N.Y. Post – The greatest trick Bill Belichick pulled so far this season … has been exploiting a massive, new flaw in the NFL rulebook and using it to his team’s distinct, legal advantage in the rule’s infancy. …
[T]he NFL, in its eternal wisdom and frivolous desire to make the game safer, decided to bring out kickoff touchbacks to the 25-yard line. …
The Patriots have kicked off 18 times this season, and haven’t had a team start a drive from beyond the 25-yard line once. Stephen Gostkowski has 10 touchbacks. The other eight led to returns inside the 25 and, on Thursday night, two fumbles. Check and mate. …
Thirteen teams have a lower touchback-percentage than the Pats but Belichick is doing it with more panache. It’s purely intentional. …
It’s time for the NFL to act, not because Bill Belichick is smarter than everybody else and getting an advantage, but because kickoffs are the most dangerous plays and the NFL.
This is not a repeat from 2003. Or 2004. Or 2007. Or 2014. This is just another example of the Patriots playing within the rules in a way that is smarter, more effective and better than everyone else. And so, as in those other seasons, people want the rules changed.
In the 2003-04 seasons, the Patriots defensive backs were beating receivers with a physically punishing style that made it difficult to get off the line of scrimmage. So the Colts got the league to change the rules. In 2007, the Patriots were the greatest offensive team in NFL history, so the Jets got the league to enforce a videotaping rule that had been ignored by everyone. In 2014, the Patriots put the Ravens’ defensive players in a psyche ward with ineligible receiver formations they weren’t equipped to handle. So Baltimore immediately went to the league to get them to … well, you know where this is going.
Now here we are again. The NFL messes with a touchback rule that’s been in effect since God invented football in the Book of Genesis, the Patriots figure out a way to use the new rule to their advantage, and the reaction isn’t “Hey, that’s really smart of Bill Belichick” or “Credit where it’s due, the Patriots’ emphasis on special teams is paying off” or even “Why don’t we do what they’re doing?” It’s everyone immediately going back to Page One of their playbook.
Change the rules to take away the Patriots advantage.
Level the playing field. Redistribute the wealth. Take from the rich and give to the poor. Stop rewarding achievement. Give everybody a participation ribbon and the Colts an “AFC Finalist” banner. Then we can all pretend the Patriots have some unfair advantage. They work, study and prepare harder than every other team. And in doing so look through the rules for ways to work them to their advantage. Meanwhile, the cyberbullies and anti-Patriots zealots prefer to stop them through legislative means instead of demanding their own organizations, coaches and players do likewise.
So go ahead. Go back to the old, 20-yard line touchback rule. Or move it up to the 30. Or midfield. Or to behind the endzone. Hell, eliminate kickoffs altogether for all anyone in New England cares. Because no matter how you write the rule, the smartest coach in the league is going to have the smartest approach to it in the league. And intelligence is something not even your stupid rule changes can stop.
