These two 'pads', called snubbers, are sorta like rubber blocks that are attached to the roof of the nose wheel well.
When the NLG spinning wheels come into contact with these snubbers, at about the same time as the uplock is engaged, the wheels are quickly brought to a stop.
That is, except for the B727, a wonderful airplane, where there are NLG brakes fitted (in most cases), and therefore no snubbers are required.
EW73
