Author: Wayne Lawrence

Welcome to our 7 th year of NFL CONFIDENCE PICKS  !!!!! This also marks the 100 th SEASON OF THE NFL!! Believe it or not NFL has hit the Century Mark.  100 years of Professional Football History. For those of you who are new here. This is  how confidence ranking goes, let me explain. If we were playing an office pool,(which we ARE NOT).  The object is to score the most points. To obtain the score YOU rank the teams by how confident you are a team will win its game.  EXAMPLE:  Say this week we have 16 games.  The team you are most confident will win you would assign the number 16 and follow down to the team you are least confident in and assign that number 1.   You add up the TOTAL CORRECT PICKS.. That would be your score.  We use the Monday night (Last game played) as a TIE BREAKER.  The tie is broken by the closest to the total (that is the COMBINED score of the two participating teams) final score, without going over. YOU can adopt the scoring  described above.  Or, the optional method.  A  negative score for missed games.  We will continue to get a positive score for correct predictions.  EXAMPLE:   if you scored     1 pt on the first game and you had 15 pts on the second game and lost you would still have  1 pt. 1.  HOWEVER. with the same scenario new scoring system would result with a –14 score If we were playing this is how my sheet would look;  My pick will be in bold Capital letters.  you can use circling, underlining, or highlighting.  I will show my correct points in Bold I will fill in my picks Thursday.  Until then feel free to: Just copy and paste for your own Fun Pool Use.  Or to see if you can beat me. IF YOU SEE I MADE A MIS-COPY OF THE GAMES AND TIMES FEEL  FREE TO EMAIL ME AND TELL ME I GOOFED. GOOD LUCK TO ALL. Rule changes and point of EMPHASIS will only appear here this one time.  I will try to put them on a separate post with a link to that post on future weeks. So if you don’t want to read these changes just page down to the bracket. Here is a list of the rule changes, as I understand them. Rule changes and point of EMPHASIS will only appear here this one time.  I will put them on a separate post with a link to that post on future weeks. So if you don’t want to read these changes just page down to the bracket. Here is a list of the rule changes, as I understand them. 2019 NFL RULES CHANGES PASS INTERFERENCE REPLAY REVIEW Beginning in 2019, both offensive and defensive pass interference calls are reviewable. Plays can be reviewed whether the penalty was called on the field or not. This rule change is subject to a one-year trial period. Explore the 2019 NFL rulebook. A pass interference ruling will be changed in replay only when there is clear and obvious visual evidence that the on-field ruling was incorrect. To change the ruling on the field, there must be clear and obvious evidence that contact “significantly hindered” or “did not significantly hinder” an opponent. See full details on the 2019 replay rule here. BLINDSIDE BLOCK Owners voted to expand protection of defenseless players by eliminating the blindside block. It is now prohibited for a blocker to initiate forcible contact with his head, shoulder or forearm when his path is toward or parallel to his own end line. The penalty for an illegal blindside block is a loss of 15 yards and an automatic first down. KICKOFF Owners voted to make permanent the kickoff rules changes that were implemented in 2018. The restrictions resulted in a 35% decrease in concussions on kickoff plays when compared to the 2017 season. 2019 NFL kickoff rules. Here are the NFL kickoff rules: The kickoff team must have five players on each side of the ball and cannot line up more than one-yard from the restraining line. For example, the kicking team will line up at the 34-yard line for a kickoff from the 35-yard line. At least two players must be lined up outside the yard-line number and two players between the inbounds lines (hash marks) and the yard-line number. At least eight players of the receiving team must be lined up in the 15-yard “setup zone” prior to kickoff; only three receiving-team players can remain outside of the setup zone. No wedge blocks are permitted. A wedge block is defined as “two or more players intentionally aligning shoulder-to-shoulder within two yards of each other, and who move forward together in an attempt to block for the runner.” Double-team blocks can only be performed by members of the receiving team who were originally lined up in the set-up zone at the time of the kick. Until the ball is touched or hits the ground, no player on either the receiving or kicking team may block within the 15-yard area from the kicking team’s restraining line. On an onside kick, the kicking team may not block in the first 10 yards. The ball is dead if it is not touched by the receiving team and touches the ground in the end zone (touchback). BOOTH REVIEWS In addition to pass interference, owners voted to expand the number of plays subject to booth reviews to include: If a penalty flag is thrown that would negate a touchdown, the play will be reviewed first to determine if there was a score before the defense elects to enforce the foul. All two-point conversion reviews will now be initiated by the Replay Official. The plays are no longer challengeable by a coach. This is true regardless of the call on the field. Visit the NFL Video Rulebook. Other rules changes for 2019 include: CELEBRATIONS Beginning in 2019, only players in uniform may enter the field to celebrate. If anyone other than a player in uniform enters the field, it is a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct — loss of 15 yards and an automatic… Continue reading NFL CONFIDENCE PICKS WEEK 1 09/05-08-09/2019