Former Packers receiver James Jones wore a hoodie under his uniform during a game last season because -- wait for it -- he was cold. Perfectly reasonable and soon to be perfectly illegal.
The latest edition of the NFL rule book will prohibit players wearing hoodies, according to ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert, who writes: "The 'hoodie' rule was deemed necessary after ... Jones debuted the style last season while playing for the Packers. The hood at times blocked Jones' nameplate on his back. Because it is a uniform policy adjustment, it did not require a vote of owners."
We're actually disappointed the "hoodie" rule didn't make it illegal for only Bill Belichick to wear a hooded sweatshirt on the sidelines during games. It certainly seems like the appropriate follow-up to the over-the-top Deflategate silliness that currently has Tom Brady staring down a four-game suspension to begin the 2016 season.
Meanwhile, Seifert also writes that the 2016 rules will reinforce a previously implied rule: Only head coaches are allowed on the field during games, and that's to check on injured players. This became an issue during the Steelers-Bengals AFC wild-card game when Steelers assistant Joey Porter was at midfield jawing with Bengals players. An Adam Jones personal-foul-penalty later, the Steelers were converting the game-winning field goal.
Finally, the rule book now offers guidance in the event an official fails to properly execute a pregame (or pre-overtime) coin flip. We're guessing no one ever imagined a scenario where a coin wouldn't, you know, flip but it happened last season. Now, in the event of an unintentionally unflipped coin happens again, the referee is directed to re-toss said coin using the player's original call.
