Saturday, Aug. 08, 2009

Rule changes will emphasize player safety

NFL officials pay visit to Rams Park

ST. LOUIS -- Most of the rules changes and points of emphasis in the NFL this season have to do with player safety.

Referee Jeff Triplette was among a group of officials who visited Rams Park this week to go over those rules changes with St. Louis Rams players.

There are seven rules changes this season, and four of them deal directly with player safety. They are:

* Making players bunching together on onside kicks illegal by forcing the kickoff team to have at least three players outside each inbounds, one of whom must be outside the yard line number.

* Making wedges involving more than two players on kickoff returns illegal.

An illegal wedge is defined as three or more players lined up shoulder-to-shoulder within two yards of each other.

Triplette said teams can form a wedge on kickoff returns if they have two players in front and two players in back, but no more than two players on the same yard line.

* Making blindside blocks to the head or neck area illegal.

* Making contact to the head of a defenseless receiver -- not just helmet-to-helmet hits -- illegal.

"You can see most of the rules changes revolve around player safety,'' Triplette said. "The things on the kicks -- the wedge and loading up on the onside kicks -- are to protect the players. And, a lot of them come from the players themselves. The (NFL) Players Association has asked the competition committee to look at them.''

Triplette said the NFL has modified the interpretation of the rule that makes it illegal for a defender to hit a quarterback in the knees or below.

The play that caused New England quarterback Tom Brady to suffer a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 last season now would be illegal.

Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard was being blocked as he lunged into Brady's legs on the play.

"The guideline last year was: If he is being contacted by the offensive player, the defensive player then can fight his way through and get to the quarterback,'' Triplette said. "Now we're saying that it is still his responsibility even if he is being contacted to avoid forcible contact with the quarterback's knees.''

Triplette said he also stressed eliminating horse collar tackles and having mutual respect -- two points of emphasis for officials this season -- during his meeting with the players.

There were 24 horse collar penalties last NFL season, and officials have been asked to be even more vigilant about penalizing players who grab a ball carrier by the back-inside of his shoulder pads and yank him to the ground.

Mutual respect deals with in-your-face taunting of an opposing player, coach or official.

"You can celebrate and you can have fun playing the game, but let's not have the in-your-face stuff,'' Triplette said.

Triplette said he hasn't heard a lot of defensive players complaining about the rules handcuffing them.

"I think the players have come a long , long way, and realized it is their livelihood,'' Triplette said.

Other rules changes are:

* The expansion of plays than can be reviewed by instant replay to include quarterback pass-fumbles when the ruling on the field is an incomplete pass.

* Elimination of the automatic re-kick after an illegal onside kick.

The ball now is spotted either where it went out of bounds or where an offensive player recovered it before going 10 yards.

* Calling for the game clock to start on the ready signal after all fumbles and backward passes go out of bounds.

Some of the rules changes or points of emphasis seem to put a lot of pressure on officials who have to make split-second decisions.

"We're just like the players,'' Triplette said. "We study the game. We spend a tremendous amount of time looking at the rules, looking at tape and honing our skills.''

Triplette said he can tell when he and his crew are sharp because the game starts moving in slow motion.

"Who was the baseball player who said that he could tell he was in a groove because he could start seeing the seams on a baseball?'' Triplette said. "When we're in a groove, the game slows down for us.''