ORLANDO, Fla. — Overtime and player safety were the themes at the NFL meetings this week. Barely mentioned was labor.

Even though these are the last scheduled meetings of all key league personnel outside of the players — commissioner Roger Goodell, all 32 owners, team general managers and coaches — before the collective bargaining agreement expires next March, labor was not much of an issue.

Sure, a work stoppage could be in the mix by this time next year. But other than reinforcing their unanimity, the owners concentrated on the field.

Players should be safer during games thanks to several rules changes. And they also might be playing longer in regular-season overtimes.

The NFL passed rules Wednesday to further protect defenseless players, including ball carriers who lose their helmet during a play.

The key rules change bars a defenseless player from being hit in the head or neck area by an opponent who launches himself and uses his helmet, shoulder or forearm to make contact. Previously, those kind of tackles were banned against receivers who couldn't protect themselves, but now it will apply to everyone.

"These are very specific to very vulnerable moments in the game," Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said. "There's no reason not to protect these players."

NFL rules also will now echo those in college when a player running with the ball loses his helmet. The whistle will blow immediately and the ball will be placed at the "progress spot" where the helmet came off.

A safety move to protect the umpire also was made. He now will be stationed behind the offensive backfield rather than in the linebackers area. The competition committee saw "a hundred" examples of umpires being run over, co-chairman Rich McKay said.

As for the overtime modification, several owners said they also expect the rule instituted the previous day for the playoffs to be revisited in May to include the regular season.

"It's a better system, so why not have a better system every game?" Lurie said of expanding the new OT rule that allows a team losing the coin toss and allowing a field goal on the first series to then get a possession.

New York Giants owner John Mara added he expects discussion and possibly a vote on using the new OT system to occur at the owners meetings in Dallas in May. The change was proposed only for the postseason by the competition committee and was passed 28-4 Tuesday.

Also passed Wednesday:

• During a field goal or extra point attempt, the defensive team can't position any player on the line directly across from the snapper.

• A dead ball personal foul on the final play of the second or fourth quarters will cause a 15-yard penalty on the second half or overtime kickoff.

• If a punt returner makes a fair catch signal and muffs the ball, he is entitled to "reasonable opportunity" to catch the muff before it hits the ground without interference of the coverage team. The ball will be awarded at the spot of the interference, but there will be no penalty yardage marked off.

• When a ball strikes a videoboard (as one punt did last preseason at the new Cowboys Stadium), guide wire or sky cam, the play is whistled dead and replayed. The game clock is reset to when that play started.

• If the clock is stopped in the final minute of either half for a replay review, but would not have stopped without the review, officials will run off 10 seconds before resuming play. Either team could take a timeout to void the 10-second runoff.