Short-Term Pain Leads to Long-Term Gain (Just Ask the NHL)

 

Cory Chamblin's Saskatchewan Roughriders have had one of the roughest times adjusting to the CFL's new rules.

After seeing scoring and offensive production take a hit in recent years, the Canadian Football League's Board of Governors knew it was no coincidence that both TV ratings and attendance were down as well. 

In an attempt to enhance the on-field product and, ultimately, the appeal of the game to fans, the league announced several new rule changes in April that were designed to spark scoring and, as a result, the entertainment level of CFL games as well. 

Through four games of the 2015 CFL season, scoring numbers have indeed increased. Teams are averaging a combined 47.6 points per game compared to last year’s average of 45.5. In fact, the average after week three was actually 53.5 points per game, however a couple rainy affairs this week in Ottawa and Regina brought the overall number down. 

There's also a whopping 12 receivers on pace for 1,000 yard seasons, an incredibly high amount considering last season only saw 3 pass-catchers eclipse the millennium plateau. 

But despite all this, the fans are still upset with the rule changes. Rather, they're terribly upset with what the on-field product has become. Some can't handle the increase in penalties, while others feel like the league is taking away the integrity of the game by penalizing any sort of defence. 

It sounds all too familiar, doesn't it? 

Remember when the NHL introduced a plethora of rule changes skewed toward offence following the 2004-2005 lockout season? It was their own attempt to enhance the appeal of the game to fans by emphasizing entertainment, skill and competition on the ice. 

Similarly to the 2015 CFL season, the 2005-2006 NHL season featured significant increases in the amount of goals scored and penalties called per contest. Their increases were much more dramatic, however, as the average amount of goals scored per game jumped 19.84% from 5.14 to 6.16, while penalties sky-rocketed from 9.9 minor penalties per game in 2003-2004 to 12.76 in 2005-2006, a 28.75% increase. 

I can recall so many hockey fans being disgusted with the so-called "New NHL".

They felt the rule changes diminished what once was a terrific game, mostly a result of the changes supposedly encouraging offence, flashy-plays and individual-efforts over defensive hockey and team play. And to some degree, they were right. The rule changes absolutely favoured offence, much like those of the CFL's do. 

The NHL introduced a zero tolerance policy to "obstruction", which includes hooking, holding, slashing and any other infraction that a defensive player might use to slow down an opponent. It was believed during the 2005-2006 season that there was nothing a defender could do to defend anymore without being penalized. Players on the attack seemed to often embellish, knowing that diving will likely result in a penalty for the opponent more times than not with how hard officials were pressing to enforce the new rule changes. 

Hockey was supposedly ruined. The integrity of the game was lost.

Now that has to sound a little familiar, no? 

The CFL's new interpretation of illegal contact is very much relatable to the NHL's enforcement of obstruction infractions. Gone are the days of defensive backs clutching and grabbing to impede a receivers' route. There's a zero tolerance policy to this rule too, as it seems an official will throw an orange flag should a defender even breathe on a potential pass-catcher past the five-yard contact zone. 

The NHL implemented several other rules in favour of offence, such as prohibiting goaltenders from playing the puck outside the new trapezoid, permitting two-line passes and decreasing the maximum size of goaltenders' equipment. Many thought every game would be played like an All-Star game, becoming a contact-free, wide open, high-scoring and overall boring game. 

But that was not the case, and after a season of adjustments in 2005-2006, the NHL's rule changes began to really pay off. The average amount of penalties per game has steadily decreased to this day, while as of the 2013-2014 season, the average amount of goals scored per game nearly came back down to what it originally was 10 years prior. However as the NHL had originally hoped, the game is still more open than before and the product is much more entertaining. The upset fans came back long ago and since that, the NHL's reaped from the financial success that ensued. 

It's the perfect example how short-term pain will lead to long-term gain, something the CFL has stressed since announcing the new rule changes a few months back.

That's been their moniker, and with penalties drastically increasing since last season, the short-term pain is definitely there. 

But as the NHL has shown us, we have to trust that it'll all sort itself out in the future and penalties will then return to the norm. The NHL hardly has a "zero tolerance policy" towards obstruction infractions anymore, as officials now give the players a longer leash and, sometimes, the benefit-of-the-doubt when deciding on whether to call a penalty or not. 

NHL players adjusted to the new rules and we should trust that those of the CFL will do the same. As coaches move farther away from the physical defensive backs that formerly excelled in impeding a receivers' route to the now-desired speedy cover-guys, we'll see more good defence and the return of man-coverage. 

The officials will improve too, and they'll give defenders more rights once they finish drilling the new rules into their heads first.

Also to be noted, a very large majority of the penalties called such as offside, illegal procedure and holding have nothing to do with the rule-changes, but rather the players themselves making bad mistakes and paying the price. Penalties are typically higher at the start of the season anyway, so you can certainly expect to see a decrease in the amount of preventable penalties as the weeks go on.

So keep the faith, football fans. The CFL is simply in an adjustment period, and it's a period the NHL experienced in 2005-2006 following their own rule changes. 

Soon enough, the steady decline in the amount of orange nylon flung per game will noticeably become a drastic decrease, while it at the same time, defensive coordinators will return to calling games closer to the way they did before. They'll no longer be limited to almost exclusively running zone coverage in fear of the poor results that ensue in calling man-coverage.

