CFL Game Changes FAQ

[tlf]

The fact that Wade is on board with this, I do not like. Is he just going with it to be a good guy? I thought he was very pro CFL...not this.

I thought he and Osh (although I don't know how Osh feels), would be the most Canadian of all the CFL, is surprising. 

LOVE Rourke today.  Perhaps my new fave CFL player (sorry Zach..speak up man).  I'd love more players and coaches speaking up. 

I plan to speak with my money and might renew next year but I'm not paying to see that. It starts in 2027, so one more year of a decent sized field.  sigh.

Just listened to the coaches show on OB... Osh wants the rouge in, and he's a as he says.. a CFL purist and doesn't want the rouge removed, the field changed or the goal post moved.  He'll see how it plays out, but did note about Vaval's play wouldn't have happened.

Osh is a great Canadian who loves our game.  So good.

[Tecno]

Whose to say they don't add 3 timeouts per half?  Lots of strategy with those.

If you don't stop the game clock after the 3 min warning then you WILL have to have something like 2-3 TOs per half, just to get anywhere near the excitement and strategy of the current CFL game.

But there was no talk whatsoever about TO changes, so I doubt that's in the cards.

I don't think the geniuses at league HQ have thought any of this through.  Just winging as they go.  Otherwise why wouldn't they mention how this all impacts the final 3?

If we just go by what they have said, and right now we kind of have to, then the final 3 mins of each half is now RUINED.  2 TOs per game (and you need to keep one in your pocket to challenge), plus a 35s instant-on play clock, plus the game clocking keeping running every time?  Complete disaster.

The MTL Miracle Game (TM) could never have happened under these new rules.

[Tecno]

There will be a cascade of adjustments to the rules as a result.

Understatement of the century.  There's going to be a cascade of crap that even the Wilkes Road Sewage Treatment Plant couldn't handle.

They will be adding and tweaking dozens of things in the rulebook the entire season just to compensate for the crap headed our way.

And the NFL has finishes just as good or better than the CFL. 

Hahaha!  NFL finishes are a double ess 99% of the time.  Losing the game because the aging ref couldn't run the ball to its new spot and get out of the way fast enough?  Endless ball spikes because the clock rules are STUPID?

Ya, that's what CFL fans want       

Both leagues have a similar amount of plays run per game.

Uh, if that's true, then the entire argument for the 35s change is thrown out the window.  WM said that it's to get more plays in each game!  Someone is lying.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

If you don't stop the game clock after the 3 min warning then you WILL have to have something like 2-3 TOs per half, just to get anywhere near the excitement and strategy of the current CFL game.

But there was no talk whatsoever about TO changes, so I doubt that's in the cards.

I don't think the geniuses at league HQ have thought any of this through.  Just winging as they go.  Otherwise why wouldn't they mention how this all impacts the final 3?

If we just go by what they have said, and right now we kind of have to, then the final 3 mins of each half is now RUINED.  2 TOs per game (and you need to keep one in your pocket to challenge), plus a 35s instant-on play clock, plus the game clocking keeping running every time?  Complete disaster.

The MTL Miracle Game (TM) could never have happened under these new rules.

How do they adjust the clock for player injuries?  Wonder if this will lead to more fake injuries to stop the clock.

[Tecno]

How do they adjust the clock for player injuries?  Wonder if this will lead to more fake injuries to stop the clock.

Stole my thunder... totally was going to say this.  It'll be 2018 SSK all over again.  Some rando no-name NAT D getting a hangnail every 3 snaps on every good O drive.

It'll be a disaster, whether 3 TOs/H or "injuries".

[Tecno]

The post-move arguments are lame.

"Player safety": I've literally seen only 1-2 dudes run full speed blind into the post in 10+ years of CFL watching (every game).  Both were fine.  The pad on it is at least 1 foot thick!

"Improve the game": The post is often used as a very effective and sneaky rub/pick on a short crossing route in the red zone.  When done right it virtually guarantees a TD.  I thought they wanted more TDs?

"Eliminate doinks": On average 1 game a season sees a pass doink.  Solving a problem that does not exist.  Not even worth mentioning unless you want to misdirect from the real reasons.

