It doesn’t look as blatant to me anymore
I thought it was last night because I thought he hit the guy blind. The punter didn’t see him, but it looks like it was just a good solid block that was a little high. I don’t see anything intentional here. I can’t say for certain, but the case could be made that he was intending to lead with his forearm and shoulder.
As they say , intent does not matter. He’ll be fined, yes. But $50K, as has been suggested, is egregious.
The reason he will be fined, and should have been flagged, is that all punters and kickers are considered defenseless players at all times. Any contact with their head or neck area is a penalty.
I didn’t know that! Thanks!
It was an awesome block that should be legal, but if it was done to a Steelers punter I’d probably be thinking differently.
Well, I don’t care. I loved it.
It’s been 53 years since there was a shot to someone’s throat like that in Pittsburgh:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2506&dat=19601015&id=26FJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pQwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4566,2634320
Tony Kubek…Bill Virdon…That brings back memories.
It seems to me if you can’t touch a punter / kicker that they should not be able to attempt a block or tackle. Fair is fair.
A solution would be to allow a “designated defender”, a twelfth man on the kicking team. The kicker would be required to remove himself from the field of play following his kick.
Or, just man up and play football.
“Or, just man up and play football.”
I could not agree more. When I saw this rule change I thought the same thing. They should not be allowed to block, tackle or carry the ball if you cannot make contact with their head or neck at all at any time.