ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The UFL won’t allow punts after a team crosses the 50-yard line until late in each half and is making all field goals 60 yards or longer worth four points in the innovative spring football league’s latest rule changes.
The provisions announced Tuesday include the elimination of the tush push, which technically means players behind the quarterback can’t push him toward the line of scrimmage right after the snap.
The UFL’s tweaks on rules have gained visibility ever since the NFL adopted radical changes to the kickoff two years ago. The UFL is adjusting its kickoff rules, too. The eight-team league opens March 27.
The kickoff team’s players will line up at the opponent’s 45-yard line instead of the 40, and the receiving team’s blockers will move 5 yards in the same direction as well, creating more room for the returners. The coverage team and the blockers can’t move until the ball is caught or lands in a designated zone.
“It is a tremendous source of pride,” UFL head of officials Dean Blandino said of the league’s impact on NFL rules. “And I think it speaks to the need to have spring football. We’re not competing with the NFL, but we’re working in conjunction with the NFL. We’re preparing players, coaches, officials, to take that next step and to also try things and innovate, that the NFL can use.”
The new punting rule won’t be enforced in the final 2 minutes of each half. When it is enforced, teams that cross the 50 will have to go for it on fourth down even if they lose yardage back into their territory.
NFL teams are more frequently trying field goals from beyond 60 yards, which means they’ve barely crossed midfield. If the ball is on the 50 in the UFL but hasn’t crossed it, teams can punt.
“At first glance, it feels like a major, major change,” Blandino told The Associated Press. “That’s how I looked at it when we started talking about it. Then you dive into the numbers a little bit and look at the NFL last year, fewest punts per game in modern history, most fourth-down attempts per game in modern history. So the game is trending that way anyway.”
The UFL’s reasoning goes beyond those numbers.
“We just felt, what are we trying to promote?” Blandino said. “We’re trying to provide exciting plays. We’re trying to promote scoring and fan excitement, engagement, those types of things. So we don’t want to see a ton of punts where it’s just a fair catch at the 10-yard line. It’s a non-action play.”
The punting rule actually works in conjunction with awarding four points for field goals of at least 60 yards. A spring league alum, Brandon Aubrey of the Dallas Cowboys has made kicks that long look almost routine.
Jacksonville’s Cam Little set the NFL record with a 68-yarder in November — 2 yards longer than Justin Tucker’s previous record set with Baltimore in 2021. Little kicked a 70-yarder in the preseason last year.
Blandino said Mike Repole, who became the league’s principal investor last year, was adamant about rewarding longer field goals.
“We just felt like, ‘OK, let’s add a layer to this,'” Blandino said. “Kicking a 65-yard field goal is a lot harder than a 35-yard field goal. Why should they be the same?”
Last year in a close vote, the NFL rejected a provision to eliminate the tush push made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles and used with some frequency by the Buffalo Bills.
“Some of our teams used it and we just felt with everything, whether it’s safety, whether it’s the difficulty in terms of officiating it,” Blandino said. “We’re going to give them the opportunity to see how you can officiate it, how you kind of get it out. And we just feel like that’s not a play that we want in our game.”
The UFL is also adopting the college rule of a receiver only needing to get one foot inbounds for a catch. Two feet are required in the NFL.
For points after touchdowns, a 33-yard kick will be worth one point, converting from the 2-yard line will be worth two points and converting from the 8 will be worth three.
In overtime, teams will alternate on three conversion attempts from the 5. After that, they will continue to alternate until the tie is broken.
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
