came to light to me tonight. how is it that an offensive player can jam his hand and basically punch a defender in his facemask, but if the defender touches the offensive player's mask its a 15 yarder? it happened tonight when a cardinal defender hit a steeler receiver in the facemask after the steeler was jamming his hand in the defenders mask for about 5 yards. makes no sense imo
yep, it doesn't make any sense but when it's done right it looks like a thing of beauty. Walter Payton had the best ever i think, and Ricky's isn't to shabby ether.
Yeah, i hated the fact that was a 15 yard penalty. What really bothered me though was why Harrison was allowed to finish the game after blatantly punching a guy twice after a play. The refs clearly saw it since the flagged him on the play... but im sorry, DPOY or not... that should be an ejection from the game...
theres a big difference. on defense your tackling someone, you can hurt players a lot worse if your grabbing and holding a face mask as compared to a open palm in the face. ive seen it called on the offensive player if he grabs the face and pulled and yanked. as for Harrison, he got what he deserved IMO. he didnt "punch" him. he hit him and shoved him, but there was no punch.
The incidental FM penalty should be brought back. There were a lot of 15 yarders this year that should have been 5.
It also happens in the trenches all the time, by both offensive and defensive linemen and also never gets called. Seems its only really called in a tackling situation. I agree with Opie on that one, they need to bring back incidental. If someone is getting tackled dangerously by the mask (lots of neck twisting going on when that happens) it should be given the biggie, but way to many touches being flagged harshly. I get you dont want judgement calls, but in this case tell the refs that if there is doubt, do the 15. If your clear it was a touch and release incidental, 5.