https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQcONqYsQ_w
The Patriots’ dominance of the past 17 years has transformed the NFL landscape in a number of ways. First, their constant iron fist rule over the Dolphins, Jets and Bills has sent all three teams into endless cycles of GM/Coach/QB combos. Every now and then they’ll get lucky in their home stadium and get an early season-defining win over Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, but outside of the 2010 Jets, no AFC East team has beaten the Patriots in a meaningful game in a long, long time.
That goes for most of the rest of the NFL, with notable challengers the 2000s Colts, 2009-2012 Ravens, and the 2005/Peyton Manning Broncos. For almost two decades the division and conference teams outside New England were built to take down the Patriots and yet none could find the “blueprint” to beat the Pats outside of play a near-perfect 60-minute game. It’s amazing how hard that is for the great majority of NFL teams most of the time.
That competitive push against extended into the offseason, especially after the Pats’ dynastic run got kicked off with a game-saving, stupid-rule-called-correct, it’s no surprise that with increasing frequency rules that benefit, or are exploited by, the Patriots get put under the microscope each time the geniuses running the NFL competition committee decide what will improve the game.
Let’s take a look back at some NFL rule changes made because of the Patriots.
2004: Colts – Receivers
After their receivers were manhandled during the 2003 AFC Championship Game, Bill Polian and the Colts cried hard enough that the league decided to open up the game and make receivers untouchable. The best part is how spectacularly it backfired. From the Washington Post in 2007:
When the NFL rule-makers cracked down four years ago on clutching-and-grabbing tactics by defensive players to try to open up the passing game, the move widely was viewed as a response to the rugged way in which the New England Patriots had played defense on their way to their first two Super Bowl titles.
That 2004 directive by the league’s competition committee changed the way the game is played, perhaps forever. It has led to a rewriting of the record book. And, oddly enough, it set the stage for the Patriots to become arguably the most dominant team in league history this season as they chase an unbeaten season and their fourth Super Bowl championship with an offense orchestrated by Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.
The Colts got what they wanted, but the Patriots perfected it. This set the stage for an arms race between the Brady and Manning offenses for more than a decade.
2008: Defensive Headsets Introduced
2013: Tuck Rule Abolished
It took 12 long years but the competition committee finally did away with the rule that started the Patriots’ Super Bowl runs.
2015: Ravens Personnel Whoopsie
The Patriots run to Super Bowl 49 left a major wake after every victory. The Ravens were pissed the Patriots got them on a couple big plays using substitution confusion. The competition committee decided to ensure the Ravens wouldn’t get fooled again and made it illegal for a receiver/running back to declare ineligible and line up outside the tackle box.
2015: Pregame Football Protocol
Does anyone feel like re-living Deflategate right now? Nope, didn’t think so. But it is funny that they addressed rules because of this whole charade. The rule change? To double the number of footballs teams provide pregame and do it 15 minutes earlier. Heavy stuff.
2015: In-Game Concussion Protocol
After Julian Edelman got blown up by Kam Chancellor and stayed in the game during Super Bowl 49, later catching the game-winning touchdown, and the league made sure that spotters can and should yank players.
2015: Patriots Suggest Moving XP Back, and it costs them…
In a strange twist of fate, one rule change the Patriots suggested actually came back to bite them in the ass as Stephen Gostkowski missed an extra point from the new distance of 33 yards in the AFC Championship that cost the Pats at least a shot at overtime.
2017: No Field Goal “Leaper”
After Shea McClellin successfully leaped the extra point line to block a kick, the second time a Patriot had done it, the Competition Committee decided to get rid of it. Jamie Collins vs the Colts in 2015 was the first time.
2018: Moving the Goalposts, During the Super Bowl
This year’s new rule re-establishes what a catch is, and while the general intent of this rule is pretty good, the NFL couldn’t help but admit they were “legislating on the fly” during the Super Bowl.
“We saw this rule in action during the Super Bowl when the Eagles played the Patriots,” Mortensen said on ESPN’s NFL Live.
“There is no question about that,” Paolantonio replied.
“I think all that was in action in the game,” Mortensen added.
“I talked to Al Riveron [on Monday],” Paolantonio said. “After the press conference…and it was pretty clear to me that it was already in place when they ruled on the Zach Ertz catch for the touchdown and the Corey Clement catch for a touchdown. When [Riveron] ha dthose conversations, he was in New York, with Troy Vincent sitting next to him, with Gene Steratore the referee on the field. They were having that conversation, and they were basically legislating on the fly during the Super Bowl.”
I never expect the Pats to get any benefit of the doubt, from the league or the other fans, but this blatant admission that the rules were adjusted on the fly in a Super Bowl is worse than anything the Patriots have ever actually done. Moving the goal posts in the biggest game of the season on two scoring plays, crazy.
It’s pretty unbelievable all those changes but none more so then on the fly in the freakin superbowl. To me Ertz was a catch as an established runner but Clement play was called no catch all year long (and beyond). Total BS. Pats should have overcome that and made 1 more play.
I read there are about 17,000 pass plays a year. They are changing the rule because the Patriots benefited from 2 calls. Absurd. Think about how many catch , land, turn, get blasted fumbles there are going to be. Think about diving catches near the goal line where if you get 2 hands on the ball, feet touch, you reach out, cross the line its a catch even if the ball pops out as you hit the ground. If you lunge for the goal line and don’t make it and the ball comes out now its a fumble. Good luck interpreting “was able to make a football move”. Fans and the league are able to convince themsleves rules such as “tuck rule” or “going to the ground” were invoked by the Patriots like diplimatic immunity by the South African Consulate in Leathal Weapon II. They were made in response to dozens of other controvsial plays to make it clearer. I think all they had to do was allow for slight movement within the hands so that the K. Benjamin catch stands, establish as a runner can be 3 steps so the Dez Bryant catch stands.
Love the Brushi rant. Change the rules constantly, steal draft picks, all you can do is keep the Pats at 5 Superbowls. They are literally too good for this league. Those 1st rounders could have made the difference is SB 46 or SB 52 when all you needed in both games was one more play.
Excellent article. I might add that a few years ago, the league required that all players must practice with jerseys with NUMBERS on them. At the time, the Patriots often practiced with numberless jerseys to get the players to know each other better rather than rely on identifying a teammate by number. I suspect that the NFL front office thugs did this not only because of the Patriots but also because it made it easier to penalize teams that had their players practicing illegally. (Like Seattle and the Baltimore Browns)
Regarding the Julian Edelman rule, a Patriots fan pointed out that not a word was spoken when Russell Wilson suffered a hard hit in the 2014 NFC Championship game against the Packers.
Feuhrer Fraudger and his park avenue goons (and the competition junta) are doing their best to make me want to abandon the nfl altogether.
That’s a great one!! Good catch!