Weak new rules.

NFL team owners passed four player safety rules for next season and adjusted the calls on the kind of tackle that injured New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during the 2008 opener.
Defenders who are knocked to the ground no longer can lunge into quarterbacks if the play is still ongoing. Kansas City 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," said Pereira, who plans to retire after the 2009 season.
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. Breaking this rule would draw a 5-yard penalty.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the two heads of the competition committee Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay and Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher repeatedly have emphasized that the players themselves sought many of these alterations. "There were no changes in the injury numbers, but when it comes to player safety, we try to stay proactive," McKay said. Players also tend to police themselves once the league starts fining or suspending them for illegal hits.

Big change in Duckville.

Mike Bellotti gathered his Oregon players for a 10 a.m. meeting Friday. He talked to them about their upcoming exams. He talked about their off-season workouts. He talked about spring practice starting on March 30.
Then he said, "Now's the time for me." And Bellotti, the most successful coach in Oregon history, proceeded to tell them that he would not return for a 15th season and that he was yielding the job to offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.
There was no planned speech. He spoke to his players spontaneously and from the heart. "I sort of broke down a little bit," he said. A day after a transition from Bellotti to Kelly that was first described in theory on Dec. 2 was made concrete, Bellotti said he was "at peace and calm in my soul about this decision."
Mike Bellotti is stepping down as Oregon's football coach to become the school's athletic director, and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly will be promoted to head coach.
Bellotti, who has coached the Ducks for the last 14 seasons, takes over his new position July 1, replacing athletic director Pat Kilkenny. Kelly becomes coach on March 30, the opening day of spring practice, the school announced Friday. The moves first were announced in December, but no timetable was set for the transition. Bellotti will serve in the interim as senior counselor to Kilkenny, who will step down June 30.

Lynch in the dog house.

Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch expects to be suspended by the NFL for his latest run-in with the law and said he has received the message that the league "won't tolerate any more screw-ups" from him.
Delivering a message of humility and repentance and minus the flashy gold grill he usually wears across his teeth Lynch vowed Wednesday that he's ready to change his ways and prepared to accept the consequences for his actions.
"It has kind of sunk in, and I felt that this was the next step to letting you guys know that there will be a change," Lynch said. "I never had the intention of getting into trouble or anything like that. But along the way, my road got rocky, and now you know it's time to set my pavement straight."
The former first-round draft pick out of the University of California held a nine-minute news conference in the Bills' practice facility one day after meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in New York. The meeting was part of Goodell's review into whether to discipline Lynch for violating the league's personal-conduct policy after the running back pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge in Culver City, Calif., earlier this month.
Lynch characterized the meeting with Goodell as a wake-up call and said the commissioner's message has reached him. "Something that he stressed throughout the meeting was that he will not tolerate any more screw-ups by me," Lynch said, noting that he expects to be suspended for the start of the regular season because this is the second time he has been in trouble with authorities. "I honestly see a suspension coming, but that comes with the consequences," Lynch said. Lynch said he expects a ruling to be made within 10 days.

Still the man?

Texas Tech WR Michael Crabtree is currently the second-rated player on the board, and it's hard to imagine a scenario in which he falls out of the top five at any point between now and draft weekend. That speaks to how much they value his pro potential. However, it is understandable if some teams are skittish about investing top-10 money in him. After all, Crabtree is two inches shorter than advertised and he appears on film to possess nothing more than average top-end speed.
In addition, Crabtree is recovering from surgery on a stress fracture in his left foot that will prevent him from running for NFL coaches and decision-makers. My argument is that Crabtree's game is not predicated on speed and that two years of game tape prove his potential as a difference/play-maker. Then again, im not the one deciding whether to put tens of millions of dollars in his pocket.

Kindle gets a spark lite under him!

The reports assuredly weren't what Sergio Kindle wanted to read. So when the stark prognosis from NFL evaluators came back about what Kindle's draft prospects would be if he declared early, the Texas defensive standout didn't waste much time with the rest.
"After they said I was a second- or third-round choice, I didn't even bother reading all of it," Kindle said. "I saw that and threw it away. I said, 'OK, I'm coming back.'"
If Kindle has a dramatic senior season that drastically improves his stock for the 2010 NFL draft, that balled-up NFL scouting evaluation might be the biggest piece of inspiration that got him there.
Texas coaches are using Kindle as a down lineman this spring after alternating as a defensive lineman and linebacker last season. His development as the team's major play maker along the defensive front will be critical in settling one of the Longhorns' critical lingering questions in their hopes of challenging for the Big 12 championship.
In his first season as a starter in 2008, Kindle produced 10 sacks and ranked fifth on the team with 53 tackles. Such a performance was remarkable considering that Kindle barely had a chance to work at defensive end before the season started. He missed last spring recovering from knee surgery and was moved to his new position for some snaps by Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp shortly before the season started. "We weren't really fair to him last year putting him at a new position without repping it enough in the situations we put him in at defensive end," Muschamp said. "We really didn't know what we had until we were rolling in fall camp. We need to get ready to play by getting guys comfortable with what they are going to do." To get ready to battle the bigger offensive linemen he will be regularly facing, Kindle boosted his weight to 255 pounds 16 pounds heavier than he finished the season and dedicated himself in the weight room during the offseason. He's also come back as a determined and forceful leader in a new role for him.
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy has noted a change in Kindle since his return for spring ball. "That's why the spring is a lot of fun because you see personalities develop," McCoy said. "You see guys step up and take positions on the team that need to be taken. It's a new position for him and a new role. But he has no doubt that Kindle can emerge as a defensive leader and a big producer wherever he ends up playing. "When I saw him lined up at defensive end, I didn't like to see it as a quarterback," McCoy said. "He's a stud who gets off the edge really quick and can still stop the run. Wherever they put him, Sergio will make plays." That ability will be important as Kindle attempts to replace Brian Orakpo as the team's featured pass-rushing threat.