09-20-2023, 12:38 PM
(09-19-2023, 01:32 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Naw, some people claim it was, but it wasn't. Pissburgh is dirty enough on their own without making stuff up. It was a clean play, stuff just happens. Now Watson was playing dirty.
I'm not so sure. I think it's the way they are coached a bit more on the old school side of when given the opportunity to go put a lick on a player and make them feel it. Which is fine and all and some may say part of the game but when you do it at the catch point or when do it to a QB standing in the pocket of at or after release it highlights the dangers of trying to deliver a painful hit. I would say throwing your body at another players knee in the middle of the scrum while not inherently dirty is opening the door for exactly what we just saw to happen. I don't want to hear the it's a bang bang play crap that we heard about defenseless receivers for so long as that has clearly been proven false.
It reminds me back to it believe Eiferts rookie season ( perhaps his 2nd year ). We opened against the Ravens and I remember watching the beginning and really taking note of how physical the Ravens were trying to be. Not that being physical is bad but they were sprinting in a diving trying to deliver hits even as our players were going down being tackled by another player. Was it dirty or illegal? No it was within the rules and certainly the way they were being coached. But when Eifert makes a catch and is being tackled and tries to put his arm down to slow his impact to the ground now one of those diving hits contacts his elbow and that's all she wrote for his season. A play that has no impact on the game from a tackle perspective as he was already being tackled just trying to throw a hit. I think Fitzpatrick saw an opportunity to throw a hit around Chubbs knees that might slow him down a bit on some of his runs. But unfortunately when you start throwing unnecessary hits in vulnerable areas stuff like this happens.
