NFL Owners approve four safety-related rules

by David Fucillo on Mar 24, 2009 12:45 PM PDT in San Francisco 49ers News

The NFL owners continue to adjust the rules to bring greater safety to the gridiron. The four new rules agreed upon are as follows:

Onside kicks
Onside kicks definitely lend themselves to a little bit of excessive violence, given that you're going after one guy and trying to jar the ball loose. This new rule states that players will have to be spaced out more. At least four players of the kicking team must be on each side of the kicker, and at least three players must be lined up outside each inbounds line, including one who must be outside the yard-line number.

Kickoff Wedge
Teams have always used the wedge on kickoffs. It's a move in which three players lined up in a blocking triangle that a returner follows as it goes up the field against kickoff coverage. The committee felt it was leading to too many injuries. Starting this season, 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.

Blocking defenseless defenders
This rule comes in after Hines Ward's devastating block on Keith Rivers that broke Rivers jaw. Now, a 15-yard penalty will be enforced if a player delivers a blindside block to the head of a defender using his helmet, forearm or shoulder. The penalty will be enforced if a helmet, shoulder or forearm strikes the head or neck of the defender.

Defenseless receivers
Previously, officials gave an unnecessary roughness penalty to a defender if he delivered a helmet hit to a receiver going across the middle of the field or any spot on the field in which he appeared to be defenseless. Starting this season, the penalty will also apply if the defender hits the defenseless receiver in the head or neck with his forearm or shoulder.

While I occasionally think the league protects the QB too much, none of these rules seems to be over-protective. There have been some serious injuries and given the physical nature of football, that won't change anytime soon. However, these particular rules will certainly help a little bit.

Tweet Comment 17 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

All good rules except...

NO WEDGES ON KICKOFFS?!?! Basically man to man blocking on a kick off. There goes all the attention for the kick returners, the little they get already.

by BucksForever on Mar 24, 2009 1:29 PM PDT reply actions

Lets call...

… the defenseless WR rule the Patrick Willis rule!

by sfgfan on Mar 24, 2009 1:35 PM PDT reply actions

The rule against blocking "defenseless defenders" is dumb.

The hit by Hines Ward was clean. All hits like it were clean. This rule basically just cripples the offensive players – especially receivers and any attempt they may make at downfield blocking. What’s a guy supposed to do now? Come from full speed to stop in front of a guy coming full speed at you to freeze, square your shoulders, and lock him up with hands to the chest? Or perhaps he’ll just sprint straight for the guy’s knees – that’s a better idea, right?

If defenders can lay down hits like this on offenders, it’s only fair that the guys on the other side can lay out blocks in the same fashion.

Refs are going to overuse this and call every hard block a penalty. Anything that looks tough is going to look like it was a helmet-to-helmet shot, even if it isn’t.

Again: dumb.

by shlecko on Mar 24, 2009 1:39 PM PDT reply actions

On second thought

Good point. As an addendum to my comment below, I’d like to second schlecko.

Pro-dog. Anti-Vick. In every way.

by Call It The Throw on Mar 24, 2009 1:51 PM PDT up reply actions

dumber than dumb

I suppose that if Lawrence Taylor had been playing now and broke Theismann’s leg, a penalty for tackling a QB below the waist would have been a new rule. The National Flag Football League is one step closer to reality.

by Odquest on Mar 24, 2009 2:45 PM PDT up reply actions

OR

just don’t hit the guy in the head, or lead with your helmet.

