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NFL Passes Safety Proposals, Moves Closer to Becoming Two-Hand Touch

Posted Mar 24, 2009 8:30PM By Adam Gretz (RSS feed)

Filed Under: NFL Fans, NFL Injuries

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After clarifying "The Brady Rule" on Tuesday, the NFL continued its assault on unnecessary roughness by passing four safety proposals at the league's annual owners' meetings.

Among the rule changes is a ban on "wedge blocking," as well as regulations on blindside blocking and the hitting of defenseless receivers. There is also some new rules designed to make onside kicks safer.

At some point, you have to ask when the NFL is just going to say the heck with it, and tie flags around the player's wastes and ban tackling all together. I can understand wanting to take action on hits to the head, leading with the helmet, and similar acts of violence. But wedge blocking? Seriously? Is this what it's coming to?

From ESPN's John Clayton:
After watching years of tape, the Competition Committee felt the wedge was causing too many injuries. Starting this fall, no more than two receiver team players may intentionally form a wedge to help the returner. The penalty is 15 yards and will be enforced from the spot of the wedge. It will be called if three or more players line up shoulder to shoulder within two yards of each other to lead the blocking.
I wonder what's going to happen when the NFL notices an increase in injuries to kick returners because they no longer have a wedge in front of them, resulting in gunners charging down the field and crashing into them at full speed. Another rule change, no doubt, or perhaps the elimination of kickoffs all together and drives automatically starting at the 20-yard line.

Among the other changes:

The Hines Ward Rule: We'll call it "The Hines Ward Rule" because it came as a result of his devastating block on Cincinnati's Keith Rivers, which knocked him out for the remainder of the season. The league will now be issuing 15-yard penalties for blindside hits to the head or neck using the head, forearm or shoulder. I still think Ward's block on Rivers was a good, clean football hit, and that if he didn't suffer a broken jaw there probably wouldn't be a rule change. It's unfortunate he was injured, but in a contact sport like football, injuries are unavoidable and new rules are not going to change that.

The Onside Kick Rule: Again, from John Clayton: at least four players of the kicking team must be on each side of the kicker. Second, at least three players must be lined up outside each inbounds line, including one who must be outside the yard-line number.

In other words, onside kicks will be nearly impossible to recover.

The Defenseless Receiver Rule: Under the old rule, the NFL only looked to eliminate helmet-to-helmet hits on defenseless receivers. Now, it's going to be tossing flags at shoulder and forearm hits to the head or neck area on a defenseless receiver.

Again, as I said earlier on Tuesday, I'm not looking for a free-for-all on the football field where anything goes, and I can understand the thought process behind the blindside hits and defenseless receiver rules (though, I think they're very misguided pointing to the Hines Ward-Keith Rivers play). However, the special teams rules, along with the over-the-top protection of quarterbacks, is a bit much. Especially when the NFL will turn around and market the very hits it's supposedly banning.

Tags: Hines+Ward, HinesWard, Keith+Rivers, KeithRivers

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