The most violent collision from the 2009 season didn’t even involve the umpire, but a back judge covering a kickoff return. Rich Reels was bruised up quite a bit and had to sit a week out when he was caught off balance and hit by an upfield blocker. In addition to Reels’ injury, there were reports of concussions and other injuries. The league even considered giving the umpire a helmet.

The umpire position will be opposite the referee in the offensive backfield.

The umpire will now be located in the offensive backfield, rather than the center of the defensive backfield. The umpire will operate on the side opposite the referee, who is generally positioned on the side of the quarterback’s throwing arm. However, after the two minute warning in either half, the umpire will return to the defensive backfield.

There are no changes indicated in the 2010 NFL rule book under the umpire’s duties as a result of this change. (Oddly, the position of the umpire is not and never was discussed in the rule book, despite other officials’ positions being indicated.) However, there is a private manual for officials that express finer details of officiating mechanics which was overhauled.

The umpire will have to quickly set in position after maintaining the ball spot at the line of scrimmage. Once an offense comes to the line, the umpire must retreat to the offensive backfield (while avoiding the players moving from the huddle to the line of scrimmage) rather than a few yards behind the ball. Usually, the offense has to wait about a second for the umpire to be set, but it will likely take longer with the new positioning.

It will be interesting to see some of the bugs worked out in the preseason, and we will update you on any refinements as we are aware of them.

The original image used in the illustration is credited to Pats1 at en.wikipedia.

McCabe’s nose was detached with most of his facial bones broken. His alleged assailant, Leon Woods, is in prison on $10,000 bail, charged today with first-degree assault.

Peter McCabe, a referee of a football game in Rochester, N.Y., is tended to after being allegedly struck in the face by a player swinging a helmet.

A witness, in a deposition released by police, claimed that he “heard a hard crack” while another said that he “saw the player swing his helmet over his head and hit McCabe in the face with [the] helmet.” Another official told a local TV station that the player was yelling, “Take that! Take that!”

The commissioner of the NAFL, Robin Williams, contacted the Zebra Blog on our request for comment. She expressed that the league is “deeply saddened by the event and wishes the injured referee a speedy and full recovery.”

“We’ve been managing a quality organization for the past 11 years and have never seen an incident like this before.”

We questioned whether the league conducted, or teams were required to conduct, background checks on their players. Williams stated, “In terms of background checks, the NAFL has a relationship with several other leagues, where we cross ban players and owners from joining our league, or vice versa, if that member had been banned by either organization. Because we do encourage mentoring, leadership and getting at-risk youth and adults off the street, we do not have a policy [of] banning players with former criminal or misdemeanor record.”

The Cougars applied for admission to the NAFL in 2009 but have yet to pay the league dues. Rather than canceling games, the NAFL permitted its teams to play the Cougars this year to help defray their costs.

McCabe is home right now, but scheduled to return to the hospital for more reconstructive surgery on Friday. In the meantime, the 25-year veteran official indicated that Saturday’s game will be his last.

Update, 10/29/09: A representative from the Cougars replied to our e-mail, stating that the team intends to issue a press release, but otherwise did not comment on the allegations or answer our questions.

The photo on this post was taken by another referee and is credited to 98.9 The Buzz in Rochester.

No video to show, but the Associated Press reported that Cardinals offensive lineman Elton Brown bumped referee Mike Carey near the end of the first half of the final preseason game. He was ejected for the contact.

According to the story and his coach, the bump was inadvertant, however the ruling is not debatable. The league office should report any sanctions against Brown this week.

Update, Wed. 9/9/09: In an unrelated move, Brown was released by the Cardinals today.