[ad_1]
-
Kevin SeifertNFL Nation
What, dear fan, are you more inclined to accept: quarterbacks have hit and maybe hurt on a weekly basis, or enforcing the law that protects them but sometimes makes fun of the effort ? If we learned anything in the first two weeks of the 2018 season, it's that the NFL has bet on the latter – even as this bet becomes one of the biggest stories of the year. ;year.
On several fronts, and with little warning from the public, the league has further increased its extreme measures to protect quarterbacks. There were six more penalties against the smugglers during the first 15 games of Week 2, including a dubious call that changed the game against Green Packers linebacker Clay Matthews. That brought the season total to 21, putting the league on an unprecedented pace for the season.
All you need for week 2:
• Scores, highlights and more »
• Full calendar »| Full ranking »
• weekly statistics leaders
• Tracker of injuries: who is in, out? "
More NFL coverage »
Although the frequency of the flags has decreased compared to week 1, the calls for tests – caused by the focus of the defenders on the quarterbacks – are only part of the effort. In a shift that should receive more attention than he did, the officials ejected two players for helmet blows at the end of the quarter.
Although deserved, these decisions represent the first disqualifications of the NFL, according to a study of the website Football Zebras. (Ejections between 2009 and 2017 were all non-football related acts such as fighting or contact with an official.)
Put it all together, said Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson, and you have a directive that seems to "ask guys to do physics, and then be sensitive to a guy on the ground". The intent is clear but lamentable, Richardson said.
"Just because fantasy football falls in the ratings when [a quarterback gets hurt]he said, that does not mean to me. I grew up watching the guys blow their heads. It's not pretty, but that's the main reason I liked watching football. Especially the brutality and the grotesque of it. But that's what it is. We understand what is happening. "
There seem to be many more reasons to protect quarterbacks, from player safety to the preservation of superstars, support the most violent fringes of football. According to many, the ejection of players for blows against moving quarterbacks is late.
But it is clear that not everyone agrees, either inside or outside the game. And there is little doubt that officials have been tasked with to enforce the existing rules far beyond recent precedents, an edict passed during a summer devoted to a new rule prohibiting to lower the flags head in the first 31 games of the season.
The retired NFL referee, Terry McAulay, now an NBC rules analyst, described the ejections as "unknown territory" and "the two most interesting pieces of 2018." He also expressed his relief Sunday to no longer be able to focus on assaulting the quarterback.
I'm just going to say this now: if the two shots on the QB in #MINvsGB Indeed, I'm happy to no longer be on the ground and having to make these calls.
– Terry McAulay (@SNFRules) September 16, 2018
In fact, what seemed like a simple point on a specific part of the sketch, the smuggler has stepped up in a lot more.
Among the official points distributed this summer was a competition committee note on the risk of injury when a defender "used all or part of his body weight to land on a quarter immediately after the launch of the ball." The committee ordered the NFL officials department to "point out that the defender is responsible for avoiding landing on the quarterback when he takes it to the ground."
Richardson was one of five penalized players for doing it during week 1. But even after those calls, 10 more flags came up for different quartering classifications. As the chart below shows, this figure alone would have matched a recent NFL high for such calls in week 1.
NFL Penalties Roughing-the-Passer
| Year | Week 1 | Week 2 | Total season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 15 | 6 | 173 * |
| 2017 | 7 | 2 persons | 109 |
| 2016 | 7 | 6 | 92 |
| 2015 | 3 | 8 | 103 |
| 2014 | ten | 5 | 102 |
| 2013 | 3 | 3 | 93 |
| 2012 | 8 | 7 | 103 |
| * Projected | |||
| Source: ESPN Statistics & Information |
The referee Tony Corrente penalized Mathews for violating the ban on lifting a quarter and pushing him to the ground. Replays show only the slightest hint of this mechanism while Matthews hits a quarter of the Vikings Kirk Cousins, but that's the kind of calls you see when officials are charged with speeding errands.
Of the 21 flags so far, none have had an impact on a match more important than the one against Matthews. He canceled a Packers interception with 1 minute, 37 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, giving the Vikings new life on a record that eventually equalized the game and sent him into overtime.
"You see how that changed the game," Matthews told reporters. "I know quarterback protection is a priority, but it's out of control, I do not know what else to do."
The coaches suggested various techniques to minimize the actions that trigger the flags, including quarterback output and the use of the "gator tackle technique" which places the quarterback ahead of the defender. Vikings defensive line coach Andre Patterson said he showed Richardson's movie at his fault in week 1, indicating the time to retire, but Richardson and he acknowledged that the tips seemed easier than they were.
"How would you roll?" Richardson said. "You have to be on the ground to roll in. I do not see too many people who can roll when they fly in the air." [Quarterbacks] have to prepare for that too. Everyone is hurt in this game. "
Outside the league, it's hard to see how that goes. In some ways, Patterson noted, the small legal strike zone on the shifts has helped players to settle on them in the first place.
Prohibitions on hitting quarters in the pocket of the head or neck area, as well as on the knee or below, allow the defenders to aim at their chest and center area.
"If I hit you there," said Patterson, "it is very likely that we are against the core, so we will probably fall on each other. hit [low or high]it's not going to happen. But the core of my body is the core of your body, which is the legal hitting area. Most likely if we both fall, I will fall on you. So, you add this next layer. "
The application of NFL rule changes and points of interest generally disappears from the headlines. Sometimes players and officials adjust to meet the new direction's goal and reduce the number of penalties. Other times, they – along with fans and members of the media – have just become accustomed to law enforcement. In the case of the health of the quarterbacks, it seems likely that we are moving towards the latter.
Quarterbacks will still be affected, fired and injured. But a new layer of discipline, via sanctions and ejections, is within our reach. Prepare yourselves. The protection of the NFL shifts goes in one direction.
[ad_2]
Source link
