NFL reviewing tripping incident

The NFL is continuing its review of the incident last Sunday in which Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi stuck out a knee and caused the Dolphins' Nolan Carroll to fall near the Jets' sideline.

The NFL sent a letter to all 32 teams Thursday to remind them of the rules regarding the bench and sideline areas during games. An NFL investigator might meet with the Jets as soon as Friday to review the situation, according to an ESPNNY.com report. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said last night that he could not comment on any specific timetable for a meeting.

Alosi, who has been suspended indefinitely by the Jets, set up a wall involving a half-dozen players in an effort to prevent the Dolphins from running unimpeded up the sideline. When Carroll was blocked out of bounds and continued up the sideline to cover a punt, Alosi stuck out his left knee and caused him to trip and fall.

Rex Ryan and special-teams coach Mike Westhoff denied telling anyone to form a wall on punts. Westhoff said Wednesday in an interview on Chicago sports radio station ESPN 1000 that the Patriots have used a similar tactic. "If you watch carefully, there is a pretty good team up north that lines up their whole defense when they do it so it's something that just kind of happened,'' he told the station.

Westhoff later told Jets reporters, "I'm not accusing the Patriots of doing something wrong. Maybe they're doing something smart. That's up to you. Just watch the tape. You tell me. I know one thing, I don't teach it.''Patriots coach Bill Belichick was unavailable for comment.

Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said Wednesday that he welcomed a review of the incident by the NFL. "The league is going to look into this, as well they should,'' he said.