01-10-2016, 09:37 AM
(01-10-2016, 02:24 AM)treee Wrote: It actually wasnt. Helmet to helmet on a runner is still a personal foul if it isn't between the hashes. They changed the rule a year or two ago.
So ignoring all of the other back and forth that occurred on this, I read the rule after you mentioned this because I had never heard of it before. I think why the penalty was not called, and why it isn't called often, is the wording of the rule.
Quote: ARTICLE 8. INITIATING CONTACT WITH THE CROWN OF THE HELMET. It is a foul if a runner or tackler initiates forcible contact by delivering a blow with the top/crown of his helmet against an opponent when both players are clearly outside the tackle box (an area extending from tackle to tackle and from three yards beyond the line of scrimmage to the offensive team’s end line). Incidental contact by the helmet of a runner or tackler against an opponent shall not be a foul. Note: The tackle box no longer exists once the ball leaves the tackle box.
The note at the end, I think, causes some problems. Does the lack of a tackle box mean no call because there is no tackle box to be outside of? Because that is how that can be interpreted. I don't know the real deal here, but I think that may cause some problems in ambiguity. Also, the first PF on a defenseless that was called against the Bengals was wrong, he was a runner.
All of that being said, there was plenty of time between those plays to make u for it and many more mistakes were made that sealed the deal more than those two as well.
