of governors approved 10 of the 11 changes proposed by the rules committee. The biggest is the “eye in the sky” official, who is tasked with quickly changing errors or making clarifications on plays that are not challenged by coaches via replay.

It’s Johnson’s belief — not just his hope — that change will actually speed up the game, not slow it down as many have predicted.

“We’re adding more video but it cannot slow the game down,” said Johnson, after a four-hour, 45-minute session with the Blue Bombers coaching staff. “If it does, I’ve failed.”

A video official is a first for a pro sports league in North America, and here’s an example of how Johnson thinks it will work:

“If this goes well you will probably not know that the video official has done something. The flag will go, the official will report a foul — ‘I’ve got procedure on Toronto, No. 5’ — we’ll hear that back in Toronto, we’ll look back real quick and go, ‘Wow, the guy never moved at all. It’s clearly not a penalty. Guys, pick up the flag, it’s not a penalty.’

“There’s no debate. The referee steps out after six or seven seconds have gone by and says there’s no infraction on the play.”

Johnson said penalty calls were up nine per cent from 2014 to 2015, but he hopes rule changes could reduce the number of penalties by two or three per game — or more — this season.

The main rule changes include:

❚ The elimination of push blocks — where defenders trying to block a field goal or convert would push a teammate between a centre or a guard. That’s now a 15-yard unnecessary-roughness penalty.

❚ A change to the peel-back block — those nasty blindside hits. Now any offensive player cannot block back towards their own goal-line low on an opponent.

❚ Coaches still have two challenges, but can now challenge more than just defensive pass interference. That list now includes illegal contact, illegal interference by the offence and offensive pass interference as well as no-yards penalties, illegal blocks on kicking plays, contacting or roughing the kicker and illegal interference on kickoff attempts.

“We’re not trying to review everything, that’s not what it’s about,” said Johnson. “It’s about a few select plays that are really, really impactful.

“This is not an exact science. This is not going to make us perfect, but it is going to make us better.”

One of the most significant changes will be at the line of scrimmage. Previously, offensive-line players, once down in three-point stance, couldn’t move again until the ball was snapped. Now they will be allowed to point out defenders, call out an assignments or turn their heads as long as they stay in stance. There were more than 100 penalties related to this last season.

“It’s an annoying penalty, it does nothing to make the game better,” said Johnson, “but we got ourselves in a spot where we were calling it.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait