NFL to Emphasize Group Hugs Between Players, Officials in '08; Nick Barnett Skeptical

Welcome to a kinder, gentler NFL, where it's still perfectly acceptable to take somebody's head off during the play, but after the whistle, it's all about the Kumbaya vibe.

One of the officiating points of emphasis for next season includes an enforcement of "mutual respect" guidelines in the interaction between players and officials.

Finally, New-Age pragmatism finds its way to professional football. About freaking time.

As the Washington Post's Mark Maske writes, the point of emphasis is a consequence of the Dec. 3 end-of-game meltdown by some Ravens players during the almost-upset against the Patriots. According to Maske, "Officials are being instructed to address players in a respectful manner at all times and not to tolerate disrespectful comments toward them by players."

This should be interesting. It's one thing to have a rule on the books; there are plenty of them that don't go enforced. But when the rule is preceded by "point of emphasis," that means one thing: expect it to be called next season. A lot. A few years ago, after the Patriots cornerbacks manhandled the Colts wide receivers in the AFC Championship game, illegal contact after five yards became a point of emphasis. Off the top of my head, I think it was called something like 750 times the following season.

Unlike an observable penalty, there will be much room for interpretation when it comes to players being respectful towards officials. I mean, during the 2005 season, the Ravens were flagged more than 30 times in a game against the Lions, and things got so bad, referee Mike Carey actually said Terrell Suggs had been ejected for having "malice in his heart."

While that's an awesome sentiment, it does raise some concerns. Chief among them: what makes a comment disrespectful? (I'm not saying Suggs shouldn't have been ejected, but are we sure he had malice in his heart? Or was he just extremely bummed to be losing to a dreadful Lions team?) Are we going "Mommie Dearest" zero tolerance, or is there some leeway for a little back-and-forth.

And are we to believe that Tom Brady will be penalized even once for mouthing off, something he's been known to do with some frequency? Somehow I don't see that happening.