hawknation2015":1xh1tmf1 said:
kearly":1xh1tmf1 said:
I gained some respect for Blandino. The facemask non-call was his get out of jail free card and he didn't use it because he didn't think it deserved a flag.
He also said this:
Blandino said the pass interference penalty that one official flagged, only to get overruled by another official, was a “close call that could have went either way.”
According to the rules, "If there is any question whether contact is incidental, the ruling shall be no interference." The call he says they should have made was defensive holding for tugging on the jersey, not PI.
It's fantastic that we have a really clear example now of a defender running into a receiver's body before the ball arrives, and the defender is not playing the ball, and it's not pass interference. This bodes well for Seattle's pass defense and can be used to settle any future claim by opposing fans that Seattle gets away with more than the rules allow. If this is allowed, receivers are screwed.
Hitchens isn't hand fighting, he runs into Pettigrew's shoulder before the ball arrives. That's more the body than the hand. It's more the body than the arm, too, if you want to be lose with hand fighting. It might have looked close in real time, but human bodies trying to catch a ball don't care about looks: 10/10 if a defender hits you before the ball gets there, you ain't making the catch. Pettigrew had absolutely no chance at catching that on target pass because of Hitchen's perfect and legal defense. The "holding" didn't stop that play, since the pass was on target--the closing technique did.
It's strange, though, because I thought even hand fighting without playing the ball was verboten.
(a) Incidental contact by a defender’s hands, arms, or body when both players are competing for the ball, or neither player is looking for the ball. If there is any question whether contact is incidental, the ruling shall be no interference.
http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/passinterference
Now we all agree Hitchens wasn't playing the ball. My prior understanding was that players who face guard are held to a higher standard of contact, meaning they aren't even allowed hand fighting. But Hitchens was both face guarding and went far beyond "incidental" contact.
I'm glad to find, in retrospect, that when Maxwell played Crabtree this exact same way on a pass in SF last year, it was legal. There was a lot of complaining about that non-call in SF circles, and a lot of folks here thought we got away with one. Apparently we did not.
That just emphasizes that when Seattle is rough with receivers, they aren't cheating or getting away with anything special, not even close. You're *allowed* to hit the receiver a little bit before the ball arrives, even if you're not playing the ball. Makes it a lot easier on the defense, thank god. Seattle defenders could probably stand to be even a little more aggressive than they are, it seems.