SJB - Targeting Rule discussion

It hasn't been that long ago that that's how coaches taught players to tackle. Drive your facemask into their number, right under the chin. I'll bet most of our current players were taught that back when they were freshmen in highschool.

 
I'm not a big conspiracy fan, but this season is starting to look like Nebraska's last season in the Big XII as far as officiating goes. I guess that must be because Nebraska hits harder than anyone else??
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They need to have someone sitting on the rules committee who has had competed on a football field in the last 40 years. It's very easy to say that a defender should only use 65% of maximum force to hit a receiver if he doesn't remember what it is really like down on the field.

 
Posted in another thread but here is a screen grab. Kind of blurry but you can see SJB's helmet hit the Purdue player's facemask.

 
Stanley's helmet hits that guy's facemask because Stanly was born with a condition called Headontopofyourshoulders-itis. Sadly, it affects 100 out of 100 football players, and there's no known cure.

SJB led with his shoulder. As he drove through the player, their helmets touched. It happens dozens of times per game, and if they're going to eject players for this, it's the beginning of the end for football.

Conversely, this was not only not called a penalty, it was praised vociferously by the TV crew as a great football play. Unlike SJB who led with his shoulder, the Purdue player here clearly leads with his helmet.

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after that sjb play, i watched a lot of plays where i just waited for the flag and ejection. (like the one knapp referenced) only one came in that ole miss game. a much more vicious hit, and the ejection was reversed. this rule is so subjective. i really doubt the refs know what is going on with this one. the problem is that the refs are basically just judging how bad it looked. and even then it is up in the air.

like knapp said, i am afraid that this is the beginning of the end.

 
knapplc said:
Stanley's helmet hits that guy's facemask because Stanly was born with a condition called Headontopofyourshoulders-itis. Sadly, it affects 100 out of 100 football players, and there's no known cure.

SJB led with his shoulder. As he drove through the player, their helmets touched. It happens dozens of times per game, and if they're going to eject players for this, it's the beginning of the end for football.

Conversely, this was not only not called a penalty, it was praised vociferously by the TV crew as a great football play. Unlike SJB who led with his shoulder, the Purdue player here clearly leads with his helmet.
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Generally I agree. I think the biggest problem - other than the rule itself - was his head was down. If he makes some effort to have his head up, he's probably fine.

 
sd said:
after that sjb play, i watched a lot of plays where i just waited for the flag and ejection. (like the one knapp referenced) only one came in that ole miss game. a much more vicious hit, and the ejection was reversed. this rule is so subjective. i really doubt the refs know what is going on with this one. the problem is that the refs are basically just judging how bad it looked. and even then it is up in the air.
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Repeating this from the other thread, the subjectivity is what is really bad. I noticed watching it again that the Line Judge who was right there didn't throw the flag. It came from the Field Judge who was probably 20 yards away from the play and would have been almost directly behind SJB.

 
While the ruling sucked, was it just me, or did the defense seem to play with a little more swagger and violence after that? Didn't we cause and recover a fumble shortly thereafter? I could be wrong, but they just looked more Blackshirt-ish as a result of that dumb ruling.

 
knapplc said:
Stanley's helmet hits that guy's facemask because Stanly was born with a condition called Headontopofyourshoulders-itis. Sadly, it affects 100 out of 100 football players, and there's no known cure.

SJB led with his shoulder. As he drove through the player, their helmets touched. It happens dozens of times per game, and if they're going to eject players for this, it's the beginning of the end for football.

Conversely, this was not only not called a penalty, it was praised vociferously by the TV crew as a great football play. Unlike SJB who led with his shoulder, the Purdue player here clearly leads with his helmet.
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I remembered the announcers praising that hit. One guy (I believe the sideline reporter) said it's textbook football, sound tackling or some crock of crap. That hit was more targeting than SJBs.

The issue I have with the rule is it's entirely subject to interpretation on the part of the official. Would another officiating crew have ruled that targeting? The rule doesn't allow for common sense to be applied. If a defender is already making a move to tackle below the shoulders, and the offensive player ducks or lowers his shoulders, what is the defender supposed to do? The defender is essentially committed at that point.

 
Jeremy said:
While the ruling sucked, was it just me, or did the defense seem to play with a little more swagger and violence after that? Didn't we cause and recover a fumble shortly thereafter? I could be wrong, but they just looked more Blackshirt-ish as a result of that dumb ruling.
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I was expecting this but actually not. They didn't force the fumble, just recovered the pitch Purdue dropped. I expected them to come out firing the next series but Purdue actually got some yards and at least one first down (two, iirc).

 
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