For years, we’ve all seen video of running backs and linebackers plowing over officials too slow to clear out. While it’s provided plenty of Football Follies fodder over the years, it became a safety issue for many of the older officials in the league. So in an effort to keep the men in stripes from getting caught between the rock and a hard place (namely a linebacker’s helmet), the NFL decided to try placing the umpire in a new spot. Instead of lining up in his traditional spot in the middle of the defense, the umpire would be sent to the offensive right side of the formation. That puts the official in closer proximity to the center of the offense meaning he’ll be able to see more kickoffs and more passes on that side of the ball.
While that may seem to be a small tweak, it’ll actually be a fairly large one.
- The league also changed the way it distributes the green stick around the goal line. Instead of the official using the stick to push the ball to the goal post, the official will now use a stick to push the ball to the center of the goal line. The goal of the rule change is to prevent goals from being kicked on or around the sticks itself.
- In addition to those rule changes, the NFL also moved the puck behind the goal line closer to the goal line this season. It’s all part of an effort to make the game appear closer to being over at the beginning of the third quarter as opposed to being ended late in the third quarter. Both the puck and the goal line will be gone at least once every 20 minutes instead of every 30 minutes like in years past.
NFL officials also try to give the appearance of being aware of the instant-hit factors of the players involved in the play.
- One thing they can do is spin the reels of the video poker machine a certain number of times to make the players appear to be having a bias for one particular casino gambling site over the other. In reality, their awareness of the instant-hit factor is actually the result of a very good memory and a very good math mixing those two elements together.
- For those unfamiliar with instant-hit games, they are virtually the same as video poker, but the return on a single credit or payback is instantly determined by a random number generator instead of a spinning wheel. In some cases, the casino will even print out a sheet of paper that contains the possible return combinations for the machine so players don’t have to keep checking the machines themselves. Of course, if players want to be really painstaking, they can always request a payout slip from the retailer and have the retailer mark their tickets accordingly.
- Blackjack players will find that a lot of the rules and payouts for video poker machines are the same, but there are some important nuances to be aware of. Take a look at the payouts on a multi-play ticket tied into a offers that might pay for multi-play or instant-win combinations. Or, be aware that some multi-play tickets offer different bonuses than others. That might mean extra money in your pocket if you have a winning combination!