And cue the bitching -- the NFL may just have gone further than the NCAA.

Rich McKay, the NFL Competition Committee Chairman, and I quote:

"If you lower your head to initiate contact and you make contact with an opponent, it's a foul."

Doesn't matter offense, defense, lineman, nobody...

And, not only that, it's a potential EJECTION foul.  (Though the Competition Committee has not said how ejections would be handled (players, coaches, etc. will be in on the process over the next few months), and that will have to be watched over the course of the season.)

This does not discriminate (unlike the NCAA targeting rule) about defenseless players.  ANY TIME you lower your head to make contact and you do, it's 15 and you are subject to ejection.

McKay also said this at today's press conference:

"It just seems that players at every level are getting more comfortable playing with their helmets as a weapon rather than a protective device," McKay said. "Therefore, we need a rule that is broad and puts that in context, and that's what we think this does."

McKay also admitted the record number of reported concussions was part of the reason the rule went into effect -- and it wasn't even on the agenda at this meeting, according to NFL Network.

And I still don't think it's far enough.  People who read this blog that I've talked to on the subject believe any contact to the head needs to be an ejection.

Cue the bitching.  Cue it hard.