REPLY: No new rule book wording yet, so it's tough to comment. But some of my thoughts:
Coach allowed to request timeout -- Previously, if his players couldn't hear him screaming for a TO, they would get the grief. Now, if you don't hear him,
you're going to get the grief! And, if you as a wing official hear the call, you need to turn away from the action to verify that it is indeed the head coach before you grant the TO. If that occurs right when the snap is imminent, you might miss something.
Any number of players/subs/coaches in TO near sideline -- Probably OK.
Momentum exception extended to team A after a change of possession -- Good addition. Why don't they go all the way and extend it to recoveries as well??
Foul during the last timed down of period -- Last year's change was horrible. It did nothing but allow them to remove the statement that if any of those things occurred during the untimed down, another untimed down would be played. Yeah...but it had some unintended consequences that confused the issue. (Note: I had a friend who is the state interpreter from New Hampshire solicit Diehl to change this back, so I guess this means I might be responsible for a rule change !
)
PSK changes -- Even though the new wording isn't there yet, the ideas are good: opening the PSK window at the snap, like the NCAA, is a much better alternative than waiting till it crosses the ENZ (no one could properly officiate that rule!), and a successful FG is exempt from any PSK consideration probably needed to be spelled out.
Muffs by kickers on free and scrimmage kicks -- good change; poor wording in the table on the Fed's website. What do you expect?
Clarification on last year's 8-2-2 enforcement exception -- only fouls after change of possession can have enforcement carried over to succeeding spot. Sounds good to me.