Wednesday, Apr 2, 2008 1:52 pm EDT http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/rumors/post/League-rejects-Devin-Hester-Rule-on-punts?urn=nfl,74820 League rejects 'Devin Hester Rule' on punts Getty Images The NFL has no interest in doing Devin Hester any favors, so there will be no "Devin Hester rule" passed any time soon according to the Chicago Tribune. In recent weeks, the league considered legislating against punting out of bounds-which teams did frequently when opposing Hester last season. A survey was sent to head coaches and general managers to get their reaction to such a rule, but the response was overwhelmingly against changing what often is a strategic move to trap an opponent inside his own 20-yard line rather than kicking into the end zone for a touchback. The NFL's competition committee also had a discussion about enacting a new rule, but it didn't go very far. "Directional kicking is a difficult thing to do," said Colts President Bill Polian, a member of the competition committee. "We saw no evidence that [punting out of bounds] is growing in use. So it's not an issue we had a lot of concern about. Very few people can do it, and the odds of it backfiring on you are pretty high. If you shank it, it's 20 yards, not 40. It's a tough skill to execute." Source: Chicago Tribune
it made no sense... it takes away a strategic part of the game for pure entertainment and more point scoring-- the game is entertaining enough.. thank god this didn't pass.
why couldnt they call it the dante hall rule or some generic rule. I hope that isnt just the chicago tribune calling it that, chicago is full of themselves even though hester is good.
Hester has done it for more than a single season, which is what dante hall did. Either way, this rule should never pass anyway, you can kick the ball wherever the hell you want.
the idea was probably that if it's penalized on kickoffs, it should be penalized on punts, too. But I agree that it was silly to even suggest it.
Kickoffs are different, because unless the ball is kicked to the very back of the endzone, the returning team almost always gets the ball with better field position than the 20 yard line. Therefore, if you could just kick off without penalty, every team would do that and take the touchback. I agree that it would be a bad idea on punts.
