We will try to get to some of the “spookier” calls from this weekend. If there is something you want to start a conversation on, let us know in the comments. Referee assignments are after the jump.
The rulebook exists to lay out a protocol for the game of football. It never claims to be fair.
The Dolphins found as much when they apparently sealed a victory, only to have replay give the Steelers a second chance to win the game.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger scored a go-ahead touchdown, but fumbled the ball. The play was ruled a touchdown, but replay determined that Roethlisberger, indeed, fumbled prior to scoring the touchdown (video). The Dolphins claimed a recovery of the loose ball.
However, we could not explain the ultimate ruling any better than referee Gene Steratore, trying to channel the voluminous descriptions of some of his colleagues:
After review, it has been determined that prior to the ball crossing the goal line, the runner did lose possession of the ball. However, by rule in replay, two aspects of this play must be available to be viewed. Not only did we have to view the fumble being a fumble, we also have to have clear evidence of the team recovering the ball.
After review, we do not have clear evidence of the defense recovering the football. Therefore, Pittsburgh will have the ball, fourth and goal at the half-yard line. Miami will not be charged with a timeout, and the clock will start on the ready-for-play [signal].
My initial reaction is that the spot of the ball is incorrect. We know the ball was determined to have been fumbled, because the touchdown was overturned. Since we don’t have a conclusive recovery (according to replay rules), the ball is ruled dead at the point when there was a touchdown signal, regardless if there was a whistle. So the loose ball is ruled dead in the end zone, and the offense is responsible for putting the loose ball in the end zone, therefore, the correct ruling should be touchback, Dolphins ball.
There was a similar circumstance last year where replay determined the ball to be dead after touching an out-of-bounds player in the end zone. The result was a touchback for the other team.
Apparently, that reasoning only applies when the ball is out of bounds, not loose and dead in the end zone. Also, if you don’t recover your own team’s forward fumble (like when it goes out of bounds), the ball goes back to the spot of the fumble. (Update 10/30: Specific rules are cited in the comments by popular demand.)
And credit to Steratore for making the correct call, even though your gut might tell you the ruling would be otherwise.
After some nasty helmet-to-helmet collisions on the football field, it was comments made in the broadcast studio that attracted the attention of the NFL. On Sunday Night Football, former Chargers and Patriots safety Rodney Harrison—who was voted twice by his peers as the dirtiest player in the game—said that fines had no impact on his on-field behavior:
Fining me five- or ten-grand really didn’t affect me. But I got to a point where when they suspended me, I knew the effect on my teammates. [It was] the disappointment, me not being out there, not the $100,000 that got taken away from me. … That’s what they’re going to have to do to if they’re going to change the nature of these hits: you have to suspend guys.
Much different than the Harrison who declared in 2006 after his second dirtiest player crown: “All I can say is as many guys as say I’m a dirty player, just as many come up and tell me they admire how I play, the hard work, the commitment, the toughness. That’s the pride you’re looking for. I take pride in that. But dirty? I don’t think you guys can look in my eyes and say I’m a dirty player.”
The league took a hard-line stance, handing out major fines (compared with other helmet-to-helmet hits as recent as last week) for the hits that started this conversation:
Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson hit Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson in the head so hard, Jackson does not remember the hit. Robinson was fined $50,000.
Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather was also docked $50,000 for a hit that had Ravens tight end Todd Heap out for the remainder of the game.
Steelers linebacker James Harrison knocked two Browns players out of the game and was fined $75,000.
Recently, fines of $5,000 to $10,000 were the standard. In one case of these three cases, a player essentially played for free, as the fine exceeded his game check.
After these fines were assessed, the NFL released a DVD (video) to all teams and this statement on Wednesday:
TO NFL PLAYERS AND COACHES:
One of our highest priorities is player safety. We all know that football is a tough game that includes hard contact. But that carries with it an obligation to do all that we can to protect all players from unnecessary injury caused by dangerous techniques from those who play outside the rules.
