DANA POINT, Calif. — NFL owners passed four player safety rules for next season Tuesday and adjusted the calls on the kind of tackle that injured Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the 2008 opener.
Defenders who are knocked to the ground no longer can lunge into quarterbacks if the play is still going. Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard did just that on the hit that ended Brady’s season almost before it began, and NFL officiating director Mike Pereira placed such plays in the player safety category.
“We’re trying to make the game safer for the guy getting hit and the guy doing the hitting,” Pereira said.
That adjustment was not a rule change and did not require an owners’ vote. But four other rules were adopted by the 32 teams:
• The initial force of a blindside block can’t 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 also will draw a 15-yard penalty.
“Our clear movement is to getting out of the striking in the head area,” Pereira said. “We’re reading about injuries that say spinal and vertebrae. We’ve got to try something.”
• On kickoffs, no blocking wedge of more than two players will be allowed. A 15-yard penalty will go to a violating team.
• Also on kickoffs, the kicking team can’t have more than five players bunched together pursuing an onside kick. It will be a 5-yard penalty.
Police: Man hit by Stallworth not in crosswalk
MIAMI — A pedestrian wasn’t in a crosswalk when Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth hit and killed him with his Bentley, according to a report released by police in Miami Beach.
According to the report, Stallworth told officers he flashed his lights to try to warn 59-year-old Mario Reyes, a construction crane operator who was rushing to catch a bus after getting off work around 7:15 a.m. March 14.
Police said Stallworth was driving about 50 mph in a 40 mph zone. They are investigating whether alcohol played a role in the accident. No charges have been filed against Stallworth pending the outcome of blood tests.
A police diagram shows that Reyes was hit in the far left lane of the six-lane MacArthur Causeway — not in a nearby crosswalk. Stallworth stopped a few feet away.
Police also released calls from three people who dialed 911 that morning.
The first, a woman, said: “There’s a man laying in the middle of the road.” The dispatcher asked for her location and a description of the victim.
Then the woman blurted: “He’s dead. He’s dead. . . . He was just laying in the middle of the road. I think he’s dead.”
None of the callers apparently witnessed the accident.
One man, saying he was on his way to work, said he “heard a hit” and then saw Reyes lying in the roadway. A few moments later, a police officer arrived.
Stallworth’s attorney declined comment Tuesday but has said his client is cooperating with police.
Footnotes.
The Bills are attempting to negotiate a new contract with left tackle Jason Peters to avert another offseason holdout by their two-time Pro Bowl player. Scheduled to make a base salary of $7.2 million over the final two years of his contract, Peters is considered underpaid for a player at such a high-profile position.
• Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who tore the lateral meniscus in his left knee in a preseason game against the Jets last season, said his knee is at 99 percent and he will be ready for the start of training camp in July.
The Associated Press
