Defenses flopping, faking an injury to slow down offense (merged 8x)

[borg]

No huddle offense...defensive flopping

Those who watched MNF saw the blatant flopping by two Giant defenders during a no huddle series by St Louis. As the Rams O marched down the field against a disorganized, gassed D, two Giants went to the ground after looking over to the sidelines. One "injured" player popped right back up after realizing his teammate beat him to the turf.
Yes, Willie McGinnest secured a SB birth doing the same thing.....bogus then, bogus now. San Diego flopped on Sunday vs the Patriots. The NFL is starting to resemble soccer.

Solution if I were King: Considering how blatant the Giants fakery was…$500,000 fine. This fine will quickly end any future crap. Repeat offenders will lose draft picks as well. Illegal taping was dealt with severely….I don’t see why onfield cheating would be considered a lesser offense.
In the future, if an injury (fake or real) occurs during a no huddle situation, the team will only be allowed to substitute for the injured player and that player must remain on the sidelines for the duration of the series.

 

[TX_Patriot]

OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

This has been discussed a bit over the last few years, and a lot of fans feel that the Pats new aggressive hurry-up style is going to be affected by this "phenomenon" all year. PFT has also posted an article on the egregious flops in Giants/Rams game last night.

Ref was powerless on Giants’ fake injuries, but NFL is not | ProFootballTalk

My question is, is there a way to curb flopping on D?

Personally, I think that the "injured" player should be forced to sit out the remainder of the possession rather than just a single play. This would give the team's medical staff the proper amount of time to "Evaluate" the player's condition. Also, if the league feels that the player did, in fact, fake the injury, then team should be fined (not the player) and heavily. Put the pressure on the owners and coaches to take this crap out of football.

 

[TX_Patriot]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

Ugh, merge please. Didn't see the other post when I wrote this.

 

[sportsreport360]

Re: No huddle offense...defensive flopping

Well, it is tough because so many of the teams wants to switch defensive personnel and a no huddle offense does not allow this to happen. I think defensive teams will continue to flop, it is just a part of the game.

 

[The-Hooded-One]

Re: No huddle offense...defensive flopping

McGinnest did it in a regular season game so I'm not sure how that secured a Super Bowl birth.

 

[DarrylS]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

IMO if you are injured you have to stay out for something like three plays instead of one.. but not sure that would solve anything as a reserve player could flop as well as a starter..

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

What ever happened to delay of game?

 

[TX_Patriot]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

What ever happened to delay of game?

The problem with assessing a penalty is then the onus is on the Refs to determine if a guy is really hurt or not. I'm sure the league doesn't want that to fall into the Refs hands.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

The rest of the possession is the answer. They need to fix this, the game has enough stupid distractions without turning it into soccer.

Against Miami, Marshall was limping off the field and you can see Sunglasses at Night Fist Pump and another coach motioning him to get down and he went down like he was shot. That wasn't as bad as what the Giants did with two flopping at the same time.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

The problem with assessing a penalty is then the onus is on the Refs to determine if a guy is really hurt or not. I'm sure the league doesn't want that to fall into the Refs hands.

Simple: if the player comes back in during that possession, assess an automatic DOG penalty.

 

[ralmat55]

Re: No huddle offense...defensive flopping

I wonder why no one ever considers how fair it is to the defense to not allow them to change personnel. Yes, the Patriots are using the hurry-up to their advantage, but it has been used against them in the past especially by the Colts. The NFL rules are tilted so heavily in favor of offense these days. Maybe, something should be done to help defenses for once. My suggestion: Other than in the last 2 minutes of a half, on every 1st down the umpire spots the ball but stands over it for 10 seconds to allow for defensive substitutions while the play clock continues to run.

 

[tunafish]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

Maybe you could disallow substitutions as well as keeping the player in question out the rest of a possession (obviously you would still be allowed to substitute someone in for the downed player, but you could restrict it so you would have to exchange a DB for DB or LB for LB etc.)-- that way the defense isn't allowed to change personnel groupings

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

Make a rule that teams allotted TO's include injury situations as well.

