By TPerl:
From today's NY Post:
"Three weeks ago against the Texans, Mathias Kiwanuka was called for the first roughing the passer penalty of his career. At the time, the rookie defensive end said he'd have to adjust to the way quarterbacks are treated in the NFL. Yesterday, that memory came back to haunt him and sink the Giants."
Don't get me wrong - this is not why the Giants lost yesterday. And secondly, the Giants are officially done this season, and I don't pretend to believe otherwise.
But I've seen enough "roughing the passer" calls this year to wonder if the whole "protect the quarterback" thing has gotten out of hand again. Remember "in the grasp", people! Back then, you could get a sack while lying flat on your back as long as you could grab the QBs ankle for a second.
Nowadays, you get flagged for anything that doesn't look like the kind of takedown move you would use on your 5-year-old nephew in the backyard.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but these aren't fucking punters, here. The prototypical QB in the NFL today is about 6'5" 250 lbs, right? I think these guys can take a hit. These guys have been taking hits every game of their football lives before reaching the pros. How many options do you think they ran in college - they're essentially another running back out there. Until they're drafted, that is. Then they become this untouchable, fragile, and, most importantly, EXPENSIVE commodity that must be treated with kid gloves on the field - as long as those kid gloves don't actually follow through on their tackles.
Let's do some comparisons, shall we? According to NFL.com:
Shaun Alexander: 5'11", 225lbs
Ladanian Tomlinson: 5'10", 221lbs
Tiki Barber: 5'10", 205lbs
versus
Payton Manning: 6'5", 230lbs
Tom Brady: 6'4, 225lbs
and yesterday's hero, Vince Young: 6'4", 228 lbs
Think about the amount of abuse Tiki Barber gets on each carry - that's about 20-25 times a game that he is slammed to the ground by multiple tacklers. And how often does a QB get sacked/knocked down/hit per game? Maybe 10 times on average, and usually just by one guy's glancing blow.
The fact that a defensive player had to completely alter what his natural instincts and years of coaching had taught him to do, because he might be legally tackling (in all OTHER senses of the term) the guy WITH THE FUCKING BALL IN HIS HAND, who just also happens to be the guy who throws the ball from time to time, is a fucking disgrace.
The Kiwanuka play should be a wake up call to the league.
Otherwise, why don't we just let all the QBs wear flags on their belts?
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2 comments:
I'm with you completely on the pansy-assed way that QB roughing has been called this year. The Jets have had at least two absurd penalties called on them that extended drives.
Monday night, the Packers pulled within three in the 4th quarter and would have stopped the Eagles on three downs if not for a ridiculous roughing call. The dude's arm hit Garcia near his neck (more like his shoulder) and because his head snapped back (Garcia's reflex, for sure) it was 15 yards and a first down and eventually a 10 point lead. Game over.
But for all these faults, Kiwanuka needs to make the sack. And if he thought the ball had already been thrown -- well, knowing where the ball is might be a big part of this game we call football.
I honestly haven't stopped laughing for three days now.
And Eli sucks.
"I honestly haven't stopped laughing for three days now."
-Maybe you should get that checked out
"And Eli sucks."
-Or check out this blog - it's also pretty funny.
http://kissmesuzy.blogspot.com/2006/11/i-wish-everyone-had-listened-when-i.html
The Rex Grossman post is even better than the Eli post.
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