The video shown today shows what kind of hits are against the rules, but also makes clear that you can play a hard, physical game within the rules.
Violations of the playing rules that unreasonably put the safety of another player in jeopardy have no place in the game, and that is especially true in the case of hits to the head and neck. Accordingly, from this point forward, you should be clear on the following points:
1. Players are expected to play within the rules. Those who do not will face increased discipline, including suspensions, starting with the first offense.
2. Coaches are expected to teach playing within the rules. Failure to do so will subject both the coach and the employing club to discipline.
3. Game officials have been directed to emphasize protecting players from illegal and dangerous hits, and particularly from hits to the head and neck. In appropriate cases, they have the authority to eject players from a game.
ROGER GOODELL, Commissioner
We will have a round-up of the reaction from players and coaches to the NFL’s increased enforcement for these hits.
Stiff penalties on headhunters is important in protecting NFL players
Hard hits, violent hits, are part of football. And injuries, even serious injuries, are inevitable. The league can’t legislate the violence out of the game, nor should it. But it has to protect the unprotected and it has to punish the players who launch themselves head-first into receivers and running backs and quarterbacks.
For many years, when sportswriters stayed at the same hotel with the team, I watched the Seahawks players climb onto their buses before riding to the stadium for their Sunday road games.
That afternoon they would play their most dangerous game and I couldn’t help wondering which players would finish the day healthy or hurt, or even hospitalized.
Every game, they put their lives and livelihoods on the line the way athletes in most other sports never do, and I’ve always admired their grace under that enormous pressure.
Football is a violent game, and the players of the NFL accept that fact every day when they run onto the practice field, every Sunday when they board their buses and every game day when they collide at high speeds and with intimidating intent.
In the past few years, groundbreaking research has led to an increased awareness of the dangers and the long-term physical costs for the players who play this game.
We now know that the effects of the thunderous hits we see on Sunday might not fully be realized by the players absorbing those hits until later decades. The hits they take in their 20s can lead to serious health issues in their 40s and 50s.
NFL players are dying young. They are suffering from ALS, Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Some former players’ suicides have been linked to head trauma they suffered while playing in the NFL.
To its credit, the league has begun paying serious attention to the damage that can be done from head trauma. Finally, the seriousness of concussions is being addressed. We no longer hear jokes on the air about a player “getting his bell rung.”
But now the league is struggling to find the answer to a complicated riddle.
The NFL, which has celebrated the violence in its game because that violence is so much a part of football’s attraction, is trying to find a way to legislate against the most violent helmet-to-helmet hits. A 15-yard penalty, or a five-figure fine, aren’t enough.
Last weekend, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison knocked two Cleveland Browns out of the game.
Atlanta’s Dunta Robinson hit Philadelphia receiver DeSean Jackson and both were on the ground after the play. Jackson has no memory of the hit.
The most dangerous strike came from New England safety Brandon Meriweather, who knocked out Baltimore tight end Todd Heap, after the front of Meriweather’s helmet crashed into the left side of Heap’s.
Cowboys, one week removed from a critical 15-yard penalty for a touchdown celebration, was flagged again early in the first quarter. After wide receiver Roy Williams scored, teammate Miles Austin leap-frogged over a posing Williams in the end zone. This was an easy call as a premeditated celebration. After such a game-changing penalty the week before, it is surprising that the Cowboys had another this week.
The NFL Network welcomed the new vice-president of officiating, Carl Johnson, in the return of its “Official Review” segment. A spokesperson for the network explained that the transition of Johnson in the new position caused the segment to be placed on hold until he could put the “Official Review” on his list of weekly chores.
Johnson offers up a double-dip format — one cablecast and one online-only version, much like his predecessor, Mike Pereira — however the calls under review are limited to three, instead of the usual four. We should see the normal weekly output soon. (The “Competition Committee” segment that aired in replacement of “Official Review” may return on an occasional basis.)
