“Forcible.”
That word keeps causing problems for the NFL, as evidenced most recently by the Monday night blow to the head of a sliding Campbell Newton that didn’t spark a flag for unnecessary roughness.
“I didn’t see any forcible contact with the head,” referee Walt Coleman told a pool reporter after the 26-15 win by the Panthers at Washington. “If they slide late, they can be contacted, but they still can’t be contacted forcibly in the head. And so what we ruled was that he slid late but there was no forcible contact with the head -- that he just went over the top. So that’s what we ruled.”
Several weeks ago, Newton complained directly to the Commissioner about the failure of officials to protect him. He was told, we were told, that the problem arises from varying definitions of the term “forcible.”
So how about this? Just drop the word “forcible.” Then, there’s no gray area. Striking a defenseless player in the head draws a flag, forcible or not.
What’s that? It would be too rigid of a rule? You mean like the rule that mandates a 15-yard penalty whenever a face mask is contacted and the head moves even slightly?
If the goal is to protect certain players under certain circumstances from head shots, a similar bright-line rule should be adopted. Strike the player in the head, draw a flag. That way, the officials won’t have to try (and fail) to discern whether the blow to the head was or wasn’t forcible.
The league made a change of that kind several years ago when dumping the five-yard penalty for the incidental grabbing of a face mask. Adopted instead was the same kind of bright line, 15-yards-or-nothing rule that the NFL needs if it’s ever going to have consistency when it comes to protecting quarterbacks and other defenseless players the way they should be protected.
