10 NFL Players Responsible For Rule Changes

every off-season the nfl takes a look at its rule book and tries to make some necessary tweaks usually the league keeps things pretty status quo but every once in a while a controversial decision or egregious missed call will lead to a major change just last year we saw the nfl make pass interference reviewable after the controversial non-call in the 2019 nfc championship game here's 10 players that are responsible for some of the largest rule changes in nfl history roy williams horse collar tackle williams emerged as one of the best safeties in the league early in his nine year career williams reached the pro bowl in five consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2007 and received a first-team all-pro selection as well more than his fantastic play on the field though william's long-lasting mark on the game will be remembered for a personal foul known particularly for his vicious tackling williams severely injured three players during the 2004 season when he grabbed at the back of their shoulder pads and slammed him to the ground williams ended the seasons of both tyrone calico and musa smith but probably got more attention for breaking then eagles star receivers tyrell owen's ankle following the season the nfl outlawed the move as a horse collar tackle which now if committed results in a 15-yard penalty to the end of every play with an automatic first down williams was still productive after the rule change but did suffer a one-game suspension in 2007 after being flagged for three horse collar penalties in the year mel blunt five yard bump rule few rules have changed football more than the five yard bump rule prior to its institution defensive backs were allowed to bump and grab receivers throughout their entire route you can imagine it made it quite difficult to get open but no one perfected physical coverage like steelers hall of fame cornerback mel blunt the imposing 6'3 205 pound corner would line up and bump and run coverage directly across from the receivers and impose his will throughout the route blunt played a crucial role in pittsburgh's four super bowl titles during his career as a member of the steel curtain defense hoping to help passing offenses the league instituted the five yard bump rule this eliminated defensive back's ability to be physical with the receiver beyond five yards of the line of scrimmage bluntz still remained one of the best corners in the league after the rule was implemented and still appeared in three more pro balls before he completed his career still there's no denying that the 5 yard bump rule was designed to limit his ability to shut down an opponent's passing game carson palmer hitting the quarterback below the knee the nfl is a quarterback's league as much as fans fall in love with players like frank gore ray lewis and larry fitzgerald no one sells tickets like a star quarterback with business in mind the league has always prioritized the safety of team signal callers in 2005 carson palmer was one of the nfl's rising stars at the game's most important position he led the historically inept bengals to the playoffs with a first round bye and was poised for a deep playoff run however in the divisional round of the playoffs against the pittsburgh steelers palmer's season would come to an erupt halt on their first possession of the game palmer found wide receiver chad johnson in the end zone for a touchdown when the team was done celebrating they realized palmer was still down on the field as he'd released the pass steelers defensive tackle kimo von olhofen hit palmer below the knee and tore his acl and mcl with one of their best young stars out for an entire season the league decided to make measures to prevent any further injuries before the beginning of the next year the nfl made hits below the quarterback's knees personal fouls phil dawson kicks that hit the field goal posts can be reviewed most rule changes come following an obviously unfair occurrence in the game interestingly enough in the case of the phil dawson rule the league proactively avoided any controversy in 2007 dawson the long time kicker for the cleveland browns attempted a 51-yard field goal against the baltimore ravens the kick had the necessary distance before something unusual happened the ball rang off the goal post onto the upright support beam before it bounced back through the uprights and into the end zone at first referees saw the ball in the end zone and ruled the field goal was no good of course anyone watching from a different angle or with the advantage of video replay could see it was obviously the wrong call the only problem was referees were not allowed to use video replay on field goal attempts that hit the upright luckily for the browns another member of the crew ran over to discuss what happened in the end the referees corrected the call and ruled dawson's field goal good after that near disaster the league decided to prevent a real disaster following the 2007 season the nfl changed the replay review rules to allow referees to review field goals that hit one of the uprights ricky williams hair is an extension of the uniform ricky williams was a sensational running back in college at texas before the new orleans saints traded a boatload of draft picks just to pick him williams wasn't an immediate game changer but soon emerged as one of the best backs in the league on top of his reputation in the backfield he also had a signature look the san diego california native was known for his long flowing dreadlocks that would drape out of the back of his helmet his hair proved an interesting challenge for defensive players since players especially on the offensive side of the ball almost never had hair sticking out of their helmet no one knew what to make of it would grabbing his hair