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NFL Passes Four Safety Proposals
Posted by Aaron Wilson on March 24, 2009, 2:31 p.m.
The NFL passed four safety proposals today at the annual NFL owners meetings, enacting several rule changes that includes banning the use of wedge-blocking on kickoffs, according to John Clayton of ESPN.com.
The league also passed rules to protect players from blindside helmet-to-helmet contact on blocks and for defenseless receivers from being forearmed or hit with shoulder blocks in the head or neck. The league also took additional measures to make onside kicks safer.
The wedge is a longtime football tradition, but the NFL Competition Committee changed the rule because of concern about injuries.
The rule governing blindside blocks could be dubbed the Hines Ward rule.
It’s in response to Ward’s jaw-breaking block on Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers last season. Now, a 15-yard penalty will be assessed if a player doles out a blindside block to the helmet of a defensive player by brandishing a forearm, shoulder or helmet to the head or neck.
Plus, defensive players will be flagged for unnecessary roughness if they hit a defenseless receiver in the head or neck with a forearm or shoulder.
UPDATE: Here is the formal language for the rule change involving the wedge block being outlawed: “After the ball is kicked, no more than two receiving team players may intentionally form a wedge in an attempt to block for the runner. An illegal wedge is defined as three or more players lined up shoulder-to-shoulder within two yards of each other.”
Posted by Aaron Wilson on March 24, 2009, 2:31 p.m.
The NFL passed four safety proposals today at the annual NFL owners meetings, enacting several rule changes that includes banning the use of wedge-blocking on kickoffs, according to John Clayton of ESPN.com.
The league also passed rules to protect players from blindside helmet-to-helmet contact on blocks and for defenseless receivers from being forearmed or hit with shoulder blocks in the head or neck. The league also took additional measures to make onside kicks safer.
The wedge is a longtime football tradition, but the NFL Competition Committee changed the rule because of concern about injuries.
The rule governing blindside blocks could be dubbed the Hines Ward rule.
It’s in response to Ward’s jaw-breaking block on Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers last season. Now, a 15-yard penalty will be assessed if a player doles out a blindside block to the helmet of a defensive player by brandishing a forearm, shoulder or helmet to the head or neck.
Plus, defensive players will be flagged for unnecessary roughness if they hit a defenseless receiver in the head or neck with a forearm or shoulder.
UPDATE: Here is the formal language for the rule change involving the wedge block being outlawed: “After the ball is kicked, no more than two receiving team players may intentionally form a wedge in an attempt to block for the runner. An illegal wedge is defined as three or more players lined up shoulder-to-shoulder within two yards of each other.”
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