The 2015 NFL season is set to start and with it are a bunch of new rules that are set in place to help the League avoid any more controversies. However, the football inflation rule will be a lot more difficult to manage than most would think, even the officials are seeing the impossibility of the task.
According to the new rule, officials will:
- Number each ball to easily recognize and analyze.
- Randomly check the balls for correct air pressure.
- Constanly monitor and evaluate each ball before, during, and after each game.
As you can imagine, this may be more problematic than helpful. Central Region supervisor of officials Gary Slaughter is one that has already voiced that it is a very daunting task, as they have monitored the pressure in balls in the past, so they know what to expect.
The main reason this will be hard is that each ball is hand made, and can have issues. Balls can easily have a slow leak, or can even lose pressure depending on where the game is being played, altitude, etc. All of these issues make it hard to distinguish between tampering and normal deflation.
Stopping the game each time an official has to check a ball will get ridiculous. Football has always had its issues, but creating more and more rules is not a real answer, as it will only complicate things. Hopefully, it won’t get in the way.
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