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Remember, a few weeks ago, that NFL officials have been zealous in persistently applying the new rule on helmet use? After a rocky pre-season that included many dubious flags, we have hardly heard anything since. But these concerns have been replaced by something much more sinister: penalties for smugglers.
Public Enemy # 1: Clay Matthews.
In consecutive games, the passer of the Packers pass has been scored twice for what amounts to attacking the wrong player. During the second week, this was considered illegal:
Not to be outdone, Sunday, Matthews was again scored.
Yes, we know what Rule 12, Section 2, Article 9 (b) says: "A defensive player must not throw (a smuggler) unnecessarily or violently or land on him with all or most of the defender's weight. the defender must endeavor to wrap the smuggler with the defensive player's arms and not to land on the smuggler with all or most of his weight. "
Good. It's ridiculous because, you know, it's football, but it's okay. The problem is that the rule is not applied in a consistent way. In the same game, Aaron Rodgers received a flop from Daron Payne:
No flag
There are other examples of Sunday. This is Philip Rivers:
And Dak Prescott:
After the Packers lost to the Redskins, referee Craig Wrolstad explained his decision to score Matthews.
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"It was basically my key – [Matthews] has he landed on him with all or part of his weight, "Wrolstad told a pool reporter," but if you have a shoulder against him and you let him have his weight or let him go? " , so he would have been OK. But in my opinion, I decided that he had landed on him with all or part of his body weight. "
As Matthews took two steps to get to Smith, according to Hochuli, he should hit him and roll to the side to land on the ground and not on the quarter.
Uh huh.
Matthews, as can be expected, is not in agreement.
"Obviously, when you face a guy in front, you're going to land on him," Matthews said after the match. "I understand the spirit of the rule, I said it weeks ago, but when you have a shot like that, it's a football game …"
"Unfortunately, this league is going in a direction that I think many people like," said Matthews. "I think they're getting soft, the only thing difficult for this league is the fines they impose on players like me playing hard."
Even Smith, who sort of took Matthews' weight and survived, questioned the call.
"It's hard," he said. "I'm glad I did not play in defense … I had the impression of playing football, he played a long time, he hit me in the strike zone."
And Matthews found another unlikely ally in Redskins cornerback Josh Norman.
"What do you want the man to do?" he said. "Like, seriously, what do you want the man to do?" When I saw him, he had no malicious intent, I understand the rules of the situation, but at the same time, it's afraid to be a defender, hit your pockets and they hit you for a penalty. "
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