I'm sorry but I don't respect Lewis' view. I really don't. Defensive players have been bitching about those rule changes for quite some time, but what they conveniently leave out is how tilted the rules had been against offenses if you look at them comprehensively.
-The offense is the one that always has to have 7 guys on the line of scrimmage exactly. Why? That rule has never made any sense to me.
-The offense can only throw the ball to 5 of the 10 possible people. Why? Why can it not be all 10?
-The offense is the one that does not permit for 2 of those 7 people to be eligible receivers both lined up on the LOS and on the same side of the formation (this is commonly referred to as "covering up"). Why does no one question this? If an offense wants to line up with a WR and a TE both on the LOS and on one side of the formation, why shouldn't they be allowed to?
-The offense is the one that has to be perfectly still prior to the snap, sans one guy going in motion either parallel or away from the LOS, while the defense gets to move all about in any which way it wants, sans of course being across the LOS at the snap and/or penetrating the NZ in a manner that influences an offensive player to move.
-The offense is the one that has to keep the OL behind the LOS if a pass is thrown across the LOS. Again, why is this even a rule? Ok so in the pre-5 yard cushion days, a DB could basically abuse a WR prior to the pass getting to him, but it's not right for an OL to pancake his *** to clear way for the WR? Why doesn't anyone ever question this?
-The offense cannot send any eligible receivers towards the LOS prior to the snap unless they come to rest for a second. The Arena and Canadian leagues don't even respect this. They send slot WR's on a full speed course prior to the snap and they time it to where they snap the ball right when they're approaching the LOS area. Defenses can send safeties full speed on a blitz and no one questions it. Why doesn't anyone ever question this?
So Ray is pissed that you can't target receivers and that you can't dive at QB's legs to sack him. Fine, I'll offer him and the rest of those defensive whiners this: we'll let you target WR's, headslap OL and dive at QB's again if we can send OL across the LOS on an across-the-LOS pass, set picks, and send at least 5 receivers up the field Canadian-style prior to snapping the ball.
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Last edited: Jul 28, 2017