Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans head coach

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A number of playing-rules changes were approved by the league's clubs at the NFL Annual Meeting in late March.

The primary focus of those changes was enhancing player safety. "We want to make the game safer both for the player getting hit and the player doing the hitting," says NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations RAY ANDERSON.

Following are the 2009 changes:

WEDGE BLOCK

Teams are no longer permitted to intentionally form a wedge of more than two players on a kickoff return in an attempt to block for the runner. This does not apply when the kicking team lines up in an obvious onside-kick formation. For players intentionally forming an illegal wedge, a loss of 15 yards will be assessed.

BUNCH FORMATION

The "bunch" formation on kickoffs has been elimi nated as a part of the conti nuing focus on player safety. The kickoff team must have at least three players outside each hash mark, one of whom must be outside the yard-line number. "We didn't like the overload that was occurri ng on onside kicks and the situation that it might create," says Atlanta Falcons President and Co-Chairman of the NFL Competition Committee RICH MC KAY.

BLINDSIDE BLOCKS

It is now an illegal "blindside" bl ock if the blocker is moving toward his own endline and approaches the opponent from behind or from the side and the initial force of the contact by the blocker's helmet, forearm or shoulder is to the head or neck area of an opponent. Blindside blocks to the head or neck area of an opponent will result in a 15-yard penalty. "The result of thos e types of hits, and there were several of them that we looked at, led to the conclusion that for player-safety sake we have to eliminate those types of blindside hits for the betterment of our players and our game going forward," says Anderson.

UNNECESSARY ROUGHNESS

It is now an illegal hit on a defenseless receiver if the initial force of the contact by the defender's helmet, forearm or shoulder is to the head or neck area of the receiver. This will result in a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.

TIMING RULE

If a fumble or backwards pass goes out of bounds, the clock starts on the referee's ready signal. This makes the rule consistent with all other timing rules.

INSTANT REPLAY

Expands reviewable plays by instant replay to include possession after a quarterback pass/fumble when the ruling on the field is an incomplete pass, and loose balls ruled to have hit the sidelines.

ILLEGAL ONSIDE KICK

The automatic re-kick after an illegal onside kick has been eliminated at all times throughout the game. This makes penalty enforcement consistent for an illegal onside kick.

 

There will be a point of emphasis on two rules this season
(although the rules themselves have not changed)

Low hits on the quarterback will continue to be strictly enforced.

Specifically, a defender on the ground who hasn't been blocked or fouled directly into the quarterback is prohibited from making forcible contact with the quarterback at or below the knees. "It's when a player that's down does that second act where he's getting up and intentionally rolling into the quarterback, or where he's getting up and he lunges at his legs," says JEFF FISHER, Tennessee Titans head coach and co-chairman of the NFL Competition Committee.

Horse-collar tackles were called more frequently in 2008 than in 2007 and will continue to be emphasized.

The focus will be on eliminating the tactic from the game.

There will be a change to a bylaw this NFL season effecting the NFL Draft

Selection order of the NFL Draft will be altered so that playoff teams will select after non-playoff teams based on how far they advanced in the postseason.

Previously, a team that did not qualify for the playoffs, but with a better record than a playoff team that did not advance to the Super Bowl, would select after that playoff team. This will make the selection process more competitively fair.

 

NFL's 3rd Quarterback Rule Sometimes Misunderstood

Eighteen years ago (1991) the third-quarterback rule was instituted to enable teams to have an emergency quarterback available who was not on the 45-man game-day active roster, since many teams, for strategic purposes, only carried two quarterbacks on their game-day roster.

Everybody thinks they understand the NFL's "third-quarterback" rule. Here it is:

The rule states that if a third quarterback is inserted before the fourth quarter, a team's first two quarterbacks cannot be used for the remainder of the game at any position.

Another aspect of the rule is sometimes misunderstood. It is a coach's decision as to whether a third quarterback will be used.

The active quarterbacks do not have to be injured for a team to use its third quarterback.

 

NFL 2009 Kickoff Weekend

 

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Ben Roethlisberger

Steelers & Titans Kickoff NFL 2009
NFL 2009 Kickoff Weekend

The NFL kicks off its 2009 season when the Super Bowl XLIII champion PITTSBURGH STEELERS host the TENNESSEE TITANS on NBC at 8:30 PM ET. Continuing a tradition that started in 2004, the previous year's Super Bowl winner hosts the NFL Thursday night season Kickoff the following September. This year's Kickoff Weekend features ...

 

Best NFL Records, Past 10 Years
NFL 2009 Kickoff Weekend

Over the past 10 years, five NFL teams have posted a winning percentage of .600 or better – led by the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (114-46, .713).

 

Notable NFL Players who Switched Teams this Offseason
NFL 2009 Kickoff Weekend

Although only about eight percent of the free agents available switched teams this year, it seemed that this offseason contained an unusual amount of big-name switches through free agency and trades.

 

NFL 2009: Teams Strength of Schedule
NFL 2009 Kickoff Weekend

 

NFL 2009: Travel Miles - Preseason and Regular Season
NFL 2009 Kickoff Weekend

The total distance traveled by all teams will be 578,912 miles. This is 18,128 fewer miles than last year. The SEATTLE SEAHAWKS will travel the most this season, accumulating a total of 29,054 miles -- 256 more miles than the INDIANAPOLIS COLTS, PITTSBURGH STEELERS and CLEVELAND BROWNS will travel combined.

 

NFL 2009: Best Quarterback Performances Past & Present
NFL 2009 Kickoff Weekend

Norm Van Brocklin's NFL-record 554 yards still stands today, some 58 years later, as the best single-game passing performance The Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback tossed five touchdowns and completed 27 of 41 passes in the Rams 54-14 rout over the Yanks at the Los Angeles Coliseum.