1973 Season of Changes

April 25, 1974 - Sweeping NFL Rules reform  
The Newspapers.com Football History Headline of the day comes from the April 26, 1974 edition of the Miami Herald, which has a boldface heading, "NFL Brings In Sudden Death; Changes Rules For Field Goals!" The Herald Wire Service is talking about an April 25 NFL rules meeting in New York City where the League responded to criticism of safety and sagging offenses. The sweeping changes were to first move the goalposts from the goal line to the end line and adopt sudden-death overtime for all regular and exhibition games. Another rule that made a difference was that a missed field goal would either be returned to the 20-yard line or to the previous line of scrimmage, whichever was further from the goal line for the next series to start. Walking out of the meetings, Commissioner Pete Rozelle said, "I am extremely pleased. I felt the coaches were doing too good of a job with defenses. This should make things interesting."

The article goes on to say that these changes, including one where the kickoffs will be from the thirty-five-yard line to encourage kick returns, are designed to provide more scoring by offenses. Another revision in the kicking game was that members of the punting and kicking teams could not go beyond the line of scrimmage until the ball was kicked.
Some of the biggest impact changes were eliminating some downfield contact that defensive backs could perform on downfield receivers, such as roll blocking and cutting. Offensive holding penalties were reduced to ten yards from the previous 15-yard variety, and crackback blocks, which are when the blocker is heading back towards their own goal line, could no longer be below the waist of the defender.

Why so many sweeping changes at one time? In his presser, Rozelle said the changes were in the works for two years but individually were voted down; the Commish stated," The Competition Committee decided to present them as a total package rather than pick them apart." To pass, there needed to be at least 20  of the 26 franchises that voted in favor, and according to Rozelle, it wasn't even close. Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Norm Van Brocklin, who opposed the changes, expressed his feelings when he said," My personal opinion is that it's a reaction to the media. They were made by the owners and not by the coaches." His statement implied that the coaches need to make even more crucial decisions in the game and spend more time on scheme and strategy during the week.

Years later, the rules mostly improved, improving the League's offensive firepower.

Let's look at the statistics for proof. According to Pro Football Reference, in 1973, teams averaged 19.5 points per game with 285.3 yards per game of offense; in 1975, the points per game were 20.6 and 308.3 yards per game. More offense was indeed gained, and with more scoring, the game's popularity rose, and so did the revenues.