Quote Originally Posted by sharpe1027 View Post
I don't understand how they define it different from far more tackles. I hope this isn't something that seems good in theory but is shit in practice.
That's just it.

First of all, it's so difficult to define precisely that a lot of the times it is called, a replay will show that it was in fact a legal tackle. It's such a controversial topic, every time it gets flagged, the TV broadcast will show slow-motion replays, and if the call was wrong, explain in detail how the refs got it wrong yet again. And it's probably going to be similar to pass interference in the sense that in a lot of cases, if the play is not flagged, the defense gets a third down stop and forces a punt - but the penalty makes it a first down.

Or a tackle that should have been flagged under the new rule isn't whistled down, and a drive that (under the rule) should have been stopped gets a fresh set of downs and stays alive because the refs were inconsistent.

How many times does that have to happen before the fans become outraged again over the "poor officiating", and start complaining that the games are rigged?

This is a rule that appears to be very subjective in interpretaion, but at the same time very consequential for the teams. I don't envy the officials at all, because they're going to be put into a very, very bad position. There are already way too many rules that are difficult to get right in real time and easy to make the wrong call on. They're going to take a lot of heat on this, esspecially the first few weeks of the season.