A new wave of defensive backs will arrive and the officials will grant them a little more freedom. Offences will still have more space and open-field like the league desires, but the mentality of "defence wins championships" will return as well. 

The CFL expected penalties to increase when they decided to alter the rule book. They knew it would frustrate fans and possibly drive some away from the game. But they also knew that in the end, it would be worth it.

Ask the NHL and they'll reiterate the same thing: short-term pain leads to long-term gain. 

The future's bright, people.

League Hits Home Run with Rule Changes

 

Argos' pivot Trevor Harris put on an offensive clinic Saturday against the Eskimos, proving the potential of the league's new rule changes. Via CFL.ca

We're only one week into the 2015 CFL season, but it's already starting to appear as though the league hit a home run with the new rule changes that were announced in April.

The new rules were designed to further help offences move the ball and put up points. Many skeptics, myself included, were worried that offences in the league were already at an advantage and that these new rules would penalize good defence and lead to ridiculously high scoring games. That was not the case, however, and it was reassuring to see that the rules- particularly the updated 'illegal contact' infraction- didn't play out as drastically as many thought they would.

While offences are still gelling as the season is young, the average game in week one saw an average of 44 points scored per game (although of course, some points came from defences and special teams). That number is actually down from last season, where the average game saw 45.5 points per game. But it's week one, each team had some rust to shake off and adjustments to make.

Most notable was the smooth flow that the games followed, particularly in the Hamilton-Calgary and Winnipeg-Saskatchewan contests. Offences moved the ball consistently with very few two-and-out possessions that left fans yawning and changing the channel. Friday night's game saw much of that, but with even more good defensive plays by the defences of both Hamilton and Calgary. As expected, we saw far more zone coverage than normal with defences doing their best to contain receivers without having the option to slow their route down past the five yard contact zone. And as a result, we saw more interceptions from defensive backs being able to read the quarterback and jump the route in zone coverage rather than solely focusing on locking down their receiver in man-on-man. Interceptions are exciting plays, and excitement is exactly what the league was looking for when they announced these changes. Even in the lower scoring games, offences didn't struggle to move the ball, they simply failed to execute after gaining positive momentum or self-destructed via penalties.

Two quarterbacks in particular really showed the possibilities of the new rule changes. Both Winnipeg's Drew Willy and Toronto's Trevor Harris put on offensive clinics, dissecting their opposing defences while only throwing three incompletions each. Willy's Blue Bombers had 470 yards of total offence with three touchdowns through the air, and Harris' Argonauts matched that, reaching 484 yards of total offence with their own trio of passing touchdowns. And as I had predicted, the success of these young gun-slingers came at the expense of two veteran secondary's in Edmonton and Saskatchewan who were previously built to play a physical game on receivers and struggled to make the adjustment. These two quarterbacks displayed the exciting potential of the updated 'illegal contact' rule while not completely going over-board, if you will, as the two offences scored 30 and 26 points, respectively.

Another highly anticipated rule change- or highly controversial for some- was that of which prohibited the interior five lineman on each team's punt coverage unit from crossing the line of scrimmage prior to the football being kicked away. This was implemented to decrease the amount of no-yards penalties while bringing more open-field in the return game. I can't tell you if there was a decrease in flags on punt returns, but I can confirm that the league got a taste of what it had desired with this change. Tiger-Cats' ace Brandon Banks took a punt back for six points against Calgary, as expected, while a couple of other return touchdowns in other games were inevitably called back due to blocking infractions.

We saw true CFL-calibre games in week one. They were up-tempo (another factor caused by the rule changes), flowed well and featured offences putting up tons of yardage. Penalties weren't all too bad- Edmonton and Saskatchewan had many self-inflicted wounds- despite the players being new to the rules, while defensive coordinators quickly started to figure out what works and what doesn't when trying to slow down these offences. A plethora of zone coverage and a heavy pass-rush identified themselves as formulas for success, while genuinely skilled defensive backs with increased athleticism are necessary needs as well. The two secondary's that did the best in man coverage were those of Toronto and Ottawa, and they feature mostly young defensive backs that are relatively new to the league and don't rely on impeding a receivers' route to cover them. Those of Hamilton and Calgary, meanwhile, especially excelled in zone coverage, where their veteran defensive backs understand the coverage and angles of the wide field used in Canadian football. The new rules exposed some veterans' inability to cleanly cover, while some youngsters like A.J. Jefferson in Toronto and Brandyn Thompson in Ottawa proved their skill and athleticism in both types of coverage.

The sample-size still might be too small to say that these rule changes were a complete grand slam, but week one was a huge step in the right direction for the entertainment value of the game in two-down football. As defences continue to adjust and offences continue to improve, the games will only get more and more exciting. It's a positive sign for both the fans who love offence and for those who envy great defence, as both sides of the ball had their share of exciting moments. We didn't see any 100 point affairs, we didn't see a touchdown on every play there wasn't an illegal contact penalty, it all balanced out and made for some good week one football games.

The league can likely chalk up these rule changes as a success, and while there are still improvements to make elsewhere, they may want to start taking a look at a new problem, and that is the epic epidemic that is the health of the league's quarterbacks. Although, the CFL instilled confidence in myself that most of their rule changes are most likely for the better of the game, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt early on next time around they try to further better the game.