Firstly, I hope by now everyone knows to completely ignore anything TV broadcasters say. They know next to nothing about football rules and officiating. Please discount anything and everything they have say about those subjects.
The answers to these questions don’t rest in the words of the rules, but within the intent of the rules. For far, far too long, part of the culture of football was to deliver as much punishment and pain as possible, rather than play the game as a ‘game’ of speed, strength, and skill.
With the amount of real damage that culture had created, those governing the game recognized that the culture must change, and, with regard to defending the advance of the ball, players must return to ‘tackling’ ball carriers with use of ‘wrap up’ type techniques, and not just blasting the BC to cause as much punishment as possible.
The rules were modified to make that happen. Slowly, but surely, it is working. Just yesterday, there were numerous examples of ‘hits’ and tackles that demonstrated the ability of players to stop the advancement of the BC while consciously avoiding any and all contact above the shoulder of the BC, and with the defender able to keep his head ‘up’ during the hit or tackle.
Unfortunately, there are still some folks that haven’t accepted the change, yet. The play in question is a great example. Rather than make any attempt to wrap up the BC, the defender, instead, elected to attempt to inflict as much punishment as possible on the BC by blasting him. While the rules do not regulate the force with which a player may legally block an opponent, the responsibility is squarely on the player to avoid making contact above the shoulder of an opponent. This defender used his shoulder to block the BC high on the BC’s body. All well and good, but the player also made significant contact to the BC above the shoulders. That is precisely the type of play that those governing the game are trying to eliminate. These players need to learn that they must avoid this type of contact, and the best way to do that is to wrap up the BC instead just blasting them. A hard block is certainly still legal, but the onus is still on the player to avoid using his helmet illegally, or making contact above the shoulders.
Some will try to argue that this player neither ‘launched’ nor made contact with the crown of his helmet. By rule, those things are ‘indicators,’ but they are not exclusive criteria for targeting. Taking a run at an opponent to block him clearly shows intent, and then contacting illegally with the helmet, or above the shoulders is clearly targeting.
This was a good call. Very courageous.
Robert
