The XFL is going to offer a different kind of football. Check out three of the innovations the league plans to install when it kicks off in 2020.
Commissioner Oliver Luck offered a look:
How about multiple forward passes on one play?
“If I’m in the shotgun as a quarterback, I’m 5 yards back, I can’t throw a lateral to a receiver because he’d have to be 7 yards back,” he said. “You might as well hold a sign, ‘We’re going to throw a trick play right now.’ So we said, all right, if a team’s in the shotgun, that shouldn’t prevent the double forward pass.
“So I can be in the shotgun, 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, whip the ball out to the wide receiver, who is just a yard from the line of scrimmage and he can throw it.”
A drop of any pass behind the line of scrimmage will be ruled an incomplete pass, not a fumble.
How about the 3-point conversion?
After scoring a touchdown, teams will have three options. A conversion on a scrimmage play from the 2-yard line will be worth one point, a conversion from the 5-yard line will be worth two points and a conversion from the 10-yard line will be worth three points.
“The idea really is that we’re trying to take what historically had been a three-score game and make it a two-score game,” Luck said. “Say I’m down 17, I can score a touchdown and get a three-point conversion and have nine points. I’m back in this baby!”
And, finally, “The Comeback Period”
The clock will stop after every play during the final two minutes of each half.
We didn’t want a team to be able to have three downs where they just kneel it and burn off 1:40,” Luck said.
This is sort of a spin on how the CFL handles its waning moments.