result in a personal foul penalty did it classify his unnecessary roughness to tackle him by his hair well after the 2007 season the nfl cleared up any uncertainty during the off season the league officially declared hair as an extension of the uniform in doing so players were allowed to tackle players by their hair without penalty heinz ward blindside blocking rule in the 2008 nfl draft the cincinnati bengals drafted a promising linebacker out of usc with the ninth overall pick his name was keith rivers while you've probably never heard of the weak side linebacker he once seemed destined to lead the cincinnati defense through the first seven games of the season rivers was on pace to record 85 tackles and was fitting in nicely with the bengals scheme however it all soon came to a halt during a 38-10 loss to the pittsburgh steelers rivers was hit with a vicious blindside block by wide receiver heinz ward the hit not only knocked rivers out of the game but ended his entire season rivers suffered a broken jaw on the play while he would play in the nfl in parts of five of the next six seasons rivers would never be the same following the season teams voted in a nearly unanimous 31-1 vote to make blindside blocks a personal foul and of course the one dissenting vote came from the steelers bronco nagurski passing behind the line of scrimmage you'll have to dig pretty deep into the history books to find this one but it's one of the seminal moments of american football in the 1932 nfl championship game the chicago bears and port's mouth spartans were tied at zero chicago handed the ball off to their back bronco nagurski on a couple of runs up the middle but neither went anywhere on the next play nagurski took a few steps back and lofted a touchdown pass to red grange at that time though players had to be at least five yards behind the line of scrimmage to throw a forward pass there was a lot of controversy on whether nagurski had reached that mark on the throw nonetheless the touchdown counted and the bears would go on to win nine nothing more importantly the league realized they'd stumbled into something new from then on the rule was players just had to be behind the line of scrimmage to throw a pass lester hayes stick'm rule sometimes new technologies outpace the rulebooks prior to 1981 the league had yet to make any official declaration on the substance known as stikum a sticky substance used to improve grip obviously offered a significant advantage to pass catchers ironically while plenty of wide receivers used the substance it was a cornerback who was most known for its use oakland raiders cornerback lester hayes in 1980 hayes took the stickum application to such an extreme that teammates had to rip the ball out of his hands every time he touched it in practice needless to say hayes racked up a lot of interceptions that season between the regular and postseason hayes hauled in an incredible 19 interceptions hayes advantage was short-lived though at offseason stickum was officially banned ken stabler only the fumbling player can recover or advance the ball one of the highlights of the 1978 nfl season is best known as the holy roller with just five seconds left on the clock the oakland raiders were down six points to the san diego chargers the raiders were on the chargers 23-yard line and had the ball so they still had a fighting chance but they needed some luck quarterback ken stabler took the snap and looked to find a target in the end zone the pocket quickly collapsed around him but to avoid the sack stabler purposefully fumbled the football his teammates quickly swarmed the ball and kicked it all the way to the end zone where tight end dave casper hopped on it for the game-winning score as exciting as it was for a raiders fan most around the league agreed teams shouldn't benefit from intentional fumbles following the season the league changed the rule banning any offensive player from advancing the ball after a fumble unless they are the one to lose possession tom brady tuck rule before tom brady was one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time he was trying to lead the new england patriots past the oakland raiders in the 2002 afc divisional playoffs things weren't looking good for the young signal caller five inches of snow had fallen in foxborough massachusetts and offenses struggled all day with less than two minutes to go the pats were down 13 to 10 but had possession just inside the raiders territory when all of a sudden a blitzing charles woodson thought he had punched oakland's ticket to the afc title game brady was hit from behind the ball and went flying into the snow raiders linebacker greg biker gained possession and the offense was ready to run out the clock but first the play underwent a booth review the referees invoked the tuck rule in their interpretation since brady's arm was moving forward when he lost possession the result of the play was an incomplete pass brady would go on to lead a game-winning drive and the patriots would go on to hoist the lombardi trophy while it took another 11 years to do so the nfl finally removed the tuck rule from its rule book in 2013 and there's no doubt the raiders lost played a big role in that decision so what do you guys think what nfl rules do you hate and what kind of rules do you think the league should implement in the coming years let me know in the comments down below if you enjoyed the video make sure to leave a like and subscribe as always thanks for watching non-stop sports

Channel: Nonstop

Views: 1,402,255

Keywords: nfl, nfl rule changes, nfl players, nfl history, nfl highlights, Roy Williams, Mel Blount, Carson Palmer, Phil Dawson, Ricky Williams, Hines Ward, Tom Brady, top 10

Id: ietq_gCRhuU

Length: 10min 34sec (634 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 29 2020