Probably even longer ago than that; the five-yard “running into the kicker” (as opposed to the fifteen yard “roughing-the-kicker”) has been gone for a while, too. Off to go look it up… 
I stand corrected; there is, indeed, still a five-yard “running into the kicker” (some of the distinction being that if you run into the kicker’s kicking leg while it’s in the air, that’s “running into,” but if you run into the plant leg, it’s “roughing”).
It looks like the five-yard “incidental” facemask penalty was removed prior to the 2008 season.
Well, I’ll be damned. That one never seemed to be a grey area that caused much trouble and I don’t seem to recall much discussion over it.
I’m sure the refs don’t want to add more subjectivity to their job, but these bogus calls are just way too impactful. I remember a few years ago you’d go 2 or 3 games without anyone committing a single 15 yard penalty (PI calls notwithstanding).
If I recall correctly, when they removed the 5-yard version of it, they removed that particular act as a penalty at all. From then on, you’d only ever be flagged if your facemask would have previously warranted the 15-yard penalty.
Well, fuck.
Yeah, I know how that feels.
After watching last night’s game, I came away with the impression that the Packers have seemed to morph into an NFC version of the current Colts. What I mean by that is that both of those teams have very good to elite QB’s that the teams are over reliant on game after game because the rest of the roster isn’t great. But damn, Aaron Rodgers is.
After watching the end of the Bengals Steelers game, then comparing it to the outcomes of what Brady and the Pats did, and then what Rodgers and the Pack did last night, all I can do is sigh.
Just wondering what everyone thought about that late penalty on the Niners last night.
Pack had the ball, 3rd and 15 on their own 19 with 49 seconds to play. Rogers dropped back but faced a heavy rush and had nowhere to go. He was sacked for a 4 yard loss. So the Niners could then call their second timeout, receive the punt probably around midfield, and be in great position to complete a couple of passes and win the game with a field goal.
But wait…there’s a flag on the play! Richard Sherman was flagged for contacting a Packer WR about 10 yards downfield. I thought it was relatively minor contact, as it didn’t really throw the receiver off his route. Plus, and I think this is more important, IIRC Rogers never had time to even look downfield on the play. Thus, whether there was contact or not, the play was going to result in a sack.
But, the flag was thrown, the penalty was enforced, and the Pack marched downfield and won the game.
I know that, by the letter of the law, it was probably a penalty and was properly called and enforced. But if I were a Niners fan, I would be mighty pissed. (Never mind that the Niners blew a late lead and couldn’t move the ball at all in the 4th quarter.)
Clip of the penalty. I think it’s pretty clearly a penalty, with the only possible mitigation being that Sherman was holding to stop Adams from going deep, and Adams was actually cutting back, so the grabbing was in line with where Adams was going. But I’m a big fan of letting them play, and it wasn’t egregious.
But I don’t think things like “he wouldn’t have been able to complete it anyway” is a great way to decide whether or not a penalty is called, because that opens the door to even worse officiating.
Agreed. Sherman appears to get his right hand momentarily locked around Adams’ right bicep, and the fact that Adams makes a cut to his right at that moment might well have made it look like Sherman had pulled on Adams.
Much like offensive holding, defensive holding (and pass interference by both parties) pretty much happens on every single pass play, and I’m often more amazed by holds and interference that doesn’t get called, moreso than calls that shouldn’t have been made.
But, speaking as a Packer fan: yes, we got very lucky on that one. The Niners were the better team for most of the game last night. Their pass rush was ferocious, they ran the ball very effectively, and Beathard looked very good for much of the game.
More importantly, I thought the Packers were outcoached. The Niners had a great gameplan, making Rodgers look flustered much of the night. And the Niners play action and deep passing game were spot on.
Yeah, I’d agree. The Packers fired Dom Capers, and brought in Mike Pettine as defensive coordinator with a lot of fanfare this year. I think that the talent level on defense is better this year than it was (other than Clay Matthews looking old and slow), but they seem to be getting caught out of position a lot.
Rodgers is certainly a great quarterback. But it seemed like a lot of his big completions last night were to WIDE open receivers… like nearest defender was 5-10 yards away kind of wide open. Is this great offensive scheme, or terrible defense? Or am I just biased and that didn’t happen nearly as often as I think it did?
I should have mentioned in my original post regarding the late penalty that I also am in favor of letting them play. At that point in the game, you’d better be sure it was a penalty when you throw the flag.
The only way it’s not a easy penalty is if Rodgers is out of the pocket at the time. I think you could make the argument he was, but I haven’t seen evidence that makes it clear exactly when the contact occurred. The frustrating part is that that type of contact happens ALL THE TIME and it’s a crap shoot when it gets called. The Niners fans have no leg to stand on here though, the swallow the whistle stuff has never been right.
The real travesty was them not reviewing the long INT on the final Niners drive. That thing bounced off the ground.
Yeah, that looked like he hooked him and then turned him, so I imagine that flag gets thrown 80 out of 100 times. Not saying he did turn him – the guy was turning anyway – but it looked like the defender’s hand turned him, and that’s going to draw flags.
All turnovers are reviewed, aren’t they?
That’s the rule as I understand it, yes.
It did look to me as though the ball might have brushed against the ground as he was trying to establish control of it, but apparently the review officials didn’t see clear enough evidence to overturn the call.
Let’s see. Clearly you must mean the throw he dropped in to Adams over the double coverage underneath as he slanted to the left sideline? Or maybe you mean that wide open touchdown he threw just over the outstretched arm of the DB that tied the game at 30? Those wide open throws? :rolleyes:
They’re wide open in the sense that nobody expects that throw because who the hell has the balls to attempt it? See: Rodgers to Cook to finish off the Cowboys, 2017 playoffs.
Not exactly. It was in the last 2 minutes so it’s reviewed in NYC. They have the ability to stop it and take a closer look, or tell the ref to play on. In this case, they did not take a close look.