For years (actually decades), the Competition Committee has served as the primary generator of potential NFL rule changes. A subtle shift in that approach seems to be developing.
Or, if it already existed, there's now tangible evidence of it happening.
Case in point. The Lions' proposal to seed the seven playoff teams in each conference without regard to division championship wasn't something the Lions formulated during a brainstorming session at team headquarters. The suggestion to make the suggestion came from 345 Park Avenue.
Here’s how it happened, as explained by Jeremy Reisman of PrideOfDetroit.com.
As the winner-take-all, regular-season finale between the 14-2 Vikings and 14-2 Lions approached, Detroit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown spoke out about the unfairness of the loser having to go on the road to face a division winner with a lesser record.
“It’s crazy," St. Brown said at the time. "I think the rule should be changed. Obviously if you win the division, you should obviously make a playoff spot, but having a 14-win team having to go on the road is kind of crazy. But I guess I don’t make the rules.”
No, St. Brown doesn't make the rules. But his comments could have a hand in changing them.
As St. Brown's remarks went viral, NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent took notice. And, instead of adding the possibility to the agenda of the Competition Committee for the usual bill-becomes-law protocol, Vincent made a phone call to Lions president Rod Wood.
“Troy Vincent from the league reached out to me and said, ‘I tend to agree with [St. Brown],'" Wood said this week at the league meetings. "'Would you mind partnering with us on making a proposal on that?' So we made a proposal.”
They did. But it wasn't presented as a partnership with the league. It was a proposal from the Lions, and only from the Lions. The effort resurrected a conversation that has happened in the past. While the broad-brush proposal to potentially put division champions on the road in the Wild Card round was tabled until May, the placement of the subject on the owners' radar screen could result in a more focused tweaking to the playoff format.
“What if you said, 'Win the division you get a home game and you keep it the way it is, unless your record is .500 or lower? Then you don’t.' I think there’s some talk about that," Competition Committee chairman Rich McKay said this week. "So I think people want to keep looking at it."
Regardless of what happens in May, there's an alternative recipe for the NFL's rule-making sausage. Step one, nudge a team to make a general proposal. Step two, allow that proposal to start a conversation. Step three, steer the discussion toward a lesser measure that feels like a compromise.
There's a certain amount of genius to the approach. Instead of going straight to a middle ground that might have gone nowhere if it were the original proposal, the league has engineered a method for teeing up the topic, talking it through, allowing others to take ownership of the conversation by proposing something not as sweeping, and hoping that 24 owners will ...
