OT: Gruden leaving MNF.. returning to coaching

[UK_Pat37]

How often has this been said now? I'll believe when he puts his name on a contract.

Personally I have no issues from him on MNF...he offers better insight than anyone on there.

 

[jbhiggy]

3 starting O line guys and both starting WR's. So the Rams QB's have no one to throw to and no one to protect them.

Very scary, not sure if we can blame McDaniels for that.

The real question is if the Rams finish with the 1st overall pick, what do they do?

I say trade it to Washington for a boatload of draft picks and use Washington;s first this year to get OT Kahlil from USC. Move Stafford to OG, where he is better suited.

who cares what they do with the perennial #1 pick this is a Patriots board.

 

[jbb9s]

Mike Pereira: Jon Gruden needs to get his facts straight before criticizing officials - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN


Gruden called out! You don't see this all that often but some of these announcers deserve it.

 

[Big-T]

Mike Pereira: Jon Gruden needs to get his facts straight before criticizing officials - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN


Gruden called out! You don't see this all that often but some of these announcers deserve it.

What I don't get about his explanation is how comes the Falcons receiver isn't "defenseless"? He had no time to protect himself so surely he's in the same situation Colston was and it shouldn't matter what he was hit with?

The defenseless receiver rule is rubbish the way it is now anyway, why should a DB have to wait until a receiver has caught the ball and braced himself to hit him? Isn't the whole point that the DB is trying to knock the ball out?

 

[Naugy Nugget]

What I don't get about his explanation is how comes the Falcons receiver isn't "defenseless"? He had no time to protect himself so surely he's in the same situation Colston was and it shouldn't matter what he was hit with?

The defenseless receiver rule is rubbish the way it is now anyway, why should a DB have to wait until a receiver has caught the ball and braced himself to hit him? Isn't the whole point that the DB is trying to knock the ball out?

The rules are the way the above link describes them:

In layman’s terms, a receiver is defenseless in the process of making the catch and beyond until he has clearly become a runner, which by rule, means he has control with two feet clearly down and he has maintained control long enough “to perform an act common to the game,” which is to say he maintains control long enough to pitch it, pass it, advance with it or ward off an opponent.

If a receiver is defenseless, he cannot be hit in the head or neck area, with any part of the defender’s helmet, shoulder or forearm. A defender also cannot lead with the crown or hairline portion of his helmet and make contact with the receiver anywhere on his body.

Indeed the rules make a DBs life hard, but the DB can hit the receiver as soon as the ball arrives as long as he doesn't hit the head or the neck and he doesn't lead with the helmet. Nothing, for instance, prevents him from using his shoulder to hit the receiver's mid-section to knock the ball out.

Bottom line is the NFL feels the "average fan" is more interested in offense than defense, and so the rules are biased towards protecting the QBs and WRs. If they felt otherwise, we'd have all the illegal contact rules removed, and the average QB and/or WR would be lucky to last a season or two, and defenders would be the highest paid players.