 

[Sivy]

Re: No huddle offense...defensive flopping

They should be fined and ejected...The jets did this in the playoff game agains the pats. It was so fake it wasnt even funny. Its the only way to slow down the no huddle without taking a T.O.

 

[livinginthe past]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

Two solutions to work n concert.

1. The player being substituted cannot re-enter the game for 10 minutes or the remainder of the quarter - whichever is longer.

2. When the substitution takes place only the player who is injured can be replaced with a like for like player ie DB for DB.

I am not in favor of fines - these do not offer any type of restitution to the team being wronged by the flopping - and the sums involved would likely to be paltry compared to the value of winning a game (and maybe a playoff game at that)

 

[Big-T]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

How about if a player goes down injured when the opposition is running the no huddle, it costs a team time out whether it's in the last 2 minutes or not.

 

[patchick]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

How about if a player goes down injured when the opposition is running the no huddle, it costs a team time out whether it's in the last 2 minutes or not.

So does that mean that if you see an opponent starting to cramp up, all you have to do is run to the LOS instead of the huddle and the other team loses a TO?

Lots of the other suggestions IMO require too much of a judgment call from the officials. E.g., how can you say "you only get to sub for the guy who went down" if there were already players heading on/off the field? What counts as a "hurry up"? How do you identify a "flop"? Etc.

The only simple, practical penalty I've seen proposed is a "you're out until the ball changes hands" rule. That works regardless of how much time is on the clock, doesn't require timing/babysitting/subjective judgments, etc.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

Two solutions to work n concert.

1. The player being substituted cannot re-enter the game for 10 minutes or the remainder of the quarter - whichever is longer.

2. When the substitution takes place only the player who is injured can be replaced with a like for like player ie DB for DB.

I am not in favor of fines - these do not offer any type of restitution to the team being wronged by the flopping - and the sums involved would likely to be paltry compared to the value of winning a game (and maybe a playoff game at that)

Well, interestingly enough, here's what the 2010 rulebook has to say on this issue:

Section 2 Extraordinarily Unfair Acts
Article 1 The Commissioner has the sole authority to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary and/or corrective measures if any club action, non-participant interference, or calamity occurs in an NFL game which he deems so extraordinarily unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of the game.
[Article 2 not relevant]
Article 3 The Commissioner’s powers under this Section 2 include the imposition of monetary fines and draft-choice forfeitures, suspension of persons involved in unfair acts, and, if appropriate, the reversal of a game’s result or the rescheduling of a game, either from the beginning or from the point at which the extraordinary act occurred. In the event of rescheduling a game, the Commissioner will be guided by the procedures specified in Rule 17, Section 1, Articles 5 through 11, above. In all cases, the Commissioner will conduct a full investigation, including the opportunity for hearings, use of game videotape, and any other procedure he deems appropriate.

I would argue that a fair penalty would be, say, $250,000 against Coughlin, $500,000 against the team, and forfeiture of a first- or second- and third-round draft picks. . . .

 

[Wolfpack]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

How about if a player goes down injured when the opposition is running the no huddle, it costs a team time out whether it's in the last 2 minutes or not.

That's exactly the solution I was going to suggest, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it implemented. Some time ago they changed the rule so that if a player got injured inside 2 minutes, the team was charged a time out no matter what. And if they didn't have a time out, 10 seconds are run off the clock (unless it is the defense with an injured player and the offense didn't want any time run off).

I think they'll move to a situation where these questionable injuries will cost a time out.

 

[Wolfpack]

Re: OT:Flopping in Football, is there a fix?

I would argue that a fair penalty would be, say, $250,000 against Coughlin, $500,000 against the team, and forfeiture of a first- or second- and third-round draft picks. . . .

Well I'll say this... the way 2 guys completely and totally flopped on the same play at the same time in a virtually identical fashion sure shows to me that it was something that was coached into them, and not just one of them acting on his own.