New helmet rule not nearly as bad as expected through opening weekend

All the fuss during the preseason over the NFL's new rule for helmet contact seems to have been for naught.

Referees have thrown just one penalty flag for a perceived violation of the helmet rule through the first 14 games of Week 1, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN. Two Monday night games remain.

That one penalty was assessed against veteran Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Ron Parker, who lowered his head to initiate contact with an opponent.

There were 51 violations of the rule called through the first 33 games of the preseason, according to Seifert. Only 20 such calls were made in the final two weeks of exhibition play after the competition committee told officials to avoid penalizing incidental contact.

The league acknowledged it wasn't possible to implement such a drastic change in just one offseason when opting to limit the number of flags that would be thrown.

"There are certain things that are incidental contact and just part of this sport," NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent said. "There are certain things you just have to live with and be OK with. And then there is the part of our role and responsibility. What do we want to coach out and then the players have to adjust to? Some of these things are more long term.

"To think that an individual player will make some of the adjustments between May 1 and the start of the season, when this is what I have done all of my life? That's unrealistic. That's truly unrealistic."