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'Points of emphasis' should mean more points

By Bob Harris, Special to SI.com

Torry Holt is one of the potential beneficiaries of the NFL's stepped-up rules enforcement this offseason. Elsa/Getty Images

Every offseason, the NFL's competition committee comes up with some new rule that tends to have a direct impact on our hobby. This offseason was different, but the results are the same.

Instead of creating a new rule, the committee decided to re-emphasize a rule already on the books regarding holding and illegal contact by defensive backs.

Or as the NFL framed it, those topics will be "points of emphasis" for officials this season.

The move comes after complaints that the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots got away manhandling receivers. Perhaps more importantly, it comes in the wake of an overall league-wide decline in passing totals.

Last season, the league had an 11-year low of 202 passing yards per team per game. The year before, the mark was 212.

So who benefits from this new focus on physical pass defense?

Well, timing-based passing attacks that require lithe receivers to run precise routes in order to be at a prescribed point on the field at a specific time will clearly come out ahead.

Can you say St. Louis and Indianapolis? Sure you can.

When asked whether the renewed focus will favor the offense, Rams head coach Mike Martz said, "To me, it evens things up. Because now it's skill on skill. What's been happening is it's not the little grabs that are a problem. It's those blatant things where the defensive back latches onto the jersey, and pulls it tight. And as the receiver's running down the field, he's actually dragging the defensive back with him.

"So if I can't run as fast as the receiver, I equal the playing field just by grabbing his jersey and having him pull along the route.

"The more physical you're allowed to be at corner, down the field, then the less skill you need. Then you don't have to pay those corners all that money any more. You can just get a nice safety that's pretty good."

Martz went on to suggest players like Isaac Bruce would come out way ahead.

"Isaac doesn't say anything to anybody about it," the coach said. "But if Isaac wore a rubber jersey, he'd have been snapped clear to Bakersfield two years ago."

Any downside here? Sure. More penalties and longer games.

"Yes, games will probably get a little longer," Falcons GM Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee, conceded. "You're always conscious of the length of games. It's not something you want to encourage. But we felt we had to do something about passing yardage going down."

And the Colts?

Peyton Manning said he believes the NFL has instructed officials to call pass interference and illegal contact by defensive players more closely this season. He said he also believes officials may call a few more penalties on teams trying to defend the Colts.

But Manning insists his team isn't emphasizing the league's "points of emphasis."

"It hasn't changed our approach whatsoever," Manning said as the Colts prepared to play the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots tonight.

"We don't call plays saying, 'Either we'll catch this or surely we'll get pass interference.' That's not how we approach things. A completion and a touchdown is so much better than a five- or 10-yard penalty. We try to throw to the open guy and hit the guy in stride.

"You can't count on something else to make the plays. You can't count on something else to happen."

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said this week he didn't believe the change in emphasis was because of the Patriots' defensive style.

"We've always tried to coach and abide by the NFL rules, whatever they are," Belichick said. "Whether they be replay, or no replay, or whatever it is. It's been different at different times in my career and since I've been with the Patriots. Whatever they are, that's what we'll try to do. We've always done it that way.

"We'll try to comply with the rules and if we don't, I'm sure we'll be penalized for it, just like everybody else will."

Colts head coach Tony Dungy told his team's official Web site that the rule likely will help good defensive backs, hurting players who depend on contact to slow receivers.

"I saw Bill Belichick's comment on it and I think it's good," Dungy said. "I think there are very few people who are coaching jamming people eight, nine, 10 yards off the ball. There are very few people coaching grabbing jerseys and throwing people down. In most coaches' minds, it's not going to have that much effect.

"Players will get the message how the officials are going to call it in about two weeks and they will adjust. If officials let them jam seven yards, eight yards, that's where they'll jam them. If they call it and make them jam at five, that's where they'll jam them. I think you'll see very, very minimal ripple in penalties that are called.

"We'll probably just start playing a little closer to how it's written in the book."

Sounds good to me.

Not surprisingly, the folks most bothered by this change are those who most took advantage of the situation. While New England's defense comes immediately to mind. So does a Green Bay Packers secondary that relies on physical play more than speed.

And they seem to know it.

"It's [expletive deleted]," Michael Hawthorne told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "That's what I say. If you really want to ask me, that's what I'll tell you."

"It's [expletive deleted]. [Expletive deleted]," teammate and safety Darren Sharper said. "They're trying to make the offense score more points."

Of course, as fantasy owners, the natural response is: "The more the merrier."