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Message: [QUOTE="Scooch, post: 1221729, member: 628"] Apologies for not being more clear. Perhaps not "changes" as much as emphasis. Per an article on FiveThirtyEight.com: [I] In the case of illegal contact, yes. In 2004, Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian [URL='http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/sports/football/19colts.html?_r=2&']spent the offseason[/URL] lobbying the NFL Competition Committee to more strictly enforce the illegal contact rule in the wake of his team’s [URL='http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200401180nwe.htm']24-14 playoff defea[/URL]t against the New England Patriots (a game in which Manning — then playing for Indianapolis — tossed four interceptions). As the chart below shows, referees began calling the penalty much more often the very next season, a 15-year high point. [/I] And from the NY Times... [I] Bill Polian’s face tightened when he recalled the game. Polian, the Colts’ president, was angered by how the Patriots played. No wonder. When it was over, when Marvin Harrison had been jostled out of the game plan, when the Patriots had intercepted Manning four times, the rest of the N..L. had its blueprint for stopping the Colts. The Colts also had their reputation for finesse play cemented, the Patriots were on their way to building a dynasty — they went on to win their second of three Super Bowls — and the National Football League had a rules issue on its hands. “I give the Patriots great credit for what they did,” Polian said in an interview this week. “I won’t go beyond that.” The National Football League eventually did, with Polian’s prodding. The following off-season, the league issued a point of emphasis edict from the competition committee about how defensive holding and illegal contact would be officiated. Since then, defenders have had to be more careful about touching receivers beyond the first 5 yards of a play. [/I] Point was just to note that when some people ramble on about how favored the Pats are by the league one can point to the fact that the entire modern era of pass defense rules were influenced by a guy who hated that the Pats beat the hell out of his team. [/QUOTE]

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