Hair length proposal delayed until May; defensive helmet radios approved

WhiteShoeWillis · Apr 1, 2008

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3323895&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

The Kansas City Chiefs' proposal calling for all players to tuck or cut long hair so it doesn't hang below the nameplate on their uniform was tabled until the next NFL owners meeting in May.

In delaying any vote on the hair issue, the NFL will have time to listen to feedback from the players association.

"We had a pretty good feeling it was going to get tabled," Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said at the NFL owner meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. "We have to take it to the union to consider. That's OK. I think as long as the players know they can discuss it. Basically what we're looking at is a discussion. In our opinion, it's a violation of the dress code."

In a separate move, the competition committee picked up three more votes this year and passed the "coach-to-defense" signal-calling system 25-7.

Defensive coaches now will have the ability to put radio speakers in two helmets, but only one of those helmets will be allowed on the field on a given play. Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said passing this measure a year ago might have prevented the recent Spygate controversy from happening.

"They were filming signals," Phillips said of the Patriots. "If you didn't have any signals, it wouldn't have happened. I'm just happy to get something passed. That way you don't have to worry about it. People were putting towels up in front of people. You shouldn't have to play football that way."

A year ago, the committee, which has been pushing the system for three years, had 22 votes, two shy of passing. At an NFL owners meeting, it takes nine votes to defeat a proposal.

The Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Rams, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins voted against defensive radio helmets.

Buffalo Bills coach Dick Jauron, a longtime supporter of the idea, believes it will balance the ledgers as far as coordination of the offenses and defenses. He believed the offense had an edge by having a way to communicate plays to a quarterback, while the defense had to react by making just hand signals.

Although the defensive radio helmet issue was a great story for the coaches, the bigger, more controversial story involved hair. Many players who have long hair are believed to be upset with the idea being pushed by the Chiefs. It's created a national discussion.

"It's like a fish story," Edwards said. "It started as a guppy. When it got to New York, it was a whale. Everyone kept adding to the story."

The idea came from within the Chiefs organization, which believed excessive hair was a dress code violation.

The Chiefs' proposal was submitted in early March, and players had not had a chance to discuss the issue before this week's NFL meetings.

"There is a certain way we feel the uniform should be portrayed," Edwards said. "That's why we brought it up. I think we are all na?ve if we don't know who those guys are. We are talking about uniform violations in our opinions. There were a lot of years players didn't have names on the backs of their jerseys. All of a sudden, you get it, and you cover it up. When I was growing up playing football, you looked at pro football players and said, 'I can't wait to get my name on the jersey.' Now, you get it on the back and you cover it up."

At least in the eyes of the Chiefs, they made their case. The league will listen to the players and reopen the dialogue in the May meeting in Atlanta.
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If you want to steal defensive signals it's going to have to be from the players on the field now.

Docny1975 · Apr 1, 2008

Glad they passed the helmet policy even before spygate I thought it was unfair for the offense to have it but not the defense

blantyr · Apr 1, 2008

I like defensive radios, but I'm not sure why 'only one at a time on the field' is a big deal. On offense, one team got penalized for using their second quarterback as a wide receiver. On defense, there are going to be a lot more of substitution packages. Putting one and only one radio on the field is going to be a mild pain. I suspect some players are going to end up with two helmets, with and without radios.

abyzmul · Apr 1, 2008

blantyr said: ↑

I like defensive radios, but I'm not sure why 'only one at a time on the field' is a big deal. On offense, one team got penalized for using their second quarterback as a wide receiver. On defense, there are going to be a lot more of substitution packages. Putting one and only one radio on the field is going to be a mild pain. I suspect some players are going to end up with two helmets, with and without radios.
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I think that's the way the Jets had it with Brad Smith subbing in at QB at times and playing wideout at others, swapping helmets. The helmet-changing firedrill will result in a lot of early penalties until teams can get it into a routine on defense.

KSJets · Apr 1, 2008

I think Herm keeps trying to talk about this "dress code violation" because that's all he can talk about. We all know he can't discuss anything important like X's and O's.

Hair length proposal delayed until May; defensive helmet radios approved

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Hair length proposal delayed until May; defensive helmet radios approved

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