The kickoff formation puts the kicking team and the returning team five yards apart. No one except the kicker and returner can move until the ball is caught or is on the ground for three seconds, an effort to encourage returns and discourage touchbacks
XFL teams will also continue to get three options, all from scrimmage, after scoring a touchdown: a 1-point-attempt play from the 2-yard line, a 2-point play from the 5 and a 3-point play from the 10.
It will continue using a dedicated on-field official whose only job is to spot the ball between plays and will use a 35-second play clock to "keep the game moving," Blandino said. Halftime will be 10 minutes.
Coaches will get one challenge per game, to be used on any call or flag they wish.
Overtime will consist of a minimum of three plays from the opponents' 5-yard line, per team, rather than five.
Teams will have an alternative to the onside kick in the fourth quarter. Instead of kicking, they can line up for one offensive play to get 15 yards in order to maintain possession after a score.
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Seems to me quite a few Monday night games this year have clocked in under three hours. So naturally ESPN, who has tried to schedule college games in back to back three hour windows (which is next to impossible, see when the draft special was pushed back 40 minutes for Ohio/Ball State) in the last few years, has an interest in it.
A heads up to Sunday scheduling (split ESPN/ESPN2 DH) perhaps?
The kickoff formation puts the kicking team and the returning team five yards apart. No one except the kicker and returner can move until the ball is caught or is on the ground for three seconds, an effort to encourage returns and discourage touchbacks
XFL teams will also continue to get three options, all from scrimmage, after scoring a touchdown: a 1-point-attempt play from the 2-yard line, a 2-point play from the 5 and a 3-point play from the 10.
It will continue using a dedicated on-field official whose only job is to spot the ball between plays and will use a 35-second play clock to "keep the game moving," Blandino said. Halftime will be 10 minutes.
Coaches will get one challenge per game, to be used on any call or flag they wish.
Overtime will consist of a minimum of three plays from the opponents' 5-yard line, per team, rather than five.
Teams will have an alternative to the onside kick in the fourth quarter. Instead of kicking, they can line up for one offensive play to get 15 yards in order to maintain possession after a score.
Excellent! I’m relieved they kept most of these rules the same or similar. This was bigger for me than the uniform reveal. These rules make the XFL unique and deliver more excitement from a rules/game flow perspective, IMO. Glad to see they didn’t change them just because they could. Well done!
It's interesting that they got rid of some of the rules that were expected to speed up the game (25-second play clock, only two TOs per half), and also fit into that three-hour TV window. Perhaps the 10-second increase to the play clock won't matter as much; as one person on Twitter noted, the play clock didn't start until the ball was spotted in 2020. If it starts immediately in 2023, then the difference may be negligible.
I hate coach's challenges on principle - they should not be responsible for legislating the game in addition to coaching it. So I'm disappointed to see that in there. From the league's perspective, it'll add drama and potential headset discussion that can make air. And who knows, maybe this is a rule the NFL has asked them to implement.
I too am glad to see many of the rules from 2020 have been kept.
One that's different that was not mentioned yesterday is all replay will take place at a central command center rather than in the stadium, which is what the league had in 2020.
They also linked in that release to the full rule book, all 126 pages of it:
BTW, is this the first piece of information to be released by XFL 2023 that is actually ahead time-wise of XFL 2020? I believe their rules were released in January.
GregParks wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 8:21 am
It's interesting that they got rid of some of the rules that were expected to speed up the game (25-second play clock, only two TOs per half), and also fit into that three-hour TV window. Perhaps the 10-second increase to the play clock won't matter as much; as one person on Twitter noted, the play clock didn't start until the ball was spotted in 2020. If it starts immediately in 2023, then the difference may be negligible.
I hate coach's challenges on principle - they should not be responsible for legislating the game in addition to coaching it. So I'm disappointed to see that in there. From the league's perspective, it'll add drama and potential headset discussion that can make air. And who knows, maybe this is a rule the NFL has asked them to implement.
I too am glad to see many of the rules from 2020 have been kept.
I much prefer the coaches challenges to the constant replay, micro second frame by frame BS the NFL and CFB use. It slows the game down and its like having a lawyer on the field. Perhaps that's the next coaches position?
The USFL used the auto review limited but it can get out of hand fast.
One that's different that was not mentioned yesterday is all replay will take place at a central command center rather than in the stadium, which is what the league had in 2020.
They also linked in that release to the full rule book, all 126 pages of it:
BTW, is this the first piece of information to be released by XFL 2023 that is actually ahead time-wise of XFL 2020? I believe their rules were released in January.
Its cheaper to be all in one place, makes sense. Prefer a shorter clock but not a big change, rules fine.
GregParks wrote: ↑Thu Dec 08, 2022 8:21 am
It's interesting that they got rid of some of the rules that were expected to speed up the game (25-second play clock, only two TOs per half), and also fit into that three-hour TV window. Perhaps the 10-second increase to the play clock won't matter as much; as one person on Twitter noted, the play clock didn't start until the ball was spotted in 2020. If it starts immediately in 2023, then the difference may be negligible.
I hate coach's challenges on principle - they should not be responsible for legislating the game in addition to coaching it. So I'm disappointed to see that in there. From the league's perspective, it'll add drama and potential headset discussion that can make air. And who knows, maybe this is a rule the NFL has asked them to implement.
I too am glad to see many of the rules from 2020 have been kept.
The 25 second play clock and one timeout per half works for the CFL. The XFL didn't want to nick too much from the CFL to make it obvious.
Why doesn't the Rock use NFL rules instead when it proposes that their league is a feeder system to the NFL
Last edited by DavedaHammer on Thu Dec 08, 2022 11:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Interesting little nugget: scanning through the whole rule book, it looks like the fair catch kick might have more opportunities to be used. They've put in two rules to that effect:
1. Fair catch kicks can't be returned. That was one of the big concerns there was in Super Bowl LI when Bill Belichick decided not to try it to finish off the comeback at the end of regulation, because he was afraid of it being returned. That won't be an issue in the XFL.
2. If a fair catch is made after the clock expires, the team can take a free shot at a field goal with a fair catch kick.
Also, the fair catch kick appears to be under the rules of the onside kick as far as formation goes (though there is a typo in the book that points to a non-existent cross-reference).
These are things that probably only interest people into the more obscure football rules, like me.