Thanks to a Jets lineman, it’s probably going to be a lot more difficult to block knees in the NFL.
Giants co-owner John Mara, who is part of the league’s competition committee, said yesterday cut blocks — single-player blocks to the knee area — are likely to come with a lot more restrictions starting as soon as the 2013 season.
The anticipated crackdown comes in the wake of a cut block by Jets guard Matt Slauson last year that ended the season of Texans Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Cushing, and renewed questions about the fairness of the rulebook when it comes to defensive players.
Speaking at the Rockefeller Center announcement of a $60 million joint initiative between the NFL and GE to improve treatment for brain injuries, Mara said cut blocks were “a major topic of discussion” at the most recent meetings of the competition committee.
“We talked to a lot of [defensive] players about that, and the players’ view seems to be that, as long as they can see it coming and have the ability to defend themselves, it doesn’t trouble them so much,” Mara said. “The ones they get troubled by are the ones that come from the side and from behind.”
Straight-on cut blocks would still be allowed, meaning teams that favor zone-blocking schemes like the Texans and Redskins would be allowed to continue that approach, but Mara indicated restrictions would be strengthened on blocks to the back or side of the knee and “peel-back” blocks.
Cut blocks are often mistakenly confused with chop blocks, which are already illegal and are the result of two blockers engaging a defender high and low.
Should the owners approve the suggestions from the competition committee, defensive players should have reason to feel a lot better about the safety of their knees starting this seasonAn illegal peel-back block, meanwhile, is when a player blocks downfield and then doubles back to hit an unsuspecting defender from the back, side or below the waist. That is what Slauson did to Cushing, and even though no penalty was called for a block to the side of the knee that tore Cushing’s ACL, Slauson later was fined $10,000 by the NFL.
Peel-back blocks are currently legal if the blocker’s shoulder hits the front of the defender. Mara said the committee has come up with a pair of proposals to further limit blocks to the back or side of the knee that would be put to the owners at the annual league meetings week in Phoenix.
“Our rules [proposals] are designed to take those out of the game,” Mara said.
Asked if there is support from enough owners to implement the rules changes on cut blocks, Mara said: “I think so.”
It sounded yesterday as if Mara already has at least one fellow owner on board. The Patriots’ Robert Kraft endorsed it while speaking after the head-injury announcement.
“Anything that within reason can make our game safer is something we have to look at,” Kraft said.