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Kevin SeifertNFL Nation
The NFL released a clarification about its highly controversial handover policy after three weeks of outrage from players, coaches and fans. According to Executive Vice President Troy Vincent, the expected result is to "ensure the consistency of the rule".
The referees have thrown 34 flags for hitting the smuggler this season, more than double the total over the same period in 2017, in part because defensemen landed on shifts with some or all of their weight. Officials interpreted this point significantly differently, sometimes leading to penalties for blows that seemed almost impossible to avoid for defenders.
In a statement, Vincent announced that the NFL competition committee had sent a video to the teams to clarify the legal and illegal moves against the quarterback. The video, also publicly released, showed four examples of hits that will continue to make a mistake – including one who broke Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers' clavicle last season.
In each case, senior vice-president of officiating Al Riveron said the flags would continue to be launched when defenders "will not try to break their fall" when they land with all or part of their weight on a quarter.
Examples of hits showed that players lined up with the quarterbacks or used the "tackle gator" technique in which the quarterback was stopped by the defender. The video has not covered the most controversial calls this season, including two against linebacker Clay Packers, the Packers.
Vincent's statement does not explicitly say that the league hopes to reduce the total number of penalties for smugglers. But he issued a similar clarification on Aug. 22 about the league's use of helmet rule, after officials pitched 51 flags in the first 33 pre-season games. Total penalties dropped dramatically thereafter, and there were only four flags for the helmet ruler during the regular season.
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