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The Brady Rule 08.05.09 at 3:18 pm ET
By Mike Petraglia

FOXBOROUGH — The rule that penalizes the act that took out Tom Brady’s left knee last September can technically be defined as roughing the passer.

This season, the National Football League wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again.  And because all rules amendments/changes/points of emphasis in the NFL have names, it’s only natural that penalizing any hit to a QB’s knees or lower will be called “The Brady Rule.”

Terry McAulay, the referee who officiated Super Bowl XLIII last February in Tampa, was on hand to outline the rules’ changes and points of emphasis this year for the men in stripes.

In an 11-minute video shown to the players and coaches, the new rules were explained by showing a series of legal and illegal plays. Bernard Pollard’s hit on Brady last September at Gillette Stadium was shown as an example of an illegal lunge into a quarterback’s knee.

The NFL is making it an official “point of emphasis” this season for referees to be on the lookout for such illegal hits.

“We’re looking for forceable contact, basically forearm, shoulder, helmet right into his knee or below,” McAulay said following the video presentation to reporters. “A normal tackle by a defender is rarely a roughing the passer foul. It’s that dangerous hit right at the knee where he lunges in that we’re looking for.

“Obviously, a player thrown into the quarterback or something like that would not be a foul. A lung or forceable contact right at the knee or below, we’re going to be pretty tight on,” McAulay said.

McAulay added that tackling or grabbing in the knee area to make a tackle on a quarterback with the ball is still permitted.

The major rule change designed to protect players is outlawing the “wedge” return, where three or more players on a kick return team join hands or are shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the returner. Kamikaze-type special teams players have suffered serious injuries on similar plays, as was the case with Buffalo’s Kevin Everett two years ago, when he had surgery to repair his spinal chord after a collision with the Denver Broncos.

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  • Tony

    Next step, quarterbacks wearing red jerseys to make sure one touches them during the game, known as the “No Touch Rule”.

  • Maureen

    A quarterback is a franchises most valuable asset. The Brady Rule will help protect that asset be it a Patriot, a Giant or any quarterback in the league. Hopefully this will protect all quarterbacks from season-ending or, god forbid, career ending injuries to the knees.

  • Pattijor

    The Brady Rule – 1) “The quarterback gets all the money and glory, but is not required to take any risk or make any sacrifices.”

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