Can someone explain to me why the hit by Pollard was not a penalty..

ChoWZa said:

An unconscious player going down with the ball should be ruled dead on the field. It needs to be a new rule next year. I know the Patriot's have benefited from it at times, but if player safety is really as important as we want to believe it is, it does need to be blown dead.

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Completely agreed. This should be a rule. Not just saying this because of what happened to us.

First and foremost, it's pretty sad to see a guy on any team get knocked out. But in addition to that - to fumble the ball and give possession to the other team? It's insult to injury

Leading with the helmet can be a penalty on any play or player not just a defenseless receiver...You don't see it called much except on a defenseless receiver because on pretty much every tackle your helmet will make contact with the other players and it is tough to tell if they led with the helmet....The thing that really pisses me off about this hit was that pollard did lead with his helmet and never even brought his arms with him as if he was going to tackle ridley....Yes ridley did lower his helmet but it looked like pollard was going for the KO the whole way....This guy is one of the biggest cheap shot artists in the league and I wish someone would just go after this piece of crap and break his freaking neck...

bigcountry75 said:

Leading with the helmet can be a penalty on any play or player not just a defenseless receiver...You don't see it called much except on a defenseless receiver because on pretty much every tackle your helmet will make contact with the other players and it is tough to tell if they led with the helmet....The thing that really pisses me off about this hit was that pollard did lead with his helmet and never even brought his arms with him as if he was going to tackle ridley....Yes ridley did lower his helmet but it looked like pollard was going for the KO the whole way....This guy is one of the biggest cheap shot artists in the league and I wish someone would just go after this piece of crap and break his freaking neck...

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Exactly. He has an intent to injure on 100% of plays. After tonight, I will REFUSE to believe that him being involved with all these injuries to Patriots players is just a coincidence. There's something more to it.

NFL, please investigate further before a Patriots player, coach or fan dies because of this pathetic excuse of a human.

pollard wasn't leading with the helmet at all and this shows that it was actually ridley who dove helmet first into pollard




pollard is at a certain height, and ridley makes an effort to bend down to helmet him

very odd....

Ridley is dropping his shoulder to protect himself but he gets hit on the side of his helmet proving that he wasn't leading with his helmet....Ridley was running straight ahead so why wasn't pollard squaring up and trying to hit him in the body and taking him down? He took the side angle and went for the blow to the head...He is a cheap shot artist, always has been and always will be....He isn't shy about it either as he talks a lot and has said before that he will try and knock people out....

bigcountry75 said:

Ridley is dropping his shoulder to protect himself but he gets hit on the side of his helmet proving that he wasn't leading with his helmet....Ridley was running straight ahead so why wasn't pollard squaring up and trying to hit him in the body and taking him down? He took the side angle and went for the blow to the head...He is a cheap shot artist, always has been and always will be....He isn't shy about it either as he talks a lot and has said before that he will try and knock people out....

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You all can't be serious with this thread. Pollard was trying to lay the lumber, for sure. It's football after all. But your boy Ridley dropped his head in for a helmet to helmet contact and paid the price. Pollard was not trying to wrap up because he was leading with his shoulder to put a hard hit on a guy and try to knock the ball out. He had help all around so if he missed, Ridley wasn't going much further. As it turned out, his intent was exactly what happened. Ridley got flattened and the ball came loose. That's called defense. Not cheap shots. Not head hunting. Defense.

Lest you forget your boy putting a smashing hit on Pitta coming across the middle. One that also had helmet to helmet (but the refs seemed to miss that one). Difference was Pitta held on to the ball, then got up to catch a TD on the next play.

I love the fact that you all think Pollard is dirty because your guys just happen to break when he tackles them. You really believe that he intentionally hurt Gronk, and Ridley? Come on man.

The Ravens are a hard hitting defense. That is their style and the way the have always played. NE is more of a finesse team relying on QB protection, schemes, and great passing. Last night the hard hitters won.

Great game. Good luck in the offseason. We'll see you in the playoffs again next year I'm sure for the rubber match!

And there are still some people who think that ball came out before his arm contacted his leg that was down.

The ONLY reason it was a fumble is BECAUSE the leg was on the ground.

I'm really surprised how many people in this thread don't/didn't know what constitutes a penalty for helmet to helmet contact. There is helmet to helmet contact in every game between a RB and a DL/LB/DB.

Sciz said:

Shoulder to helmet is still illegal on defenseless receivers. In that situation, the defender needs to aim lower. In that particular scenario, Lewis was probably better off not hitting him at all.

