OT: Cam's Helmet Shots

[Chin Diesel]

I don't have any dog in the fight directly with the Denver/Carolina game or anything one way or the other with Cam Newton, but the shots he took last night are what is going to be the demise of football if left uncorrected.

The shot Stewart gave him on the intentional grounding call was the most obvious miss. The Referees sole job on a play is to watch the QB. Steratore was right over the play and watched Stewart take a five yard running start leading with the helmet directly to Newton's head.

Want to show your serious? Suspend Steratore and his crew multiple games and suspend Stewart too. The days of Jack Tatum are long gone.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

If NFL referee supervisors review films on a post-game/next day basis, there's NFW any seeing person with an average or above functioning brain would not penalize Stewart, Steratore, his crew, and the game's review officials. Absolute no brainer - pun intended, but how much does the NFL truly care ........... at this point?

 

[BlueMAB]

If that was Brady, Stewart would have been arrested.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

If that was Brady, Stewart would have been arrested.

At least....maybe drawn and quartered.

The NFL has to at least issue one of their worthless Mea Culpas. How do you not throw a flag on some of those hits.

Remember that dust-up Cam had with a ref last season when he asked why he wasn't getting the same QB protection and he claimed the ref said "you are too young"? I believed Cam's version then, I really believe it now.

 

[Mots010]

The shot Stewart gave him on the intentional grounding call was the most obvious miss. The Referees sole job on a play is to watch the QB. Steratore was right over the play and watched Stewart take a five yard running start leading with the helmet directly to Newton's head.

This was called a personal foul and Stewart will probably get a fine, and deservedly so. What was missed? The intentional grounding offset the penalty hence no gain. There was a Brandon Marshall hit when cam dumped a ball off late near the line of scrimmage that i thought could have been called.

 

[BlueMAB]

This was called a personal foul and Stewart will probably get a fine, and deservedly so. What was missed? The intentional grounding offset the penalty hence no gain. There was a Brandon Marshall hit when cam dumped a ball off late near the line of scrimmage that i thought could have been called.

Cam Newton's night ran counter to NFL push on safety

"...Others will wonder why Panthers quarterback Cam Newton absorbed upward of five helmet-to-helmet hits, only one of which was penalized ...

First, it's important to remember that there are two standards for hits to the head. A player in a defenseless position, which for a quarterback means he is in the pocket, cannot be hit in the head or neck area by an opponent's helmet or face mask at any time, per Rule 12, Section 2, Article 7(b) of the NFL rule book. It's considered unnecessary roughness or roughing the passer, and it should have been called late in the second quarter on Broncos linebacker Von Miller after the play that started this entire sequence of events.

The other standard comes into play when the quarterback is outside of the pocket, as Newton often is. Helmet-to-helmet hits are legal in those situations, when the quarterback has become a runner, but officials still can call a penalty when a defender uses his helmet to butt, spear or ram an opponent violently or unnecessarily, as described in Rule 12, Section 2, Article 6(i). That's what Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall did in the third quarter -- launching directly into Newton's helmet just after he threw the ball -- and was not penalized."

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I am not a Cam fan; but, what the heck? Stewart's last hit showed that he lined-up, launched himself, and made sure it was a helmet-to-helment hit. In an ideal world, he should have been tossed. I also thought that any personal foul calls are added onto 'regular' penalties so the Panthers should have had a net 5 yard gain on that play (-10 for intentional grounding, +15 for a personal foul).

This type of call is even emphasized on the website.

2016 Rules Changes and Points of Emphasis | NFL Football Operations

For safety reasons, the Committee believes that crown-of-the-helmet hits by defenders that were previously legal because the defender did not line up the runner should be illegal regardless of whether the defender lines up the runner prior to making contact. When the rule was first implemented, game officials were instructed to look for three elements for interpreting the rule for initiating forcible contact with the crown of the helmet:

• The player must line up his opponent
• He must lower his head
• He must make forcible contact with the crown of the helmet.

Game officials will be instructed to call fouls when a defender lowers his head and makes forcible contact with the crown of his helmet on a runner outside the tackle box. The line-up requirement will still apply to a runner, since in many instances that player ducks his head to protect himself from impending contact by a defender, rather than to deliver a blow.​

 

[Chin Diesel]

This was called a personal foul and Stewart will probably get a fine, and deservedly so. What was missed? The intentional grounding offset the penalty hence no gain. There was a Brandon Marshall hit when cam dumped a ball off late near the line of scrimmage that i thought could have been called.

I am not a Cam fan; but, what the heck? Stewart's last hit showed that he lined-up, launched himself, and made sure it was a helmet-to-helment hit. In an ideal world, he should have been tossed. I also thought that any personal foul calls are added onto 'regular' penalties so the Panthers should have had a net 5 yard gain on that play (-10 for intentional grounding, +15 for a personal foul).

This type of call is even emphasized on the website.

2016 Rules Changes and Points of Emphasis | NFL Football Operations

For safety reasons, the Committee believes that crown-of-the-helmet hits by defenders that were previously legal because the defender did not line up the runner should be illegal regardless of whether the defender lines up the runner prior to making contact. When the rule was first implemented, game officials were instructed to look for three elements for interpreting the rule for initiating forcible contact with the crown of the helmet:

• The player must line up his opponent
• He must lower his head
• He must make forcible contact with the crown of the helmet.

Game officials will be instructed to call fouls when a defender lowers his head and makes forcible contact with the crown of his helmet on a runner outside the tackle box. The line-up requirement will still apply to a runner, since in many instances that player ducks his head to protect himself from impending contact by a defender, rather than to deliver a blow.​

Needs to be an ejection and suspension when the player launches head first with their arms pinned back at an opponents head.

In order to change ingrained behavior there needs to be severe consequences.

It's not a guarantee that a helmet to helmet shot will cause and immediate concussion or add to long term degradation. It is a high probability and can be eliminated.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Needs to be an ejection and suspension when the player launches head first with their arms pinned back at an opponents head.

In order to change ingrained behavior there needs to be severe consequences.

It's not a guarantee that a helmet to helmet shot will cause and immediate concussion or add to long term degradation. It is a high probability and can be eliminated.

Completely agree. That said, using some twisted logic, Players' Union would immediately scream murder about banning a player for any reason. Of course, they are are already investigating why Cam was not put into the concussion evaluation immediately after at least one of those hits. How about protecting the player before an injury happens?

 

[superjohn]

Cam didn't get one roughing the passer penalty all of last season. I don't even really like the guy but he is treated differently than the other quarterbacks in the league.