NFL Forbids Players From Wearing Hoodies, While Catch Rule Remains Mostly Unchanged

By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- The National Football League has strange priorities sometimes when it comes to the rulebook.

The league confirmed a few new rules for 2016, which former head of officiating Mike Pereira tweeted on Wednesday night. Among them is a new rule prohibiting players from wearing hoodies on the field during games, continuing their tradition of oddly strict uniform rules. Call it the "James Jones Rule," after the Green Bay Packers receiver wore a green hoodie that blocked the name on his jersey in several games.

If the league considers nameplates so important, why don't they just embroider player names on them? Because they wouldn't have another chance to exercise their absolute authority on players, of course!

Good thing this rule change doesn't extend to coaches...

Another rule change stems from an incident involving Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter, who walked on the field during a scuffle at the Steelers - Bengals AFC Wild Card game. From now on, only head coaches are allowed on the field and only when they are checking on injured players.

But then how will teams bait the Bengals into committing season-killing penalties?

A third change modified the coin toss rules after a referee failed to make the coin flip in the air before the NFC Divisional playoff between the Packers and Cardinals. The official now needs to do a re-flip. This provision was not in place before because the league assumed that flipping a coin would not be such a challenge.

While those new changes will take place in 2016, the NFL's rules for catches remain largely unchanged. There's an apparent tweak to the rules defining what constitutes a pass-catcher maintaining control "long enough to become a runner." Sweeping changes were not expected, but the league's most enigmatic rule figures to give viewers yet another season of literally nobody knowing what constitutes a catch. Keep your fingers crossed that the catch rule doesn't bite your team in the playoffs.

Seriously, though, thank goodness we won't have any more controversies with non-flipping coins.

Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.