The NFL Has Passed a New Emergency QB Rule That Specifically Screws the Patriots Over

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Just a few days ago, it seemed like the perfect move. A high stakes poker game in which 2021 NFL Executive of the Year Bill Belichick broke up a good poker hand, and ended up drawing and inside straight flush. 

A week ago today, the Patriots released both backup quarterbacks on their roster, second year backup Bailey Zappe and UDFA QB/WR Malik Cunningham, leaving them with Mac Jones as a one-man quarterback room. Only to re-sign both after they cleared waivers, about 36 very nervous hours later.

Then they claimed Carolina's second year QB Matt Corral. As I explained Friday, during last year's draft, Belichick swung a deal with the Panthers:

Carolina gets:

A 2022 3rd rounder, No. 94 overall, and selects Corral.

New England gets: 

A 2022 4th rounder, No. 137 overall, and selects Bailey Zappe. And,

A 2023 3rd rounder, No. 76 overall, and selects hybrid LB/DB Marte Mapu.

Now the Pats had all three, plus Cunningham. For the low, low price of zero draft picks and zero cents. And all throughout the long weekend, it looked as if the plan had come together to perfection. 

Now they had options. They could simply slide Zappe back into his familiar spot as the QB2. Designate Corral as the QB3 to be used only as the Emergency Quarterback in case disaster strikes, while bringing him up to speed in the system. And continue to develop Cunningham as a hybrid, all-purpose weapon of the future from the comfort and safety of the practice squad.

It would appear that the football world took notice. Because while the rest of us were at the beach or standing around with a beer in one hand and a pair of BBQ tongs in the other, the NFL went to work doing what they do best. Which is change the rules to the detriment of one team. As always, this team. In this particular instance, blowing up the Patriots perfectly laid plans. 

CBS Sports - This offseason, NFL owners put a bylaw into effect that will have a noticeable impact in 2023. It will allow each team to field an emergency quarterback on game days that will go against its 46-man active roster. 

This was a significant move by the league's owners. … 

A team must label an actual quarterback as their "inactive/emergency third quarterback" before a regular-season or postseason game. …

• The emergency third quarterback must be on the team's 53-player roster; the player cannot be an elevated practice squad player.
• The team's starting quarterback (QB1) and its backup quarterback (QB2) must also be on the team's 53-man roster. …
• A club cannot designate an emergency third quarterback if it has three or more bona fide quarterbacks on its 47/48-player gameday active list. 

The emergency quarterback can only enter into a game if a team's active, first two quarterbacks are unable to play because of a disqualification or an injury.

I emphasized that part about the QB1 and QB2 having to be on the 53-man roster because that is brand new, never-before-uttered, hot-off-the-presses language that was never part of the rules until Labor Day. With the season kickoff four days away, they managed to take time out of a federal holiday to change a rule in a way that it has a direct, negative impact on a perfect arrangement this one team above all the others. It's obvious that the plan was to move Zappe up off the practice squad to the 53-man roster and make Corral the Designated Survivor. Now, thanks to this last second switcheroo, they can't.

You might say I'm just being paranoid and there's no proof this was a targeted attack. If so, you're just being ignorant of history, either intentionally or unintentionally, and I don't know which is worse. There's a pattern of exactly this sort of thing coming from NFL HQ. And it goes back almost 20 years. You want examples? I'll give you examples:

--In 2002, after the Tuck Rule was correctly enforced in the Snow Bowl game, as it had been several times in the past (including going against the Patriots vs. the Jets earlier in the year) it was instantly stricken from the rule book.

--In 2004, after the Patriots secondary manhandled Peyton Manning's Colts in the 2003 AFC championship game, Bill Polian used his position on the Rules Committee to essentially turn pass defense into a non-contact sport.

--In 2015, after the Ravens complained about the extremely legal Ineligible Receiver formations the Pats used to beat them in the Divisional playoff game (which they had run by the officials earlier in the week for confirmation they were very much within the rules), Baltimore got those declared illegal. Only to start coming up with some of their own the following season:

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--In 2016, the Ravens again complained about being outsmarted by New England. In a win at Foxboro in December, Patriots linebacker Shea McLellin jumped Baltimore's long snapper to block a field goal try. That move was outlawed pretty much immediately, despite the fact other teams had successfully pulled it off before. 

That's just scratching the surface. There are dozens more examples. From rules as picayune as requiring teams to wear uniform numbers at Spring practices (try to guess which one of the 32 teams wasn't wearing them) to as Earth-shattering as that business of how footballs were all supposed to be between 11.5 psi and 13.5 psi, because that's what it says on the Wilson box they come in. Funny how we were supposed to get all the data on football air pressure throughout the league and in all conditions, but the NFL somehow never got around to it. 

So go ahead and try to convince me this latest last second bit of skullduggery is just a coincidence. Especially with the Pats offensive line in disarray and the Eagles coming to town after recording 70 sacks last year. A full 15 more than the second highest total in the league. 

Forget it. Don't bother. You can't. Just because we're paranoid doesn't mean the world isn't really out to get us.