Pretty simple IMO.

by Viliphied on Mar 24, 2009 4:11 PM PDT up reply actions

yeah

the key here is hiting the guy in the head but I think they have to clarify: I see a lot of hits where the shoulder starts off in a reasonable position and then glances or slides up to catch the head. I think that it’s too hard to predict and control this and therefore these types of hits shouldn’t be penalized. Otherwise though, there’s no reason to go straight for the head.

by foosball4949 on Mar 24, 2009 4:15 PM PDT up reply actions

I don't have a major problem with the defenseless defender/WR rules...

though I think the league might be moving a bit too far in reacting to certain injuries just because they received lots of airplay…this is still football. People will get hurt. I would be much happier to see the league commit to providing education to incoming players regarding injury risk and create a generous fund dedicated to providing aid to injured retirees (following Ditka’s lead…take care of these guys). Tell them what the risks are, provide for lifelong recovery/treatment from injuries, and let them play.

But the new onside kick and wedge rules actually seem like they will have a pretty serious effect on the game. Onside kicks are already a substantial gamble, but this rule seems to eliminate the onside kick as a gamble worth taking. When you can’t mass your players to recover the kick, why take the chance? And when its your last option (down by a score at the end of the game) this seems like it will take some of the fun out of it. There will be fewer recoveries, no doubt. Too bad.

And people are still going to hit the sh*t out of each other on kick-offs…this new wedge rule seems like it will just give the KR a greater chance to break long returns. Maybe it will be fun to watch, but I don’t see the need to handcuff the defensive special teams.

Pro-dog. Anti-Vick. In every way.

by Call It The Throw on Mar 24, 2009 1:46 PM PDT reply actions

Agreed with anything

except that the new wedge rule will help the defensiive special teams, if anything.

by Brendan Scolari on Mar 24, 2009 1:51 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah, I got that one backwards

But obviously you are right, this will help the defensive special teams more. Didn’t think before I typed.

Pro-dog. Anti-Vick. In every way.

by Call It The Throw on Mar 24, 2009 1:52 PM PDT up reply actions

Rules only affect shots to the head or neck.

You can still hit the hell out of someone from the chest down.

by Neon on Mar 24, 2009 1:56 PM PDT reply actions

Yeah

If you have an angle to blindside a guy, you don’t need to hit him in the neck up to flatten him, you just need to hit him. Hines Ward has been heralded as a guy who delivers blocks, but no one ever pointed out the fact that he always went high and blind. You can go pad level from the blindside and still rock the player to the turf. The whole leaping and smashing a guy that’s not looking is ridiculous, and I’m glad they’ll limit those hits by enforcing this penalty.

As for the Patrick Willis hit on Brad Smith, he didn’t deliver the shot to the face, helmet or neck region, it was all chest baby.

by Andrew Davidson on Mar 24, 2009 2:06 PM PDT up reply actions

I also am torn about the wedge rule

that Bills player got paralyzed because of a wedge and Paul Smith, current Lion, former Niner was hurt pretty bad after getting fired up at halftime and then running wedge buster on the second half kickoff. However, this rule seems to make it too easy for the coverage teams. I’m not sure what I’d do differently though if there was a change, any suggestions?

by foosball4949 on Mar 24, 2009 4:16 PM PDT reply actions

So do players now where two flags or three around their waist?

by bignerd on Mar 24, 2009 4:28 PM PDT reply actions

lol agree

serious man, i know it sucks when players get injured but thats part of the game. I love seeing Patrick Willis hit on Brad Smith OOOOooo nice!

by 49ersAllTheWay on Mar 24, 2009 4:57 PM PDT up reply actions

#1 is ok i guess

the rest are so fu#&ing stupid, with #3 taking the cake. If Keith Rivers got his jaw broken by hines ward, it’s his fault. on defense you should know that THE OFFENSE IS ALWAYS TRYING TO BLOCK YOU. keep your head on a swivel(sp?). and #4: This means the league is obviously favoring offense cause DB’s can’t do anything anymore.

If you had a lineup of 9 Jack Custs who hit(Cust career average) .239 AVG, .382 OBP, and .475 SLG, then your team would score 6.12 runs per game-totalling to 991runs a season.The 08 rangers lead the majors in runs score with 901.

by 9Custs on Mar 24, 2009 5:22 PM PDT reply actions