NEW YORK — The NFL is getting serious about suspending players for illegal hits. It may begin as soon as this weekend.

Aiming for the head or leading with the helmet to deliver a blow already costs players money in fines. In an effort to help prevent serious injuries, NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson told The Associated Press Monday that instituting suspensions for such hits could come immediately, with Commissioner Roger Goodell's approval.

"There's strong testimonial for looking readily at evaluating discipline, especially in the areas of egregious and elevated dangerous hits," Anderson said in a phone interview. "Going forward there are certain hits that occurred that will be more susceptible to suspension.

"There are folks that understand that football is a physical game. Part of the enjoyment is that some of the violence is appealing. That has to be violence within the rules. There are very specific rules for that."

On Sunday, several hits may have gone beyond those bounds:

• The Eagles' DeSean Jackson and the Falcons' Dunta Robinson were knocked out of their game after a frightening collision in which Robinson launched himself head first to make a tackle. Both sustained concussions.

• Ravens tight end Todd Heap took a vicious hit from Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather that Heap called "one of those hits that shouldn't happen."

• The Steelers' James Harrison sidelined two Browns players with head injuries after jarring hits. An NFL spokesman said one of the tackles, on Joshua Cribbs, was legal. The Browns were more upset about Harrison's hit on Mohamed Massaquoi, which the league is reviewing.

Not only is the league worried about defenders turning themselves into human missiles, but also with them aiming for the head with the forearm, shoulder or any other body part.

"We're certainly concerned," said Anderson, a member of the league's competition committee and one of its loudest voices on the need for enhanced player safety. "The fundamentally old way of wrapping up and tackling seems to have faded away. A lot of the increase is from hits to blow guys up. That has become a more popular way of doing it.

"Yes, we are concerned they are getting away from the fundamentals of tackling, and maybe it has been coached that way. We're going to have to look into talking to our coaches."

One of those coaches, Baltimore's John Harbaugh, contacted the league about the hit on Heap.

"The thing we try to coach our players to do is basically hit in the strike zone," Harbaugh said. "Try to make an effort to do that and keep your head out of it. It's not just the safety of your opponent, it's safety for yourself. When you throw your head in there like that you put yourself at risk. It's just not good football."