Matt Lombardo is away on vacation, and he reached out to several current and former NFL players, reporters, and analysts to tell their stories and lend their insights while he’s away. Today, 12-year veteran pass rusher, two-time Super Bowl champion, and the author of ‘One More Shot’ on Substack, Kyle Van Noy takes center stage …

Thanks to Matt Lombardo for offering me this guest posting slot on Between the Hashmarks. My Substack, One More Shot, focuses on mindset, motivation, and leadership through football and beyond, but today we’re sticking to my on-field takes.

I'm entering my 13th NFL season and think I’ve earned my vet status to have some opinions that have been forged through years of playing this sport at the highest level and being around the all-time greats.

So here are three takes on NFL rules — two things I'd change, and one thing I'll defend until someone proves me wrong (they won’t).

If you want to be excellent, you need to be accountable, even when it’s tough.

Every player, every coach stands in front of a microphone after games and answers for what happened out there.

Win or lose, good game or bad game, you answer for your decisions and your actions. That accountability is part of the job.

Refs should have to do the same thing.

I'm not saying this to pile on officials at all. I'm saying it because they're human, just like us, and when they make a call that impacts the outcome of a game, fans and players deserve an explanation.

A press conference. A direct conversation about the decision-making.

I’m not trying to make refs into celebrities or have them become internet famous, but I think it’s important to hear directly from the people about their decisions. In any business, the key decision makers and leaders from each department have the opportunity to report on their performance and debrief their actions.

The NFL is a business.

Beyond that, if refs are going to be held to this standard of visibility and accountability, it makes the case that they need to be part of the collective bargaining agreement. Full-time employees, full benefits, full accountability.

You can't have it both ways.

You can't ask for accountability and transparency without also offering protections.

This one is personal.

I understand why roughing the passer exists. Protecting quarterbacks matters.

But, the way it's currently called is putting defensive players in an impossible position — mid-air, committed to a tackle, expected to somehow alter their body mechanics in ways that go against basic physics.

A clean tackle is a clean tackle. When you've already left the ground, you can't just stop. You can't redirect.

Asking defenders to change the fundamental biomechanics of how they tackle — in real time, at full speed — is a safety hazard to the defense. And good defenders are getting flagged for doing their job the right way.

There has to be a better standard than "we'll know it when we see it."

Here's where I'll probably lose some of you.

A lot of fans want to change what happens when a ball carrier fumbles the ball into or over the pylon.

Right now, it's a touchback and the defense gets the ball. The push from fans is to give the offense the ball back at the one-yard line instead. More fair, right?

I disagree. Completely.

The football itself is the most sacred thing in this game.

It’s on top of the Lombardi Trophy for a reason.

The end zone is the most sacred part of the field.

When you combine those two things — when you're that close, carrying that ball when it matters most — you have to have heightened awareness. Extra care.

The stakes should be the highest they'll ever be on that field.

If you don't protect the most precious thing in the game when you're about to put it in the most critical place in the game, there should be real consequences.

Yes, most rules in the NFL favor the offense. Scoring is up, defenses have to operate with one hand tied behind their back half the time, and I get why — fans love points, networks love points, the league loves points.

I understand the business.

But this is one of the only rules left that truly favors the defense.

In my opinion, it makes the game better because it demands that the offense be elite when it matters most.

Keep it.

Those are my three. Two things I'd fix, one I won't budge on.

The game is always evolving, but not every change is progress.

Some rules exist for a reason, and the best ones demand excellence when it matters most.

Subscribe to One More Shot for more from me every week. Can’t wait to be back on the field this fall! LFG!