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NFHS Rules Questionnaire


JustRules

Potential Rule Changes  

8 members have voted

  1. 1. Check the box below if you would answer YES to the question

    • Game officials having difficulty determining if the tight end is in the free-blocking zone.
      4
    • Ball-colored helmets, jerseys, patches, exterior arm covers/pads, undershirts or gloves.
      0
    • Applying the 5-yard face mask rule.
      4
    • Field tarps in the team box too close to the field of play.
      2
    • School bands playing while the opponent’s offense is on the field.
      3
    • Announcers announcing or playing amplified music when an opponent’s offense is calling signals.
      4
    • By state association adoption, using instant replay for regular season.
      3
    • Allowing a player to save loss of yardage by throwing the ball so that it lands beyond the neutral zone, if the player is outside the free-blocking zone.
      4
    • Not allowing visible numbers, logos, images or other symbols on the front of the tooth and mouth protectors.
      0
    • Allowing the passer to spike the ball from the shotgun formation.
      6
    • Making forward pass interference by the defense an automatic first down for the offense.
      4
    • Making defensive personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct fouls an automatic first down for the offense.
      5
    • With mutual agreement from both head coaches and the referee, shortening the halftime intermission to less than 10 minutes if a weather delay has occurred with less than three minutes in the second period.
      7
    • Eliminating the free-blocking zone in the shotgun formation.
      4


Question

Every year the NFHS puts out a survey for coaches and officials to get feedback on potential rule changes. If they are on these lists someone likely has submitted it and it will be considered by the rules committee when they meet in Indy in January. In the poll check the box if you would answer YES to the question.

Observations – Have you observed any of the following this year?

1. Game officials having difficulty determining if the tight end is in the free-blocking zone.
2. Ball-colored helmets, jerseys, patches, exterior arm covers/pads, undershirts or gloves.
3. Applying the 5-yard face mask rule.
4. Field tarps in the team box too close to the field of play.
5. School bands playing while the opponent’s offense is on the field.
6. Announcers announcing or playing amplified music when an opponent’s offense is calling signals.

About the rules for 2020 – Would you favor:
1. By state association adoption, using instant replay for regular season.
2. Allowing a player to save loss of yardage by throwing the ball so that it lands beyond the neutral zone, if the player is outside the free-blocking zone.
3. Not allowing visible numbers, logos, images or other symbols on the front of the tooth and mouth protectors.
4. Allowing the passer to spike the ball from the shotgun formation.
5. Making forward pass interference by the defense an automatic first down for the offense.
6. Making defensive personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct fouls an automatic first down for the offense.
7. With mutual agreement from both head coaches and the referee, shortening the halftime intermission to less than 10 minutes if a weather delay has occurred with less than three minutes in the second period.
8. Eliminating the free-blocking zone in the shotgun formation.

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4 answers to this question

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We had a couple of games where the sideline tarp came right up to the sideline. One was on a raining night and it was slick as hell. My LJ complained all night. 

Allowing QB to spike the ball in shotgun seems like a no brainer to me, particularly with the way O's have evolved.

Seems odd we did away with automatic first down/loss of down on PI and now we're talking about adding DPI back.

What is the purpose of first down for D PF/USC? If it's to fall in line with NCAA code, lets just use NCAA rules. 

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5 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

We had a couple of games where the sideline tarp came right up to the sideline. One was on a raining night and it was slick as hell. My LJ complained all night. 

Allowing QB to spike the ball in shotgun seems like a no brainer to me, particularly with the way O's have evolved.

Seems odd we did away with automatic first down/loss of down on PI and now we're talking about adding DPI back.

What is the purpose of first down for D PF/USC? If it's to fall in line with NCAA code, lets just use NCAA rules. 

The main reason I've heard against spiking in shot gun is it could potentially give the QB an opportunity to see if he has an open receiver and legally spike it if he doesn't. The same could happen if the QB is under center so I don't see it as a valid complaint. We've had the rule in NCAA for several years and in 10-years I've never seen a team do it in shot gun. It's not a major issue for me either way.

The only reason they dropped the auto first down for DPI was due to a compromise on the committee. There had been a proposal for several years to drop the LOD on OPI but it wouldn't pass because several members felt it wasn't balanced with DPI. The only way they could get it to pass was to give up the auto first on DPI as well. Most people see that as a silly compromise so a rule change request since then is to restore the auto first on DPI.

Just because NFHS adopts an occasional NCAA rule doesn't mean they need to adopt them all. Every level of football besides HS has an auto first down for PF/UNS. They are major fouls and deserve very punitive results. It makes sense to have them align between the codes.

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The one that caught my eye was eliminating the free blocking zone when the offense is in the shotgun. I don’t favor this, since it would mean no blocking below the waist from the shotgun. The current rule interpretation - which allows low blocks under certain conditions - requires the contact immediately at the snap. I feel that’s a reasonable compromise that serves the interests of risk minimization, while still giving smaller offensive lineman the ability to compete against larger defensive linemen. And I have not observed much in the way of controversy with the way the current rule is implemented.

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17 hours ago, Bobref said:

The one that caught my eye was eliminating the free blocking zone when the offense is in the shotgun. I don’t favor this, since it would mean no blocking below the waist from the shotgun. The current rule interpretation - which allows low blocks under certain conditions - requires the contact immediately at the snap. I feel that’s a reasonable compromise that serves the interests of risk minimization, while still giving smaller offensive lineman the ability to compete against larger defensive linemen. And I have not observed much in the way of controversy with the way the current rule is implemented.

The issue with that is there doesn't appear to be a consistent application of "immediate". I talk with umpires who feel as long as it's the first move by the lineman it's legal even if he has to step beyond his gap to reach the defender. How much hesitation becomes too much if you feel there was a delay? Several states have already applied an interpretation that a lineman can't legally cut block if they are in a 2-point stance. I believe a couple have experimented with not allowing low blocks if the QB is in shot gun.

At a minimum I like the interpretation for 2-point vs. 3-point. It's hard to be consistent with a definition of immediate which has to drive coaches and players nuts because it's a huge penalty (15 yards). For that reason I think one of two things should happen. The free blocking zone is extended all the way back to the end line or eliminate low blocks if the QB is in shot gun.

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