New “Player Safety” Rules Could Cause Unintended Headache for the NFL

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for NFLSportChannel.com

Published: March 24, 2009

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... the coming season, such a block will now be illegal as voted by the NFL higher-ups.

This comes as a package of four rule changes that will take place for 2009 involving "player safety."

Other rule changes taking place will be the elimination of the blind-side helmet-to-helmet block, initial contact to the head of a defenseless receiver will result in a 15-yard penalty (call this the "Anquan Boldin" rule), and no more than five players from the kicking team will be allowed to bunch together to retrieve an onside kick.

The helmet-to-helmet rule makes sense to a certain degree. Being hit in the head is always risky, especially when you don't see it coming. Actually, we can call this the "Hines Ward" rule, considering this is the only way he knows how to block.

The "Anquan Boldin" rule is something that's always been in place, really. It's just on the books now.

The ones that get me are the rule changes involving the kickoff.

Read Complete Article at Bleacher Report - NFL
Article Source: BleacherReport.com


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