[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
The big thing that is pissing me off this year are the fines and penalties for “unnecessary roughness.” A safety for the Giants was penalized last night for blowing up Mewelde Moore on a wheel route a split second after he dropped the ball. He didn’t launch himself or lead with his head. It was a clean hit and a terrible penalty call.
Last week, an NFL VP said that Hines Ward’s block on Keith Rivers was “unnecessary but legal…for now.” First of all, the block sprung Matt Spaeth for a first down. If he doesn’t make the hit, Rivers makes the tackle and the Steelers punt. Second, if they make that illegal, what are downfield blockers supposed to do, yell at the defender to get their attention first?
This is all an effort to “protect the players” (read: protect league interests). But all it’s really doing is inserting a ridiculous amount of penalties into the game. Hard hits are a part of the game, and I don’t see how the league can market and promote big hits with one hand and chastise the players that deliver them with the other.
I thought Goodell was on the right track at first, but he’s looking more and more like a complete fucking retard that knows nothing about football.
EDIT: I forgot the love tap by Terrell Suggs on Kerry Collins that resulted in a 15 yard penalty on 3rd down, which eventually led to the go-ahead score for Tennessee. The officiating crew stole a win from Baltimore there.[/quote]
This I agree with of all the complaints about the season so far. The roughing the QB rules have always been iffy, and there have been tons of bs judgement roughing calls in past years so I’ll skip that and move to the “blind side” blocking stuff. I thought that was football? No more than a year ago you’d hear nothing but praise for Hines Ward for being one of the few receivers willing to sell himself out to spring a run on a key downfield block. Perhaps linebackers and safeties should stop tunnel visioning and look out for people doing their job, QBs have to do the same thing or they get smashed too.
I’d also like to put some extra emphasis on one part of your post:
Big highlight reel hits are, in my opinion, the most exciting part of the game, not just a part of it in general. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate watching skilled plays like Steve Smith’s ridiculous tight rope walk yesterday, but for neutral fans just watching a game for the sake of watching the game, nothing gets dudes at a bar out of their stools faster than a decleating block/tackle. As long as you keep your head down to prevent concussions I see nothing wrong with it(helmet to helmet hits and horsecollars are rightfully being cracked down on).