The NFL announced today that league owners passed four player safety rules that will go into effect next season during meetings in California this week

The first is the elimination of blindside, helmet-to-helmet blocks.

According to the report, new rules state that 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. Check out the block by Pittsburgh's Hines Ward on Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers and you'll understand what the owners are getting at here.

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This release is from the NFL's media web site, and means the Seahawks will have an international player on their practice squad:

To enhance the development of elite football talent from around the world, NFL clubs have agreed to expand the league’s International Practice Squad Program. The action was taken at the NFL Spring Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on May 20.

The initiative, which enters its fifth year in 2008, will for the first time feature 16 players joining the practice squads of NFL teams.

The players will be selected and assigned to teams in the AFC North, AFC West, NFC South and NFC West in time for training camp. Participating players will be announced in mid-July.

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The owners voted unanimously to opt out of the labor agreement, thus setting up what could be an ugly dispute. Here is the link to ESPN's story.

I wrote a wrapup of the NFL Combine, trying to give a flavor of that, so I thought I would do the same thing with the Owners Meetings.

First off, they are held at The Breakers hotel, which is incredibly stunning, sitting right on the ocean in Palm Beach, down the way a bit from Trump's Mira Lago and a few other notoriously beautiful homes. In fact, many of us were joking that when Roger Goodell said with a straight face that the NFL was operating on the thinnest of margins, the reason they need to renegotiate the CBA, a good start might be to hold the meetings at a less ostentatious hotel. It was definitely top notch. Put it this way, in the mini-market, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich was $8.

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Washington Times NFL writer Dave Elfin did a lengthy Q&A with Redskins owner Dan Snyder during the owners meetings this week. It was a very interesting read. At the end, Snyder lamented losing the game. Here was the question Elfin asked and Snyder's interesting answer:

Q: The NFC East has been a great division for years. Does the Giants
winning the Super Bowl give you inspiration?

A: "It's the best division. We think we should've been that team. Joe
(Gibbs) and I thought if we get through Seattle, we were very much looking forward to going to Dallas and then we were looking forward to the rematch in Green Bay. We owed them something. We were very, very comfortable with where we were. We just couldn't get our of Seattle. If that recovery by Anthony Mix had been a touchdown with the rule the way we'd like it to be, that game's probably over. I haven't brought it up this week because it looks like I'm a sore loser."

The Professional Football Writers Association announced that Seattle's public relations staff is one of five nominees for the Pete Rozelle Award, given to the best PR staff in the NFL. In fact, the Seahawks received more nominations than any other staff in the league. They won the award two years ago.

Also, Mike Holmgren has been nominated for the Horrigan Award, which is given to the coach who best helps the media. Holmgren occasionally jokes that this is the award he wants to win before he retires. It wouldn't surprise me to see him win it. Many writers often come up to me and comment about what a joy it must be to work with a coach who is so good with the media when he is accessible. The Miami writers, for instance, have only talked with Tony Sparano twice since he was hired, and they never get to speak with Bill Parcells.

By the way, here is a link to today's story in the News Tribune that has some quotes from other NFL coaches about Holmgren and his impending retirement.

"Obviously Seattle is a very difficult team to play. We split with them last year. They are a good team that is a proven winner and very difficult to play. San Francisco beat us twice so obviously we have some ground to make up to beat those guys. They are a team that maybe didn't meet expectations but they play very hard so I think they will be better this year. And St. Louis, even though we beat them twice, they were decimated by injuries. I anticipate them being a lot stronger this year when their tackle is back, their quarterback is back healthy and those guys play together another year. And I feel good about the strides we made in the division. I think a lot of people think the NFC West is not a very good division. I don't agree. I think you have some young teams that are making strides. You have a consistently good team that has won the division since its existence. You have another team that is going to get its players back healthy and that has been a good team in St. Louis. I don't know how you say anybody has taken a step back or improved (in free agency) because like us whenever you lose a player you have a young player who is stepping in and taking their spot. Once we go through preseason and get into the season, you will have a better idea on that. I can't make a judgment on that at this point."

"Just starting with us, I think we got better. Every time you are getting a couple players, you lose some as well. We lost a couple players. But I think we got a little better than we did worse. Arizona lost a couple guys, but they also got a couple guys. It's hard for me to say exactly how things will work out right now, it really is. You always see the 'big signing,' but you don't know how the other guys are going to work out. And the draft is such a huge part of it. The draft is going to fill out the rest of the roster. Right now those first-day guys have to play, so they affect things quite a bit. Until somebody unseats Seattle, they are still the team to beat, that is pretty easy to say. St. Louis, if they can stay healthy they can be good. Unlike they were last year. And Arizona has been talented for a long time."

"It's hard to say. I know there has been some additions to some other teams that maybe swing the matchup tight. There have been some changes where when we play a team we say, 'Well, that is their strength now, not a weakness, or vice versa.' If I go back, Kerney having the type of year he did created a lot of problems for our line. He wrecked one game, and probably both, but he definitely wrecked one game completely. The year before that, them getting that kid who is an outside linebacker (Julian Peterson), those are the kinds of things that make a difference. You wouldn't have thought Kurt Warner was going to be a factor, but then Leinart gets injured and he ends up carrying his team. I'd have liked to have seen Trufant sign somewhere else, but them keeping him keeps them solid at corner. San Francisco added a bunch of defensive guys. San Fran's defense has suddenly become very talented. We are relying on staying healthier. I think we will be. We had a lot of injuries early. So I think guys will be back at it sooner rather than later. That is just part of it. We have to play better, too. Coach better.

I caught up with St. Louis coach Scott Linehan to ask him if the two kicks that Josh Brown made in 2006 that beat the Rams was the primary reason that he went after Brown:

"Well, those are the two kicks I remember the most. If not for those two kicks we win the division. But the rest of them have been pretty important too. He is very accurate. More importantly is how he has performed over the course of his career. And being a field goal guy and being able to kickoff. That is a big weapon. That's big if you can have a kickoff guy put it back there and force a guy to take a knee or come out of the end zone is critical. Plus, for at least eight games he is going to be kicking indoors, so that has to be a weapon as well. It's a rare combination to have a great kickoff guy who also is a great field goal kicker."

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I caught up with Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke today to discuss several things Seahawk:

* The team has a 95 percent renewal rate on its season tickets. The team currently has 61,000 season ticket holders. It also has 16,000 folks on a waiting list to get season tickets. I am no math major, but according to my calculations, if you signed up for season tickets today it would take almost eight years before you could get your seats. Better hurry.

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During the press conference announcing rules changes that had and had not been passed, somebody asked Jeff Fisher, one of the members of the competition committee, if he was surprised that the seven teams that voted against the radio devices in helmets of defensive players all had offensive-minded head coaches. Seattle and Washington were two of those teams. Fisher joked that he heard that the biggest opponent to the resolution had snuck into the building last night to wield his power. Somebody asked if that particular coach had a mustache. "This coach wasn't here," Fisher said. "The ONLY coach who wasn't here."

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