Unleashing Chaos: How the Eagles' Dominance Altered NFL Rules After Crushing the 49ers
The Eagles crushed the 49ers in a game that left them in shambles. Now the NFL had to make changes 'cause of what went down.
The NFC championship game was a total disaster for those San Francisco 49ers, but guess what? The Eagles came in and flipped the whole game on its head, man. After smashing both of the 49ers' quarterbacks, Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson, the NFL is finally waking up and doing something about it, so it doesn't turn into a total mess like it did at the Linc in January.
During the NFL's fancy spring meeting in Minneapolis, they decided to change up the rule on emergency quarterbacks. Right now, there ain't no limit on how many quarterbacks a team can dress for a game. But most teams, they're smart enough to only have two active QBs and use that extra spot for a player who's actually gonna see some action on the field, you know, like special teams and stuff. From '91 to 2010, there was this rule that let teams activate a third "emergency" QB if the first two got injured, but then those first two guys couldn't come back in the game.
Now, the Eagles went ahead and whooped the 49ers so bad that the Detroit Lions came up with this idea to bring back a similar rule. But this time, if the starter or backup gets the all-clear from the team doctors, they can come back in the game. Makes sense, right?
If you like mumbo-jumbo legalese, read the words from the 2023 rule proposal submitted by the clubs:
Each club may also designate one emergency third quarterback from its Inactive List or Practice Squad, who will be eligible to be activated during the game, if, and only if, the club’s first two quarterbacks on its game day Active List are ruled “Out” for the remainder of the game due to injury or disqualification. If the designated emergency quarterback is activated, neither of the club’s first two quarterbacks may re-enter the game, even if they are subsequently cleared of injury or if the third quarterback becomes injured and cannot continue to play. A club will not be eligible to use these procedures if it carries three quarterbacks on its game day Active List. Any emergency third quarterback activated from the Practice Squad will be treated as a Standard Elevation as defined in Article 33, Section 5 of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, except the elevation will not count against the club’s three regular season elevations for the player and the elevation will not count against the club’s two elevations per game. Any quarterback on a club’s Practice Squad is required to be listed on the club’s game status injury report. An activated emergency third quarterback may not participate at a position other than quarterback, including, but not limited to, special teams. A Practice Squad player who is designated as a club’s emergency third quarterback will only be paid his applicable minimum Paragraph 5 Salary if he is elevated/activated to play in the game.
I know all these rule changes were already decided back in March, but they saved this one for the spring meetings. So, it looks like the NFL is hip to what the Eagles did to the 49ers, man. I mean, just check out that nasty hit by Haason Reddick that knocked out Purdy for a bit.
The guy tore his UCL in his throwing elbow, but he still had to come back 'cause the backup, Johnson, got concussed early in the second half. That's the kind of thing the NFL wants to avoid, forcing a clearly injured QB to go back in 'cause there's no other option. Or forcing fans of your sport league to watch a non-QB play QB.
That's not the product that the NFL is trying to sell!
The Eagles defense was so damn scary that the NFL had to change the rules, dude. They made such an impact that the league had to take notice and do something about it. Too bad they didn't win it all... ughhhhhhh.