NFL Owners Pass Rule Proposal Banning Use of Ineligible Receivers

At the annual owners meetings in Arizona, the 32 NFL owners have passed a rule banning the use of ineligible receivers.   

The news, which was tweeted out by the Baltimore Ravens' official feed, came to the forefront in the AFC Divisional playoff game between the Ravens and the New England Patriots: 

After the Ravens' loss to the Patriots in the postseason, head coach John Harbaugh told Chris Wesseling of NFL.com that New England using four blockers on the line of scrimmage and another reporting as ineligible was illegal:

"

We wanted an opportunity to be able to identify who the eligible players were, because what they were doing was they would announce the eligible player and Tom (Brady) would take it to the line right away and snap the ball before (we) even figured out who was lined up where. And that was the deception part of it. It was clearly deception.

"

Harbaugh also said this was "not something anybody has ever done," though Peter King of TheMMQB.com did note Alabama used the same strategy in a college game against LSU three months earlier.

Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney, speaking to Bob Labriola of the team's official website, said he agreed with Harbaugh and believed the Ravens had a real argument. Other owners also agreed with Rooney enough to pass a rule banning the strategy. 

The Patriots have been at the center of many controversies during their Super Bowl run, with lingering effects pouring into the owners meetings and results for the deflated footballs investigation against Indianapolis still pending.