By Casey Pearce, Casey Pearce
NFL clubs unanimously approved a measure to tweak instant replay to help ensure that what happened to the Chargers in Week 2 last season won’t happen again.
"The Suckuli Rule"
Previously, if officials ruled an incomplete pass on a play, they were not allowed to use official replay to determine if the ball had actually been fumbled. Now, per what some are calling “The Hochuli Rule” after the missed call by Referee Ed Hochuli in Week 2 in Denver, officials will be able to review such plays under the resolution passed Wednesday at the NFL spring meetings in Dana Point, California.
Another policy was tweaked Wednesday that relates to the Chargers’ 2008 season. In previous years, the Super Bowl was the only portion of the postseason that affected draft order. Starting in 2010, non-playoff teams will automatically be slotted 1-20 in order of their record, and playoff teams will choose 21-32 based on elimination.
Under the current rule, the Chargers pick 16th overall due to their 8-8 regular season record and will select in front of five teams that missed the postseason as well as the 11-5 Indianapolis Colts (bwahaha),
whom San Diego eliminated in the playoffs. If the new rule were in place this spring, the Chargers would choose 25th. Like the change in instant replay, the draft order resolution was approved by a vote of 32-0.Earlier this week, the NFL passed four measures dealing with player safety and adjusted another rule that was the focus of a significant play last season.
The adjustment regards players hitting quarterbacks low, like the hit that ended Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s season in Week 1. Defenders who fall or are blocked to the ground may no longer lunge from their knees at the quarterback, like Kansas City’s Bernard Pollard did on the Brady play.
“Players can wrap up or swipe with their arms, but they can’t lunge,” NFL Director of Officiating Mike Pereira said.
Pereira described a “strike zone” for the quarterback which extends from just below his waist to the top of his shoulders as the area in which players are allowed to forcefully hit the signal caller while he has the ball in the pocket.
Clubs also voted into affect a rule that disallows the initial force of a blind-side block to be delivered by a helmet, forearm or shoulder to an opponent's head or neck. An illegal blindside block will bring a 15-yard penalty. Initial contact to the head of a defenseless receiver, be from a defender’s helmet, arm or shoulder, also will draw a 15-yard penalty.
Two other safety measures that passed involved the kicking game. On kickoffs, no more than two players can join together to form a blocking wedge. A 15-yard penalty will be assigned to teams violating the rule. Finally, teams may no longer use “bunch formations” on onside kicks. Teams must have five players on each side of the kicker. At least three players must be outside the hash marks on each side, and at least one must line up outside the numbers.
"We're trying to make the game safer for the