What's the real reason?  Remember the NFL pre-season in WPG?  Ya, they want to make it an NFL field.  Probably want more NFL PS games here.  But you know what, WM said today that they can have the posts moved at will for CIS, CFL and soccer.  Ya, not remembering the NFL PS debacle, eh?  We moved the post and IT STILL WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH!  They said the little patch of turf over the GL hole was a "hazard".  That little patch will STILL BE THERE unless CIS follows the CFL changes -- AND they re-turf that whole strip/area (or the whole field?).

[theaardvark]

The post-move arguments are lame.

"Player safety": I've literally seen only 1-2 dudes run full speed blind into the post in 10+ years of CFL watching (every game).  Both were fine.  The pad on it is at least 1 foot thick!

"Improve the game": The post is often used as a very effective and sneaky rub/pick on a short crossing route in the red zone.  When done right it virtually guarantees a TD.  I thought they wanted more TDs?

"Eliminate doinks": On average 1 game a season sees a pass doink.  Solving a problem that does not exist.  Not even worth mentioning unless you want to misdirect from the real reasons.

What's the real reason?  Remember the NFL pre-season in WPG?  Ya, they want to make it an NFL field.  Probably want more NFL PS games here.  But you know what, WM said today that they can have the posts moved at will for CIS, CFL and soccer.  Ya, not remembering the NFL PS debacle, eh?  We moved the post and IT STILL WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH!  They said the little patch of turf over the GL hole was a "hazard".  That little patch will STILL BE THERE unless CIS follows the CFL changes -- AND they re-turf that whole strip/area (or the whole field?).

While not many passes hit the posts, many plays are affected by their placement.  Trying to throw/kick out of the endzone is very limited, likewise throwing in.  Ask Fajardo.  Much as a game shouldn't be decided by a rouge, is it being decided by a doink better?

[dd]

How do they adjust the clock for player injuries?  Wonder if this will lead to more fake injuries to stop the clock.

Clock stops on injury, starts when player leaves the field, no game time is lost due to player injury

[dd]

While not many passes hit the posts, many plays are affected by their placement.  Trying to throw/kick out of the endzone is very limited, likewise throwing in.  Ask Fajardo.  Much as a game shouldn't be decided by a rouge, is it being decided by a doink better?

Generally speaking, most smart OC's call the deep corner route to the flag to avoid the goal posts altogether. Dumb dumbs call the deep pass over the middle and run the risk of a doink, and so be it. It's not like the goalposts magically appeared out of nowhere, call your plays accordingly.

[Tecno]

While not many passes hit the posts, many plays are affected by their placement.  Trying to throw/kick out of the endzone is very limited, likewise throwing in.  Ask Fajardo.

This is the go-to every pro-NFLer is using, and it's a very low energy, very weak point.  In fact, it proves the opposite of what it's intended if you think about it.  It's literally the only example anyone can think of in 10 years!

Yes, a pass will hit a post once a year (happened last week).  No, they usually aren't game-deciding.  But even if they are: once a year.  And the OC and QB knew the risks.  The post didn't magically teleport there from another dimension unexpectedly.

How many passes in a year in the CFL?  5000?  So 1 in 5000 or less?  In my world you don't make drastic and expensive changes for a 1 in 5000 outcome.  And anyone parroting "muh Cody doink" isn't thinking this through, they are just repeating Johnston's weak talking points.

Much as a game shouldn't be decided by a rouge, is it being decided by a doink better?

Why not?  Can you remember the end of every WDF since '19?  I bet you can't.  But everyone remembers Cody's doink.  It made the game special.  And it will be remembered and talked about forever.  Would Cody throwing an incompletion been any better?  Or a completion?  Would just be another normal game.

Besides, then we'd miss out on Cody's chemistry class in the post-game.

[Jesse]

I am trying very hard to look at this with an unbiased view. Because there have been many changes to the game over the years, and if they were done for the betterment and integrity of the game in mind, they were probably for the best.

With that in mind, I can wrap my head around the movement of the goalposts. We can argue that "smart" OCs avoid the goalposts, but that's the point. You have to design your offence around them, limiting the field. It is a safety concern. I can understand it, even if I don't agree with it.

You might even talk me into chopping the end zones a bit so that fields are the same across the league, though I really don't like it. The onus should be on teams to provide stadiums to fit the field.

