I just turned on NFL Network and found they’re showing a live CFL game – something I’ve never seen before.
I turned it on to see a very nice catch and run that unfortunately for the receiver ended in a fumble. A defensive player dove for it and smacked the ball out of bounds, which resulted in a turnover.
Uhhhh…what? Is that all you have to get a turnover up there? Just a touch is good enough?
ETA: Assuming that’s the case, are there any other differences I should be aware of? And as I type this, it appears there’s a biggie – only three downs? Huh…
Field is longer and wider than in the NFL. 12 men per side. 3 downs. No touchbacks. No fair catches. A myriad of little stuff like your initial question.
CFL rules on loose balls that go out of bounds are that they belong to the last player to touch them.
Other major differences vs American football: 3 downs, bigger field, one back can be moving forward at the snap, you can score 1 point for forcing a touchback, the punter (and anyone lined up behind him) can recover his own punt.
Yep, the NFL Network will be broadcasting one CFL game a week this year (schedule here); hopefully the response will be positive and we see more of this down the road. Additional coverage in the US is available online at ESPN3 (provided your ISP is a partner).
As a general rule, whenever there is a difference between the CFL and US rules, my impression is that the CFL rules always favour a more wide-open game, not so easily controlled. I find CFL more interesting to watch as a result.
I believe this can happen in American football, after a “muff” (dropped attempted catch of a punt), since the punt returner never established control of the ball for his team.
Sounds to me like you’re saying the kicking team would still have the ball, since the fielding team never established control?
That’s not how it would work in the CFL. If the player fielding the punt touches the ball, and it then goes out of bounds, it would be the receiving team’s ball.
… as in, the backs can all be in motion at the snap, as long as they are behind the line of scrimmage at the snap. As well, the two receivers covering the offensive line can be in lateral motion.
Other differences, not mentioned above (cribbed from Wikipedia to help my memory):
The centre must snap the ball between his legs. (Not a rule, just a convention in the NFL)
The defense must stay one yard from the line of scrimmage. Yes, this means that there’s no “less than a yard to goal” plays.
The CFL has no fair catch rule. Instead, no defensive (i.e., kicking team) player may be within five yards of the catching player until he touches the ball.
The “five yard rule” in the NFL (for holding up a receiver) is the “one yard rule” in the CFL
The defense can score on a point-after attempt; if the convert is unsuccessful, and they run the ball back to the other endzone, it’s a two-point safety
A reception is good if the receiver has a single foot in-bounds
Because of the different timing rules, during the last three minutes (not two, as in the NFL) of a half, a team can only use up 40 seconds of non-playing time without making a first down
On a muffed punt return in the NFL (which is, as you note, where the returner touched the ball, but never established control), the kicking team can recover it, but cannot advance it. However, they do actually have to gain control of the ball in this situation, not just touch it.
Especially in the past 10-15 years, it’s seemed to me that CFL players tend to not be quite as huge as NFL players have gotten; if that’s true, I suspect that feeds into it, as well.
I first started watching the CFL in 1980 or so, when my family first got cable TV. Back then, ESPN didn’t carry actual games for any of the major U.S. pro leagues, so there was a lot of CFL football (and Australian rules football) on. I became a fan of both sports, and still try to watch it whenever I can find it on cable. It’s only been in the past few years that I’ve been able to regularly find the CFL on U.S. cable again (it was on Comcast Sports Net here in Chicago for the past few years, and now on the NFL Network).
The rules on punting are one of the major differences between the two games, and illustrate my point about the more wide-open nature of the Canadian game.
First, no fair catch rule. If you’re going to catch the ball, you have to be prepared to run with it, and to get hit.
Second, the ball isn’t dead if no-one touches it. I watched an NFL game a few years ago where the field was so damp, the point of the ball stuck right in the turf. Both teams just stared at it until the referee whistled the play dead. That wouldn’t happen in the Canadian game, because of point # 3:
Third, the kicker is always onside, so he can recover the ball, even if no-one on the receiving team has touched the ball. So even if the fielding player never touches it, the kicker can race up-field and retrieve his own ball. (We can always tell if a punter is new to the CFL if he’s just sort of standing there after the punt; a veteran punter always runs up, hoping for a chance to recover the ball. Saskatchewan’s former punter, Jamie Boreham (now with Toronto) was a great example of that. He also was keen on trying to block or tackle the guy who caught the punt.)
Fourth, if the receiving team touches the ball but doesn’t bring it under control, or fumbles it, the ball is live and anyone on the receiving team can try to get it; if successful, they can run with it.
Fifth, possession can be established by being the last one to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds.
I well remember the pickup game of tackle football in the park, where the new kid in the neighbourhood called for a fair catch on a kickoff. Ummm…no; we don’t play by those rules. Wham!
I enjoy NFL, but this is one point that bothers me. The kick is not received, and the kicking team races downfield…and then surrounds the ball and watches it bounce. Pick the @#$% ball up and run for a TD! Of course, under NFL rules, they cannot.
With a fair catch rule and without the ability of the kicking team to recover a kicked ball (not to mention all the other rule differences, such as three downs to make ten, and a longer and wider field), I find it difficult to believe that NFL is the superior game. CFL rules require attention, alertness, and the ability to deal with an uncalled-for situation as the play develops. Good players can respond accordingly; bad players think NFL rules apply and the play is over while the ball is still live. Ummm…no; we don’t play by those rules. Wham!
This comes up fairly often in onside kick situations. To gain possession, the kicking team doesn’t have to recover the ball; they can just knock it out of bounds instead. Also, because there’s no fair catch rule, the kicker can chip the ball for his teammates to run under. In the NFL, the receiving team would just call for a fair catch on such a kick, which is why NFL kickers do that kick where they drive the ball into the ground.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that in the CFL the quarterback is more likely to attempt to run for the first down himself if he can’t find an open receiver. I’m not entirely sure what it is about the rules that causes this to happen, though! Since the CFL season starts earlier than the NFL, by the time the latter gets started I’m more familiar with the pace of the former and I find myself yelling at NFL quarterbacks to just run with the ball, you doofus!
There are fewer long waits, game delays and clock-running-downs-with-nothing-happening, which I enjoy. I want to watch football, not a bunch of guys standing around waiting to do something.
It also seems to me that field goals are much more important, given the whole 3-down thing, there are more opportunities I guess.
The CFL commissioner said that something like 45% of CFL games are decided in the final 3 minutes, which I enjoy. Does anyone know if that is comparable to the NFL?