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What I want to know is how that monster hit to the head on Pitta was not called ???!

Brady foot to the defender groin when he slid ?

The helmet first hit on the punt return man after he called a Fair Catch.

Talk about a double standard... crazy.

jcdavey said:

pollard wasn't leading with the helmet at all and this shows that it was actually ridley who dove helmet first into pollard

pollard is at a certain height, and ridley makes an effort to bend down to helmet him

very odd....

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So Ridley helmets Pollard in the side of his helmet and Pollard is supposed to be called for a Penalty ?

What I want to know is how Pollard was not knocked out by the hit.. Ridley hit Pollard.. not the reverse !!

The monster hit to Pitta looked bad but then you look at it and see that the LB squares up on him and gives....the same kind of hit Pollard gives to Ridley. Both end up not getting called.

Can't have one without the other.

jcdavey said:

pollard wasn't leading with the helmet at all and this shows that it was actually ridley who dove helmet first into pollard

pollard is at a certain height, and ridley makes an effort to bend down to helmet him

very odd....

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Looking at that video, how did they not call Ridley down on the replay? That's odd, no?

Looked to me like Ridley's leg was down BEFORE the ball hit his shin.

Anyone else see it that way?

upstater1 said:

Looking at that video, how did they not call Ridley down on the replay? That's odd, no?

Looked to me like Ridley's leg was down BEFORE the ball hit his shin.

Anyone else see it that way?

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The call was reviewed on the field and confirmed. Watching full speed replays, I thought he was down, but when they broke it down frame by frame, it was clear that the ball was out before his rear end hit the ground. Tough call. I'll admit, the gif above makes it hard to tell.

TheSparks1 said:

The call was reviewed on the field and confirmed. Watching full speed replays, I thought he was down, but when they broke it down frame by frame, it was clear that the ball was out before his rear end hit the ground. Tough call. I'll admit, the gif above makes it hard to tell.

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It's not the rear end that counts. It's the calf and shin. The only way you are not down is if your feet and hands touch the ground. Anything else, forearm, shin, etc., means you are down. When his calf touched down, he was down.

Clean hit and looked a fumble to me when broken down at low speed. Can't criticise Pollard at all.

RayVNLewis said:

What I want to know is how that monster hit to the head on Pitta was not called ???!

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Shoulder to upper chest. Not a penalty.

Brady foot to the defender groin when he slid ?

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You need anatomy lessons, and there's no rule against this.[/quote]

The helmet first hit on the punt return man after he called a Fair Catch

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Did not get a good look at this one, but I think it may be valid.

Ridley initiated the contact and it was close, but I think it was a fumble. It sucks because these are the plays we are used to have going our way and we didn't get any this game.

After Pollard's PF penalty I was yelling for Pollard's ejection (wishful thinking), because it was a sign that he was once again blatantly trying to injure. Yet Ridley knocks his own damn self out on Pollard's helmet. Irony to a T.

I really didn't appreciate the Pollard highlight reel BTW. Literally insult to injury... and people at CBS are mad at BB for not being classy.

upstater1 said:

It's not the rear end that counts. It's the calf and shin. The only way you are not down is if your feet and hands touch the ground. Anything else, forearm, shin, etc., means you are down. When his calf touched down, he was down.

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The NFL referee working the game, Bill Leavy, explained what he saw after the game: "What I saw was the receiver was going to the ground, had both legs off the ground, no body part was on the ground. The ball hit his knee and dislodged from his hand before the rest of his body hit the ground, therefore it was a fumble and we confirmed it."

The play was reviewed and this is exactly what I saw in the stadium on the huge screen with multiple different angles, not a 500x375 animated gif on a message board.

BennyBledsoe said:

The monster hit to Pitta looked bad but then you look at it and see that the LB squares up on him and gives....the same kind of hit Pollard gives to Ridley. Both end up not getting called.

Can't have one without the other.

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the hit by mayo on pitta at the 5 yard line was awesome

the hit by ray on hernandez wasn't illegal IMO either because ray went in, and hernandez is the one who moves his helmet in that direction

it's like those plays where a dlineman is going for a sack , misses batting a pass and his hand brushes the qbs facemask and they get called for going hands to the face on a qb

it's ridiculous


i saw alot of great hits yesterday, and none of them illegal IMO

the only thing i would have called , that's being discussed, is a 15 yarder on brady for trying to castrate ed reed