Fans who love old-style physical football --  some would say the pre-Roger Goodell era -- are bound to be outraged by a proposed NFL rule that prohibits the ball-carrier from initiating contact with the crown of his helmet.

Most certainly, Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, is outraged. In an interview with a Dallas radio station, he said, ``If I’m a running back and I’m running into a linebacker, you’re telling me I have to keep my head up so he can take my chin off? You’ve absolutely lost your mind.’’


By John Kryk, Toronto Sun

A rule proposed by the NFL’s competition committee would make it a foul for a ball carrier to smash into a defender with the crown of his helmet in open space.

It would be the first rule in American football history limiting a runner’s contact with a defender, outside of egregious acts such as punching a tackler, or grabbing his facemask while stiff-arming.

Owners vote next Wednesday at the league’s annual meeting in Phoenix on whether to approve this and five other proposed new rules, announced Thursday by the competition committee on a conference call with NFL writers.

Sure to be the most controversial of the six proposed changes is the runner-contact rule. It reads:

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