Did Sherman take off before the snap, absolutely, an offside call was totally appropriate, whether he heard the whistle or not, by the way did anyone else not hear the whistle? if you watch the footage of the entire incident, I still can't hear the whistle. Obviously neither did most of the other players, because the center snapped the ball, the ball holder placed it for a field goal kick attempt, and Richard got his hand on the ball and got kicked himself by the kicker.
My understanding of the rules at that point is that any incidental contact with the kicker, if you touch the ball, is not to be viewed as or penalized as roughing the kicker. The kicker initiated the contact with Sherman, all Sherman did was block the kick and fall on the ground where he was kicked and from there all was history.
As to the ongoing questionable lopsided officiating as it pertains to the Seattle Seahawks? You would have to be in total denial, or just don't understand what punishable offenses are exactly, and if they do occur, when or when they should not be called at all, or simply believe that the Seahawks players have decided to ignore years of training and experience and convert themselves from the lowest penalized team in the NFL to the most, or very near to that.
How many times during the course of the game did you see Seahawk players pleading with the referees to do their job and put a stop to the repeated offenses being committed against them, play after play, and those same penalties drawing flags on Seahawk players, were not being evenly called against the Bills.
I for one refuse to put my head in the sand and pretend that there is anything but a hard on for the Seattle Seahawks from the New York NFL offices and their use of the direct communications with the referees wherein they are directed on how to officiate each game. When you listened to guy from the NY head office weigh in yesterday during and after the game, which by the way was unprecedented, all ramped up trying to villainize Sherman as though he believed him to be a crazed mad man, who intentionally set out to injure the kicker.
I'll tell you why too, because Richard Sherman has had the guts and the integrity to call the NFL on their crap, publically and repeatedly, knowing full well that he might become targeted by them on the field and off, and it appears that his concerns might not be unwarranted.
If Richard is fined by the NFL I don't suppose it's reasonable that the 12 could come together and raise enough to pay it, since the NFL likes to hit players for more than 20 of us a year earn collectively, but it would be nice if we could or at least take up a token collection to show him our support.
