FOXBORO -- NFL back judge Tony Steratore met with reporters at Gillette Stadium on Friday afternoon in order to answer questions about new rule changes for the 2015 season.
Before the question-and-answer session, Steratore and three other officials -- the group is spending three days at Patriots training camp practices this week -- presented a video describing some of the new rules and emphases.
Player safety rules were highlighted, meaning illegal peel-back and chop blocks were touched on, as was the treatment of defenseless receivers during interception returns. Pushing teammates during punt attempts is now illegal, and there will be an emphasis to deter fighting. Players who don't leave the area of a fight will be fined, and players are no longer allowed to pull opponents off of a pile during fumble recoveries.
When Steratore took to the podium, he answered a handful of questions that may have more interest locally, including queries that touched on the handling of game footballs, kicking balls, and illegal formations.
Here are some of the highlights.
On how ball pressure readings will be handled: "Our procedure this year that we have in place is that the referee will assign two members of his crew, they all do the regular ball checks the way we've done, to check the pressure and approve the balls prior to the game. Once the game starts, actually once we get on the field in the very short time before the beginning of the game, we turn them over, I guess it's "chain of custody" for lack of a better term, and that's when the K-ball folks and the folks from football ops will take it from that point. Once we actually get it in the game, it's not gonna be a real concern for game officials. We handle that stuff prior to the game."
On how balls will be checked at halftime during randomly-selected games: "In any instance where there would be that check, it would involve (two members of an officiating crew)."
New England Patriots
On whether or not balls measured below the 12.5 PSI minimum threshold might be deemed legal because of the Ideal Gas Law: "Balls are legal between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds."
On how balls measuring below 12.5 PSI will be handled: "That would be outside . . . I'm not sure how they're going to handle it. That's a question more for football ops . . . We don't [know]. I'll stick to, for us, what we're qualified to speak about. And what's relevant to us. I'm not a physicist so gas laws and those types of things, I'm OK with DPI (defensive pass interference), OPI (offensive pass interference) and ICT (illegal contact), but I'm not a gas law guy.
On if officials will know which games will be randomly selected for football checks: "That would be a football ops question. That procedure . . . I'm happy to discuss with you what game officials, that's what I'm qualified to speak about. We test theballs before the game, we always test the balls prior to the game. We approve the balls. We supervise their preparation and then it's turned over to folks in football ops. Chain of command, that's what they do at that point . . . I can tell you, having worked in this league for 16 years, once we start to play football, that's really not a priority. We take care of that prior to the game in the preparation phase. Once we're playing football there's plenty of challenges out there other than footballs."
On calling illegal contact and holding in the secondary, which were given renewed emphasis last season: "The parameters in the passing game ICT, defensive holding, offensive pass interference, that were a point of emphasis last year, there's no change to any of that this year. We're carrying on and we'll officiate that just as we did last season."