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As ESPN.com insider John Clayton summed it up: "Chad Johnson, Steve Smith and Terrell Owens lost a good portion of their end zone celebrations. Carson Palmer, Brian Griese and Ben Roethlisberger gained some protection for their knees. And NFL coaches gained the ability to make replay challenges on down-by-contact plays. ..."The NFL owners meetings concluded in Orlando on Wednesday afternoon with owners giving big thumbs up to 15 playing rules proposals by the competition committee. Player safety and player conduct headlined the long list of recommendations, and the Committee passed most of them with ease.
Only two recommendations failed to pass. About 11 owners voted against allowing a defensive player to wear a radio helmet connected to coaches on the sideline. An effort to cut down the rapidly increasing number of false start penalties against receivers who flinch at the line of scrimmage also failed.
But the celebrations seemed to be of primary interest. ...
As a series of plays from the 2005 season flashed on the screen at the NFL meetings, Associated Press sports writer Dave Goldberg reports that people began to yawn. Examples of "down by contact" or minor movement that led to illegal procedure calls just weren't attention grabbers.
They woke up quickly when a tape came up showing Johnson catching a touchdown pass from Palmer, then picking up a pylon and putting the football from the back line of the end zone.
"He has a better stroke than I have," said supervisor of officials Mike Pereira, who was overseeing the video session.
Entertaining as Johnson's putt looked, it won't happen again -- at least not without repercussions.
NFL owners voted 29-3 to limit end-zone demonstrations, including those using props such as Johnson's pylon putt or Owens' Sharpie signing; or another Owens specialty, sit ups after a score.
Also banned: Johnson's proposal to a cheerleader on the sideline -- another of his shows last year -- because he got down on one knee and doffed his helmet.
On the other hand, his "Riverdance" routine, one of last season's highlight film bests, will be OK because he stayed on his feet. That kind of thing is still allowed, as is spiking, dunking or spinning the ball after a TD.
Still, there will have to be some innovation by the celebrators.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what Chad will come to celebrate with now," Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said after the vote.
According to Cincinnati Enquirer staffer Mark Curnutte, Dungy's words buoyed Johnson.
"I love to hear that," the star receiver said. "See, it's more than fans. It's coaches. It's guys on other teams, all kinds of people want to see what I'm going to do."
And Johnson vowed to keep on celebrating.
"This isn't going to stop me from keeping the fans of Cincinnati entertained and happy," Johnson said. "I always kept it within the rules and I'm going to keep doing it that way. There is no one more creative than me."
Bengals president Mike Brown, though a fan of Johnson, voted for the guidelines.
"It's a team game, not an individual game," Brown said.
Owners and league officials acknowledge the entertainment value of touchdown celebrations, many featuring Johnson, Owens or Smith, three of the league's top wide receivers.
But they also had had numerous communications from officials of youth football leagues, saying that more and more youngsters were imitating NFL players. And they said a group of players, most of them defenders, who talked to them during meetings in Indianapolis last month agreed the demonstrations were a bit over the top and should be modified.
According to New Orleans Times-Picayune staffer Mike Triplett, one player even told the committee that his 10-year-old son did "the worm" during a Pop Warner game, because "Chad does it."
Celebrations such as Joe Horn's infamous cell phone call in 2003 -- using an outside prop -- previously had been outlawed by the league. But the enforcement seemed to slip a bit in recent seasons.
"If you recall two or three years ago, we made taunting a point of emphasis," Titans coach Jeff Fisher, co-chairman of the competition committee, explained. "That's the in-your-face, the lack of sportsmanship, the lack of respect for your game.
"Two or three years ago, they [tauntings] were being flagged and we almost eliminated them. I think we take responsibility. The officiating department and the committee have allowed them to creep back. We're going to make that once again a point of emphasis."
And as Goldberg noted, the innate conservatism of NFL coaches also played a part in the vote, on which Dallas, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay were the dissenters.
"I think it's needed," said San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer, who is entering his 21st season, most of any current head coach. "The game is about the team, not the individual. ..."
There also were more substantive rules changes on the final day of the three-day owners meetings, although nothing as flashy as the ban on demonstrations:
As outlined by Goldberg:
Also of interest. ... St. Paul Pioneer Press staff writer Don Seeholzer noted on Wednesday that Seattle's seven-year, $49 million offer sheet to Vikings wide receiver Nate Burleson was a topic of conversation in Orlando.
It even drew the attention of commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who said he planned to discuss the Burleson offer sheet and the strikingly similar seven-year, $49 million deal the Vikings used to pinch all-pro guard Steve Hutchinson from Seattle with NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw next week.
Specifically, Tagliabue said the league will seek to close a loophole that both teams have exposed in the offer-sheet process by including so-called "poison-pill" clauses that effectively would force the Vikings, in Burleson's case, to guarantee his full contract if they decide to match Seattle's offer.
"I think these issues that have been raised by the offer sheets by Seattle and Minnesota need to be addressed," Tagliabue told reporters in his opening remarks at the meeting. "I think it's not what was contemplated. It's a similar set of (loopholes) to what we had when the rules first came in place from the Will Wolford contract, and we will be addressing them with the players association.
"I will be talking to Gene Upshaw next week."
Look for something to get done on this front in fairly short order. ...
Meanwhile, as Goldberg noted, the meetings adjourned with little action on finding a successor to Tagliabue, who announced his retirement a week ago.
Tagliabue, who said he still thinks the next commissioner will be in place by his target date of July, will appoint a committee next week of six to eight owners. It, in turn, will hire a search firm that will interview all 32 owners on what they want in a new commissioner.
That is in contrast to 1989 after Pete Rozelle announced his retirement. He appointed a committee comprised only of insiders and it led to a seventh-month deadlock before Tagliabue finally was elected.
"I think it's great," New England owner Robert Kraft said of the search process this time. "How else can you have 32 people feel part of the process?"