National Football League

The National Football League (NFL) is the largest professional American football league, consisting of thirty-two teams from American cities. The league was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, which adopted the name "National Football League" in 1922. The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues of North America.

Rules named after players

The following is a partial list of rules that were enacted largely based on a single player's exploits on the field.

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• the Bronko Nagurski Rule -- forward passing made legal from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. Enacted in 1933. Prior to this rule change a player had to be 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage to throw a forward pass.
• the Deacon Jones Rule -- no head-slapping. Enacted in 1977.
• the Deion Sanders rule -- no excessive end zone celebrations.
• the Emmitt Smith Rule -- no taking your helmet off on the field of play. Enacted in 1997.
• the Erik Williams rule -- no hands to the facemask by offensive linemen.
• the Fran Tarkenton rule -- a line judge was added as the sixth official. Enacted in 1965.
• the Ken Stabler rule -- on fourth down or any down in the final two-minutes of play, if a player fumbles, only the fumbling player can recover and/or advance the ball. Enacted in 1979.
• the Lester Hayes rule -- no "stickum" allowed. Enacted in 1981.
• the Lou Groza rule -- no artificial medium to assist in the execution of a kick. Enacted in 1956.
• the Mel Renfro rule -- allows a "double touch" by the offense. Enacted in 1978.
• the Michael Irvin rule -- no taunting. Another rule, resulting in offensive pass interference, prohibiting WR's to push off CB's, is also often called "the Michael Irvin rule."
• the Bert Emanuel rule -- the ball can touch the ground during a completed pass as long as the receiver maintains control of the ball.
• the Roy Williams rule -- no horse-collar tackles. Enacted in 2005.

See the external, Professional Football Researchers Association, link below for more "player named" rules, and background information on how these rules came about.

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