Aaron Rodgers calls out a play to his offense from the shotgun formation. He takes the snap and rolls out right. Anthony Barr pursues him. He snaps a bullet pass to Martellus Bennett who drops it, immediately cursing his apparent butterfingers. Rodgers is down back on the other side of the line of scrimmage after Barr stands up and walks away. The Green Bay Packers’ quarterback has a broken clavicle and is out for the rest of the 2017-18 season. Some people say that the new “roughing the passer” rules in the NFL go overboard, but situations like Barr’s hit on Rodgers indicate otherwise. Rodgers had already thrown the football by the time Barr smashed his purple helmet into the quarterback’s collarbone. On the other hand, Rodgers’ teammate, outside linebacker, Clay Matthews has voiced his disdain for the roughing the passer calls including a tweet stating that, “The calls just keep coming—no matter what game.” He also said in a postgame press conference (after a roughing the passer call on Matthews cost the Packers a win) that he thinks the new safety precautions the league is trying to use go too far and hurt the gameplay. He said, “Unfortunately, this league is going in a direction that a lot of people don't like. The only thing hard about this league is the fines they levy down on guys like me that play the game hard.” (Matthews’ penalty occurred on the pivotal drive of a Week 2 2018 game between the Packers and, incidentally, the Vikings where Kirk Cousins threw a game-losing interception to Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander, winning the game for his Green Bay opponents. Fortunately for Minnesota, the play was called back due to a roughing the passer call on Matthews. He tackled Cousins around the waist, but the ball had just barely left Cousins’ hand, so the referees threw a flag.) Instances like the Washington Redskins’ Alex Smith’s Week 10 season-ending injury raise more questions about roughing the passer. After the Houston Texans’ cornerback Kareem Jackson and defensive end J.J. Watt combined for the sack, Smith lay on the ground in brutal agony. The hit was legal, but Smith’s leg was snapped. If that’s legal, but still that dangerous, then the league might have a few more kinks to work out in the rule and the protection of quarterbacks. Colt McCoy stepped in for Smith for the rest of the 23-21 loss to Houston.
Jesse A. Cook “Roughing The Passer Complications” November 24, 2018
0 Comments
There’s been a whole hubbub over John Ross and who will draft him, but here’s why Cincinnati shouldn’t: well, there are a few reasons. Number one, a lot of draft picks who look like they’re going to be the G.O.A.T., turn out to be terrible. Number 2, there’s no guarantee that they’d be able to resign him if he does turn out to be good. Number 3, they’ve got enough receivers.
Teams need to be cautious about drafting Ross because often times, these first rounders turn out to be terrible. You remember Tom Cousineau, Blaine Gabbert, and Russell Erxleben, right? Neither do I. Ross rocked the Combine, but so have many players throughout history and they’ve merely been duds. Granted, Cam Newton has been great for the Panthers, his previous season was not anywhere near toptier. Everyone has their slumps, but he didn’t even make the playoffs. Look at Jameis Winston: he sucks, enough said. Ross could have all this hype, yet merely turn out to be another page in the book of “Nobodies In The NFL Who Were Stars In College.” We may have to shorten the name, but the point still stands. If Ross does turn out to be a star, there’s always the chance that he might be too good. Let’s face it, we all love the Bengals, but they’re not going to win a Super Bowl anytime soon. With that in mind, Ross might leave after this coming season. They might not have enough cap room to be able to pay Ross an adequate amount. You saw what happened in New England with the Patriots and Martellus Bennett: he was absolutely incredible in his rookie season; he helped lead New England to their fifth Super Bowl win, but the Pats couldn’t afford to pay him as much as he wanted in the next season, so they had to let him go and pack for Green Bay. Cincinnati would like to keep a great player, considering that they are not as well managed under Marvin Lewis as New England is under Bill Belichick. If Cincy does manage to draft a great athlete in John Ross, they may not be able to hold onto him. Lastly, the Jungle is fairly well equipped on the receiver end: they’ve got Brandon LaFell, Tyler Boyd, Cody Core, Alex Erickson, Chris Brown, Jake Kumerov, Alonzo Russell, and, of course, A.J. Green. Sure, Core, Erickson, Brown, Kumerov, and Russell are not exactly stars, but Ross still would not get a whole lot of playing time with the three other receivers of LaFell, Boyd, and Green. Ross can run and catch, but no one can deny that Green isn’t one of, if not the best, wide receivers in the game. While Green is somewhat injury prone, Cincinnati does have a lot in the tank for Andy Dalton to toss to. The Bengals simply are too over equipped at the wide receiver position. John Ross was great in college and at the combines, but would it be such a great idea for the Bengals to draft him? He could turn out to be terrible, the Bengals might not be able to resign him, or they may not have a spot for him in the lineup. Whatever happens, it is likely that John Ross would be the wrong man to pick in the 2017 NFL Draft in Philadelphia this April 27-29. Jesse A. Cook “John Ross: Not The Bengals’ Boss” March 28, 2017 |
NFLThe Otherside page for all things NFL. Archives
November 2018
Categories
All
|