Why the penalty on Matt Adams Sunday?

[Hark]

I thought that was a really bad call. He didn't lower his head and he hit the guy in the shoulder. I realize there was minimal helmet to helmet contact, but maybe I just don't understand the rule. Can someone help clarify this one?

[CR91]

Honestly this is the worst year of officiating I have ever seen. I'm not counting the replacement refs in 2011. 

[Coffeedrinker]

Because the refs were told to try and help Houston win the game.

[jameszeigler834]

3 minutes ago, Coffeedrinker said:

Because the refs were told to try and help Houston win the game.

That call the one on Hooker were both garbage.

[Barry Sears]

May have just been a case of where the ref was standing and the angle he saw it from.

 

Refs are human and make mistakes...replay has helped correct some of those mistakes.

 

I used to umpire, so I know that any call that is close is going to make half the participants angry.

 

I'd love to see the refs be able to scream at a guy who drops a wide open pass and get in his face. "How could you miss that??  It was right there in your hands???  What a nonsense attempt at a catch!!!"

 

 Officiating is a thankless job and I respect the guys out there who make the calls (right or wrong) and then put up with screaming coaches and players the whole game.

 

Maybe if the coaches coached more and worked the refs less, then the refs could focus more on their jobs and makes less mistakes.

 

Now, I hate bad calls against my team as much as anyone, but it's part of the game, too.

[Jaredfor3]

5 minutes ago, CR91 said:

Honestly this is the worst year of officiating I have ever seen. I'm not counting the replacement refs in 2011. 

The replacement refs were better officials imo. 

 

The refs should not throw that yellow flag unless it is obvious. 

[The Fish]

I didn't like the call.

It might be right by the letter of the law, but defenders get no benefit now.

[Hark]

7 minutes ago, The Fish said:

I didn't like the call.

It might be right by the letter of the law, but defenders get no benefit now.

 

I guess this is what I am trying to understand better. Was it a crappy call, or did it apply the rule correctly and it is just a crappy rule? Or maybe it is both of them. I thought dropping the helmet and making contact with the crown was the big thing, but that clearly didn't happen here. 

 

The reason I bring this up is that is two of these penalties against Matt Adams. I don't want him to get a "reputation" among the officials that could could create undue scrutiny on future hits. I really like the physicality he plays with, but if it is goin to cost us a personal foul it's not really worth it.

[Douzer]

Pathetic call IMHO.

More important for Adams is understanding the moment.  Target the thigh pad there and the receivers feet come down out of bounds. That is the true lesson on that play. 

[aaron11]

the call was nonsense and the one on hooker was worse.  what is a defender supposed to do?

[dodsworth]

Goodell and the NFL are taking the

physical nature out of the game. 

One rule and penalty at a time.

[hoosierhawk]

That is 2 calls in 2 weeks. Hope the poor guy doesn't get fined again. He's not making that much money as a rookie.

[Myles]

If there was a helmet to helmet call, it should have went against the offense.   Adams was already going low and the Texan went down on him.    

[dgambill]

2 hours ago, Barry Sears said:

May have just been a case of where the ref was standing and the angle he saw it from.

 

Refs are human and make mistakes...replay has helped correct some of those mistakes.

 

I used to umpire, so I know that any call that is close is going to make half the participants angry.

 

I'd love to see the refs be able to scream at a guy who drops a wide open pass and get in his face. "How could you miss that??  It was right there in your hands???  What a nonsense attempt at a catch!!!"

 

 Officiating is a thankless job and I respect the guys out there who make the calls (right or wrong) and then put up with screaming coaches and players the whole game.

 

Maybe if the coaches coached more and worked the refs less, then the refs could focus more on their jobs and makes less mistakes.

 

Now, I hate bad calls against my team as much as anyone, but it's part of the game, too.

