The rules and changes that came from this Owner’s Meeting are listed below and before you ask…there will be no rules forcing long haired players to tuck their manes under their helmet.
Thank Goodness the Kansas City Chiefs found some other worthy cause to worry about other than hair.
No More Bunches on Kickoffs — The elimination of the bunch formation on kickoffs. Kickoff formations must be evenly balanced (Passed). LV’s Take: This rule was specifically called out because special teams coaches were finding inventive ways to get around the league’s 2005 rule that called for balanced kickoffs (four players had to line up on each side of the kicker). I know the NFL is calling this a safety issue, but I love the scrum that ensues during onside kicks.
Slicing Wedges on Kickoffs — The elimination of the over two-man man wedges on kickoff returns. Going forward only two men wedges will be considered a legal wedge (Passed). LV’s Take: Though the NFL is denying it, this rule is basically the “Kevin Everett” rule. The NFL does not want any further injuries from guys trying to bust a large wedge (4 guys) on kickoffs. I will go along with the NFL on this one, though I loved guys like former Eagles special teams star Ken Rose flying into a wedge so their teammates could make a play.
The Hines Ward Rule – The elimination and penalization for helmet-to-helmet contact on blind-side blocks — Now 15 yards and a fine. Are you listening Hines Ward, because this rule is specifically target at you for your open field blow-up of Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers that caused the rising rookie to suffer a season-ending broken jaw injury (Passed). LV’s Take: Like anyone else I love a great open field block and players should keep their heads on a swivel, but much like a chop block there is a line (intentionally trying to injure a fellow player) that should never be crossed on the football field. When you see the live action replay of the Rivers hit, you can see the young linebacker was totally unaware of Ward coming and he was basically away from the play.
No more head hunting of defenseless WR’s — Expanding the protection of defenseless receivers by eliminating any kind of contact with a receiver’s head area while he is still in the air. A defender must have two feet on the ground before contact to the head – Now 15 yards and a fine (Passed). LV’s Take: This is another rule directly linked to on the field incidents. In ’08 both receivers Wes Welker (Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark forearm) and Anquan Boldin were injured on non-flag head hunting plays. Boldin of course got the worst of any player as he had is face and jaw broke by a couple of New York Jets in the endzone. Though I am all about “Player Safety”, I think this rule is going to be too hard to evaluate in live action. You cannot blame a defender for making a play in a split second and trying to separate a receiver from the ball. I can still remember talking to former Falcons safety Lawyer Milloy after the Falcons-Eagles game in ’08 where he had been flagged for a similar play and he said, “It happened so fast that he could stop his momentum”.
The Ed Hochuli Rule — Expanding reviewable plays to include incomplete passes that result in fumbles (Passed). LV’s Take: We all know this rule comes directly from referee Ed Hochuli’s gaffe during the Chargers-Broncos game in Week 2 of the ’08 season. Hochuli became public enemy number one, because he blew an inadvertent whistle and review could overturn an obvious fumble by Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler. Anything to help the poor referee is fantastic in my eyes. I can still see Chargers quarterback Phillip Rivers seething over this missed call. My advice to the officials is to “Get the Call Right” the first time and the replay won’t be needed. Head of Officials Mike Pereira recently said that game day crews averaged 98.1 percent accuracy, down slightly from 98.3 in 2007.
Review of out of bounds plays near the sidelines — Expanding reviewable plays to include loose balls ruled out of bounds but recovered in the field of play. Formerly a ball ruled out of bounds was unreviewable (Passed). LV’s Take: I can still hear Eagles fans yelling about their onside kick attempt in the NFC Championship that the Cardinals recovered despite their player being out of bounds and the officials doing nothing about it. Like the other reviewable change, anything to help the officials “Get it Right”, I am all for it..
No more re-kicks — Extending the rule that currently eliminates automatic re-kicks on illegal onside kicks in the last five minutes of a game so that the rule would be in effect the entire game (Passed). LV’s Take: Good… another missed spot on a bad rule fixed. I always used to hate the many re-kicks on game closing kicks back in the day.
Defenders should forget about lunging — This wasn’t a rule change that was voted on, but the NFL decided that defenders who are knocked to the ground can no longer lunge into quarterbacks if the play is still going on. LV’s Take: This will be forever be called the “Tom Brady” rule as everyone in the NFL community was heartbroken when Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard took out the league’s MVP in the first game of the 2008 season. You knew as soon as the Brady play happened that the NFL was going to protect their “Golden Boys’ even further. As former Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan used to say, “They should just put flags on the quarterbacks and get it over with”. C’mon let the defensive guys play hard…can anyone tell me if the same kind of measures are taken on chop blocks and zone blocking knee diving blocks.
Waiver Periods re-worked — A waiver period during the first two weeks of training camp was established. Owners also reworded when the postseason waiver period begins — previously it was after the Pro Bowl and now it will be after the final postseason game. LV’s Take: Total non-issue so I am fine with it.
New Draft Order — The Competition Committee passed a bylaw change regarding a new draft order starting in 2010. Draft positions 1-20 will still be determined by regular season records, but positions 21 to 32 will now be based on how the playoffs shake out. LV’s Take: I like this rule as everything with the regular season should be thrown out the door when the playoffs start. I think it is terrible that the Chargers (8-8) beat the Colts (12-4) in the wildcard round and because they had a worse regular season record, they be picking earlier in the first round (16th to 28th).
Lateral Fumbles Will Stop the Clock – Now all fumbles and laterals that go out of bounds will stop the game clock. The clock will start when the referee sorts out how the lateral was fumbled/recovered and signals for play to resume. LV’s Take: This seems like a minor rule change, so I am fine with the change. But watch somehow we will see a play in ’09 that requires pulling out the rulebook.
