Brian Flores’ proposed rule change would help defenses hold late leads. Here’s how.

The Miami Dolphins were one four teams to submit potential rule changes to the NFL for consideration at this month’s annual meeting in Palm Beach.

It’s no surprise, considering their head coach’s background, that their suggested tweak to the rule book would benefit defenses.

Brian Flores wants defenses to have the option to roll the clock on the referee’s signal should the offense commit a declined penalty late in either half.

That would be a change to Rule 4, Section 3, Article 2, which states that the clock will start at the snap after any penalty — offensive or defensive — in the final two minutes of the first half or the final five minutes of the second.

Here’s the real-word application to the Dolphins’ proposed rule change: If a team is behind and driving to either tie or go ahead and commits a non time-conserving penalty (e.g., intentional grounding, false start, etc.), that rallying team actually can get an advantage — extra time to regroup that doesn’t run off the clock — by violating certain rules.

But if ratified, Flores’ rule change would make it very difficult for a team that’s behind to huddle without burning a timeout after committing a penalty in certain circumstances late in the game. The defense would almost certainly elect to start the clock sooner than the snap, forcing the offensive team to hurry.

To become official, the Dolphins’ proposal will need 24 of the league’s 32 owners to vote in favor at the annual meeting.

Here’s the full list of proposed rule changes that will be considered at the meeting:

1. By Philadelphia; to amend Rule 12, Section 2, Article 7, to modify the blindside block rule to prevent unnecessary fouls.
2. By Philadelphia; to amend Rule 15, Section 2, to make permanent the expansion of automatic replay reviews to include scoring plays and turnovers negated by a foul, and any successful or unsuccessful Try attempt.
3. By Philadelphia; to amend Rule 6, Section 1, Article 1, to provide an alternative to the onside kick that would allow a team who is trailing in the game an opportunity to maintain possession of the ball after scoring (4th and 15 from the kicking team’s 25-yard line).
4. By Philadelphia; to amend Rule 16, Section 1, to restore preseason and regular season overtime to 15 minutes and implement rules to minimize the impact of the overtime coin toss.
5. By Miami; to amend Rule 4, Section 3, Article 2, to provide the option to the defense for the game clock to start on the referee’s signal if the defense declines an offensive penalty that occurs late in either half.
6. By Baltimore and Los Angeles Chargers; to amend Rule 19, Section 2, to add a “booth umpire” as an eighth game official to the officiating crew.
7. By Baltimore and Los Angeles Chargers; to amend Rule 19, Section 2, to add a Senior Technology Advisor to the Referee to assist the officiating crew.

▪ The Dolphins’ compensatory draft pick haul ended up being less than they originally hoped, and probably expected.

The NFL awarded Miami a fourth-round (141st overall) and a seventh-round (251st) pick for losing Ja’Wuan James, Frank Gore, Cameron Wake and others to free agency in the 2019 offseason. The success of Ryan Fitzpatrick and injuries to James and Wake mitigated what could have been a larger prize.

This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 3:57 PM.

Adam H. Beasley

Miami Herald

305-376-2387

Adam Beasley has covered the Dolphins for the Miami Herald since 2012, and has worked for the newspaper since 2006. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications and has written about sports professionally since 1996. Support my work with a digital subscription