When is a penalty not a penalty?

by gcn on Oct 26, 2009 5:21 PM EDT

I'm not being a wiseass, this is an honest question that I don't know the answer to: Why wasn't Peterson called for a personal foul when he ran over Gay? From what I could see, AD clearly leads with his helmet and hits Gay in the face, you can see Peterson lower his head so that the top of his helmet strikes Gay's facemask. That hit would've leveled almost anyone and could have broken a jaw. Is this not illegal? Defensive players will get penalized ten times out of ten for leading with their helmet and striking the helmet of the QB. Not just QBs, but RBs, WRs, and any other offensive player, for that matter. So I would think this one should've been a penalty on Peterson, unless I'm misunderstanding the rules or something. Anybody here know the answer to this one? (Plus, it oughtta help quiet down the MIN fans that keep complaning about the tripping call).

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I thought leading with the head

Only applied to defensive players? Maybe? I dunno.

" I’m glad we play Pitt twice, and not Tenn this year." - Salty Browns Fan.

by John Stephens on Oct 26, 2009 7:15 PM EDT reply actions

There is no verbiage in the rules about it only applying to defensive players.

That said, when you are running and put your head down to put a shoulder into a guy, you sometimes make contact with the helmet first. It doesn’t look like AP was leading with his helmet, moreso he was putting his head down to put a shoulder into Gay and caught him with the helmet first.

“Virtually defenseless” would not apply to this scenario.

by Bjorno on Oct 26, 2009 8:07 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t know what the actual rule says, but fairly sure in practice, offensive players can lead with their helmet

by mojo88 on Oct 26, 2009 7:22 PM EDT reply actions

Gay wasn’t defensless. His head was lowered too, just not as low as AP’s. If AP would have run out of his way to hit Gay when he wasn’t looking and led with his head, he probably would be flagged for UC or UR. This doesn’t happen, which is why RBs never get called for it

by qwikdoc on Oct 26, 2009 7:59 PM EDT reply actions

Defensless

When a guy tries to tackle another guy he is not defenseless. He is the defense. Although I will say that Reed’s “attempt” at tackling Harvin was defenseless.

As for Gay, Peterson made him look foolish by running him over. That will happen when a small cornerback tries to tackle the best back in football above the waist.

by SteelerBuddha on Oct 27, 2009 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Hey, Jeffy had a tough week leading up to the game. Being the lookout for public pissing can wear a guy down

by qwikdoc on Oct 27, 2009 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions

"This doesn’t happen"

I’m guessing you don’t remember Jim Taylor.

by Migrant lurker on Oct 27, 2009 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I’ve been around awhile but not that long:)

by qwikdoc on Oct 27, 2009 8:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Taylor used to go out of his way to hit defenders when he was running.

He’s hardly on anybody’s radar anymore in terms of top running backs, which is unfortunate. Jim Brown once said that if he had to go into an alley with somebody, he’d pick Taylor. That’s a heck of a compliment.

by Migrant lurker on Oct 27, 2009 8:33 PM EDT up reply actions