You'll never talk me into the new field size as that's 100% pandering to outside influences. There's no justification for it and the 110 yard field is one of those inherent parts of the CFL game. Like techno said in another thread, we're being gaslit into thinking that wasn't an untouchable. I commented before the changes were announced that it absolutely was.

The game clock also has the feel of gaslighting to it, as we see CFL and NFL games take the same amount of time and run the same amount of plays already (though there's wide variance between good and bad teams). So "making the game faster" feels like BS.

Of course the one thing that makes all of this incredibly "CFL", is that's it's all happening behind a wall of secrecy with zero transparency even to coaches and players. Were told that the changes are due to data and analytics but are not shared anything of those data points that could lead us to believe these obviously pandering moves are anything but.

But keep on alienating your fan base that has supported you for a century. That will draw new fans in, sure.

[Tecno]

With that in mind, I can wrap my head around the movement of the goalposts. We can argue that "smart" OCs avoid the goalposts, but that's the point. You have to design your offence around them, limiting the field. It is a safety concern.

Great post, I agree with everything.  Glad you see it too.

One quibble, everyone needs to stop saying the goalposts are a "player safety issue".  Name me one player in the last 10 years that missed even one snap or game from running into the goalpost.  One.

Name one memory anyone has of running into the goalpost and getting injured.  One.

You want to talk gaslighting, this is the biggest of them all!  We are being told that we all think this is a concern when it literally has never been ever since 1'+ pads were wrapped around the post.

I strongly recall 1 player, a DB I think, running into the post pretty fast without seeing it, in the last 3-4 seasons.  He got up everyone laughed and he kept playing.  I think I remember 1 other guy doing it in the 6 years before that, but I can't be positive or picture it in my brain.

It's literally not a thing.

For the league/pundits to cry now about the player safety of the post is disingenuous, and rather laughable seeing all the kickoff full-speed blowups and defenseless Wheatie rib-busting and Zach CTE that they used to claim was the Next Big Issue.  There are literally 100 on-field safety/injury issues that occur more frequently, and to worse effect, than any goalpost injury.

So not only should we not repeat this talking point (giving the Commish major ammo, "you're against player safety and killing small puppies! gasp!") but we need to instantly shoot down anyone who brings it up.

P.S. Absolutely nothing against you personally, as at first glance it does sound like a valid argument.

P.P.S. I'm not even that worked up about the post change: I just hate specious and frankly lying arguments used to promote a change.  That makes the motives suspect.

Edit:  Neufeld's "Huddle" episode in Video Links thread Sep 23, 40:20, Neufeld says he's never seen a CFL player run into the post.  That's 14 years of him playing.  Never seen it once.

[Tecno]

The game clock also has the feel of gaslighting to it, as we see CFL and NFL games take the same amount of time and run the same amount of plays already (though there's wide variance between good and bad teams). So "making the game faster" feels like BS.

Great point!  Both leagues produce games that last around 2.75 to 3.25 hours.  3 is what they aim for in the CFL (others can speak to the NFL).  I'm not sure which have more commercial time, though.  CFL is 1.5 minute ads quite often (I know, I edit them out on the PVR), with longer ones at halftime.  They air less ads at the end if the game is running late, always trying to squeeze things into 3 hours.

In fact, maybe this change is to pander to TV and to get more ad time in without reducing the number of plays?  I could see it speeding up the pace of the game allowing them to pack more plays in a smaller space so they can cut to ads more often in terms of wall clock?

It also could keep the games from going over the 3 hours, and from even getting close to going over.  That would allow them to stop the "no more ads" situation they get into in the final 15 mins sometimes when the are running late.  I bet they really hate not being able to run the normal quantity of ads during that time!  That is their bread & butter.

And if these are arguments and considerations they are using, just come out and tell us.  Everyone would understand if they said "we need more ads but don't want to ruin the experience with less plays, so we can have more money to increase SMS".  Instead, so far, all we have to go on is "we want to increase the pace" and that Johnston personally hates the final 3 mins taking half an hour.

[Tecno]

So does this mean the posts will be changed to be straight-vertical rather than that curved-hook shape they have now?  Is there any reason to not have the entire structure along one plain?

[bluengold204]

I wanna know how this affects those that sit in the end zones.  The field resize now makes it a bit further away.  Not the same expierence that we are currently paying for.