NFL sends memo on 'push rule' to all 32 teams in advance of Week 8

If Bill Belichick wanted more edification on the push rule, he got it this week. (Ron Antonelli/Getty Images) The NFL sent a video to all 32 teams this week,

Doug Farrar | Oct 27, 2013

NFL sends memo on 'push rule' to all 32 teams in advance of Week 8 /

If Bill Belichick wanted more edification on the push rule, he got it this week. (Ron Antonelli/Getty Images)

The NFL sent a video to all 32 teams this week, warning them that there will an increased emphasis on the new rule preventing one player from pushing a teammate forward on special teams plays. The New England Patriots were on the wrong side of this rule last Sunday, when defensive lineman Chris Jones was penalized for unnecessary roughness on Jets kicker Nick Folk's unsuccessful 58-yard field goal attempt in overtime. Jones' push forward allowed Folk to try again. and the Jets won, 30-27. Jones was penalized for pushing offensive lineman Will Svitek forward.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the NFL cited that play in the video, and one that the Jets seemed to get away with in the same game -- when Quinton Coples pushed Muhammad Wilkerson toward the line on a Stephen Gostkowski attempt. By doing so, the league effectively admitted that Jerome Boger's crew blew the call that should have gone against the Jets.

After the game, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said that he wasn't aware of the new rule, which prevented players from pushing teammates forward at the same level of the line. Before the 2013 season, players were technically allowed to push forward as long as they weren't doing so lined up behind their teammate at the snap.

The Jets had warned Jerome Boger's officiating crew about New England's tendency to do this, because they had seen the Patriots try it the week before, in New England's 30-27 win over the New Orleans Saints. In that game, Jones pushed forward on a Garrett Hartley attempt with 2:44 left in the game. The Baltimore Ravens also got away with an example of this in Week 5 against the Miami Dolphins.

Published Oct 27, 2013

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.