Agreed. That is why if I'm an NFL coach any big throw will be towards MY SIDELINE. These guys get worked all game long and you saw the way the bench erupted to try to get the call and it worked. PI, holding, late hits....almost always happens on their side of the field. Just the nature of the beast.....it was a marginal call and maybe he didn't have a good angle. The Hooker call....that one was just bad. Nothing he could do....and cost us a TD.

[IrishColt]

With every new rule, there's going to be a learning curve, both for officials and players. 

I don't mind the NFL making the game safer considering every player develops CTE (brain damage) and in 100 years people even the most diehard fans see the current NFL as barbaric. 

 

I think the problem is inconsistent calls. At the end of the season, I think the league needs to analyze every call and come up with clear indicators of what constitutes a helmet to helmet foul. 

 

I never understand why every player tackles by throwing their body at the runner anyway. Fair enough if you want to punch the balls out to fumble but just throwing your shoulder into the runner is so inefficient. Most of the time the tackle is going to fast and the runner adjusts his path angle slightly and the tackler will whiff. 

 

Wrapping your arms around the player when tackling is so effective. The smallest player can bring down the heaviest player by wrapping their arms around the calve muscles when tackling. Unless you don't commit yourself to the tackle using this method, the runner won't be able to get free. Holding the player's legs allows the next tackler to just concentrate on punching the ball out.

 

The only team to encourage wrap tackles were the Seahawks with the Legion of Boom and they cleaned up. 

[pgt_rob]

There was a lot of overturned calls yesterday. I think it's just new rules mixed with fast paced games, the refs are going to flag you even if they feel the slightest to do so. 

[csmopar]

i went back and watched it, receiver lowered his head, not Adams, shouldnt have been a flag.

[IrishColt]

2 minutes ago, csmopar said:

i went back and watched it, receiver lowered his head, not Adams, shouldnt have been a flag.

Exactly I think the tackler should tackle below the neck but if the receiver lowers his head passed his neck it's the receivers fault.

[Myles]

I think each call like this should be immediately reviewed.   The refs are not capable of calling them correctly.    Watching a couple games yesterday, there were at least 8 times where the expert said it should not have been called.   Let's not just keep letting the refs screw up the games.  

[coltsfan_canada]

I think NFL is trying really hard to control the outcome of game, and make it like NBA. I mean you never know when there will be offensive holding which does not seem to be get called whenever we are putting pressure. Hooker call was totally bogus how the defender can twist his body to avoid "Contact" or Adam call when he hit the guy on shoulder it is not like either cases they force or push their helmet into the player. 

[our_dbs_rock]

56 minutes ago, coltsfan_canada said:

I think NFL is trying really hard to control the outcome of game, and make it like NBA. I mean you never know when there will be offensive holding which does not seem to be get called whenever we are putting pressure. Hooker call was totally bogus how the defender can twist his body to avoid "Contact" or Adam call when he hit the guy on shoulder it is not like either cases they force or push their helmet into the player. 

 

Not sure if they are or are not but close games equal bigger ratings and it's all about advertising dollars.

 

Remember at the end of the day it is still a business and the goal is to try to maximize profits.

[tweezy32]

Because the league is soft now.  Basically anyone of us could play in this league because they soften it up so much that we would be able to run a route without getting lit up. 

[Caffrey]

I didn't agree with both the calls on Adams and Hooker.  Hooker's was worse because it was a natural play and not bigtime hit as I saw it.  Adams call was closer because it was a hard hit, almost helmet to helmet but it was not helmet to helmet.

 

Adams is a natural hard hitter, very noticeable from his college highlights, very impressive.  He has this knack for delivering the hard "strike" as Dungy would say.  His hits reminds me of another hard hitting starring LB we had in the 2006 Super Bowl time frame, Simmons I think his name was, too lazy to look up his first name.  Anyway, because he is capable of hard striking hits, they may him for roughing sometimes.  He also had a sack taken away against the Jags.  Once Adams settles in, we can have a nice LB trio of Leonard, Walker, and Adams.