In the Saints–Cardinals game, Cardinals quarterback Max Hall fumbled the ball near the goal line, which was returned for the touchdown by teammate Levi Brown. Since Hall’s helmet came off during the play, there was a question as to whether the play is dead under the new rule that play ends when the ball carrier loses his helmet. Johnson pointed out that since Hall was not the ball carrier when his helmet came off, the play remains live.
On an Eagles punt, a special teams player for the 49ers was blocked into a loose ball by an Eagles player. Ordinarily, a player from the receiving team that first touches a ball renders that a live ball for either team to recover. Johnson explained that a receiving team player who is not making a play on the ball or actively engaged in blocking with another player is considered “passive” and therefore the fact that he is blocked into the ball doesn’t suddenly make the ball live. This is rarely called this way but is correct. This prevents a kicking team player from driving an opponent into the ball when the opposing player is not part of the play. Two exceptions: this does not protect a player who inadvertently brushes into a wildly bouncing ball, nor does it protect an actively blocking player who is overpowered and “shoved” into the path of the ball. The standard is the same for determining fair-catch interference, which was discussed in a 2009 “Official Review” segment, oddly, in Week 5.
A costly celebration penalty was levied against the Cowboys, as the penalty set up good field position for the game-winning touchdown drive by the Titans.
Johnson’s analysis is good, however I found some of his explanation of the Cardinals fumble to be too wordy. For example, Johnson said there were many things to consider on the play, such as the restrictions on fourth down fumbles and fumbles after the two-minute warning. Since neither of them applied, these would not have been under consideration, but, rather, served as a primer for unrelated fumble rules.
Johnson’s presentation skills were generally above average for a television “rookie,” as he made it seem a lot easier than it looks, and considering this segment is not his primary duty. I think with a few segments under his belt, he will develop a little more personality to add some of the flavor Pereira added to the presentation.
The Titans have had several instances of fines and allegations of dirty play to answer to this season. Now Law & Order: NFL has its latest incident where the defense pleads its case to the court of public opinion.
THE CASE
Sen’Derrick Marks, the Titans defensive tackle who was flagged for a low-hit on Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton, argues the case that he wasn’t fined for the hit, therefore it should not have been a penalty. If that logic was totally without foundation, his next allegation was even more bankrupt.
Marks suggests that the fine should revert to the official who threw the so-called erroneous flag, as reported by The Tennesseean:
I guess if I haven’t gotten fined for it then it was a bad call. But I already knew that. I’ll accept the referee taking a fine for me. That would work for me. I think if referee makes a bad call, then I think the refs should get fined for it. … I know where I hit [Orton] at. After I watched film it proved I didn’t hit him too low.
Marks alleges (with coach Jeff Fisher and beat writer Jim Wyatt backing up the defense) that his hit was to the thigh, and that an official should evaluate that accurately at full speed. However, the league already has expressed its enforcement orders, as we reported last year, to the referees in its Game-Related Discipline manual:
The Competition Committee emphasizes that whenever a game official is confronted with a potential unnecessary-roughness situation and is in doubt about calling a foul, he should lean toward safety and not hesitate to throw the flag.
All players receive a copy of this manual.
THE VERDICT
The NFL on Friday fined Marks $5,000 for the hit, according to Lindsay Jones at the Denver Post, rendering Marks’s argument moot. Also, since referees are scored as being 98% accurate in their calls, it was likely that Marks did not have a chance to plead his case, even if the penalty was one of the remaining 2%.
But, Marks may be fined again for contempt of officials in his defense.
We noted last year about the frequency of incidents that then-Cowboys lineman Flozel Adams was fined for. While the league opted not to suspend Adams, he was on notice for most of the season.
Now Titans defensive back Cortland Finnegan finds himself in similar territory, having racked up his third fine in as many weeks. The league, in its standard warning, said that “increased disciplinary action” could follow future infractions.
If you see a controversial call or a rules question from Week 6, add it to the comments section of this post. (Referee assignments are listed after the jump.) read more »
Assignments, Open Forum, Week 8 
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