Through out all of sports, I have noticed that the owners and commissioners are making more and more rules to make sports safer, especially in the National Football League. Not only do the rules make the game safer, it gives the athlete a better chance to show off their skills more than they ever could before. Every off-season, the league makes a few changes to make the game better. Lately they have been focusing on the safety of the athlete, especially with the head injuries. Some people criticize the rule changes and say that the rules are taking away from the game and hitting is part of the game, like the roughing-the-passer penalties that drive everyone crazy; it's for the player's best interest.

For the 2009 season, the league adopted four new rules all of which are related to player safety. Here are the new rules:

1. "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."

2. "Initial contact to the head of a defenseless receiver also will draw a 15-yard penalty."

3. On kickoffs, no blocking wedge of more than two players will be allowed. A 15-yard penalty will go to a violating team."

4. "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."

The league also made an adjustment to an old rule, now known as the "Tom Brady Rule", which is related to Bernard Pollard's season-ending hit to the knee of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Defenders who have been knocked to the ground can "no longer lunge into quarterbacks if the play is still ongoing." As you can see these rules are all established to try to avoid major injury to players. The protection of the player's head is most important due to the growing number of concussions and the serious damage they could cause to a players' mental health.

Players are always going to get injured and the league is just trying to prevent the major ones from happening, sure people think the rules are taking away from the game and in some cases the little penalties are frustrating to watch and slow down the game. The league is also researching the long-term effects of concussions. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated "We want Congress and the medical community to have confidence in our research," Goodell said. "If that means changing the structure of the research, I'd be happy to work with the committee to do that." The league also is using new helmets to better protect players from concussions and ultimately long-term risks caused by the concussions. The Xenith X1 football helmet is designed to reduce the sudden and violent acceleration and deceleration of the head and the brain after impact. A flexible bonnet is embedded with shock absorbers that gradually release air to dissipate the energy from impact, while traditional helmets use foam inserts.