Browner's penalty negating McCourty TD

How about big Vince hauling ass downfield trying to get McCourty into the endzone on the first GIF. Gotta say I was completely wrong on #75. Thought he was done but he seems to be getting better and better each week. Great season for Vince.

Buffalo got screwed on same type of call in their game vs Denver. Once again Fivehead leads his receiver Sanders into death territory over the middle. Bills defender Gilmore gets him shoulder to shoulder as the pass arrives, gets flagged for head shot.
This could all be fixed if the NFL went the college route. The flag is thrown, but in college ball they review the hit. If not head to head, they pick up the flag.

Browner could have easily avoided any chance of a penalty if he hit him a bit lower. He had plenty of time and chance to line him up but instead pushed the envelope on legality and lost. It was a dumb hit.

The problem is the refs are instructed to err on the side of "safety." And with Browner's "reputation," anything that looks like helmet contact will get flagged, essentially meaning any hit above the waist.

Turnovers are Automatic reviewed aswell, the problem here was the flag. Those are not reviewed and cancel out the turnover/TD. Something gonna happen at owners meeting, second time this year, where a nice but hard hit getting reversed to a 15 yard penalty. This time it happend in prim time... Had Chargers won, there would be even more fuel for BB and others, WHO wanna have the option to review everything.

Deus Irae said:

It was a terrible call

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Tbe WR was defenseless.

It's against the rules to hit a defenseless player in the neck area. I like browner and think he was trying to hit within the rules, but a second look shows he committed a penalty without much doubt.

Somebody better at looking up rules can chime in, since they don't seem to make them easily accessible.

By the way, long time fans should know why and when they put in this rule and i don't think it was recently.

Hits on Defenseless Players
NFL rules provide special protection to defenseless players, by prohibiting (a) hits delivered to their head or neck area by an opponent with his helmet (including facemask), forearm, or shoulder, and (b) hits delivered by an opponent with his helmet (including the top/crown and forehead/"hairline" parts) against any part of the defenseless player's body (i.e., "butting, spearing, or ramming" a defenseless player.)

Defenseless players are defined as (a) a player in the act of or just after throwing a pass; (b) a receiver catching or attempting to catch a pass; (c) a runner already in the grasp of a tackler and whose forward progress has been stopped; (d) a kickoff or punt returner attempting to field a kick in the air; and (e) a player on the ground at the end of a play.

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Darryl Stingley?

should have took out his knees......if the NFL doesn't want them to go high, fine go low like they did to Gronk.

they don't realize how ugly it would have been if Browner went low......it would have been Joe Theismann-esque, but it would not have resulted in a flag

BTW, surprised that Reiss doesn't know this. that was a textbook penalty, there isn't any doubt about it. Shoulder to neck, defenseless player.

I was livid when the call was made and even more upset with the ref announced a helmet to helmet hit.

However, after the game and in a less volatile state, I looked up the rule and its a very interpretive rule. It has nothing to do with a helmet to helmet hit so the ref made a mistake in announcing it as such. It has everything to do with determining that the player was defenseless and that the hit was around the head and unnecessary. The fact the ball was being juggled is irrelevant.

In my opinion, if a ref sees a player's head snap back and the hit is high, I think they are likely to call it even if the rule is not worded like that. The play happens so fast and this call is likely the most subjective one in the game now and if coaches were allowed to challenge it, we may (key word may) receive a better explanation of it.

But here's the overriding thing in my opinion; as the rules stand now coaches and players know that this type of play could very well be called and it doesn't matter what the replay shows. I'm guessing that Blandino will announce that the right call was made. The more violent that hit looks, the greater chance its called.
I'm not saying I agree with this but we all know that player safety needs to be portrayed by the nfl to the public and they care so much about player safety (insert sarcasm).
The real hypocrisy is if Browner went low and blew out the TE's knee, no call. Is that just as unnecessary and how is player safety protected then.
I really don't know what the answer is but it will continue to be debated.

Since there's two threads...there is absolutely no doubt that was a penalty. Shoulder to neck on defenseless player.

That bad call cost me 100,000 coins in Madden 15, I had a card that would of paid out 100,000 coins if the Patriots defence got a TD...

Fencer said:

In one of the GIFs above, it actually looks like a helmet to helmet hit, even though from other angles there's clearly space between the helmets at all times. So I understand how the mistaken call could have been made.

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Isn't that why replay would be crucial here?

I beleive that if Browner had hit Greens mid section there would have been no call.

I agree with the call but my only problem is that not all officating crews would throw a flag there.

That was a perfect hit. Browner made the right move, he hit the guy with his shoulder (not the head) and hit Green in the chest. Hard hits happen and Green went down. This was a brutal call that could have cost us the game.

1960Pats said:

Browner could have easily avoided any chance of a penalty if he hit him a bit lower. He had plenty of time and chance to line him up but instead pushed the envelope on legality and lost. It was a dumb hit.

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I was thinking the same thing, although I hesitate to say "plenty of time" given how fast things happen out there. But the league is trying to get players to hit from the mid chest to the thighs, to reduce injuries, and penalties will be called on some marginal plays like this one. So the smart thing to do is to go lower when possible to reduce the risk of a marginal penalty being called.

The call was horrific. Browner measured him, led with his shoulder in a hit to the receiver's shoulder, and the receiver SAW Browner and braced for it. With a lesser defensive effort, we could have lost on that blown call. They need to make calls like that 100% reviewable.

The play was a clean shoulder to shoulder hit.....

RayClay said:

It's against the rules to hit a defenseless player in the neck area. I like browner and think he was trying to hit within the rules, but a second look shows he committed a penalty without much doubt.

Somebody better at looking up rules can chime in, since they don't seem to make them easily accessible.

By the way, long time fans should know why and when they put in this rule and i don't think it was recently.

Hits on Defenseless Players
NFL rules provide special protection to defenseless players, by prohibiting (a) hits delivered to theirhead or neck area by an opponent with his helmet (including facemask), forearm, or shoulder, and (b) hits delivered by an opponent with his helmet (including the top/crown and forehead/"hairline" parts) against any part of the defenseless player's body (i.e., "butting, spearing, or ramming" a defenseless player.)

Defenseless players are defined as (a) a player in the act of or just after throwing a pass; (b) a receiver catching or attempting to catch a pass; (c) a runner already in the grasp of a tackler and whose forward progress has been stopped; (d) a kickoff or punt returner attempting to field a kick in the air; and (e) a player on the ground at the end of a play.

Darryl Stingley?

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it was shoulder to shoulder

at no time does Browner's helmet make contact with Green. At no time does Browner make contact with Green's helmet.

It is logic like this that makes TJ Wards hit on Gronk last year a perfect tackle

the notion of being 'defenseless' while running and bobbling is garbage. There was plenty of time between when Green first touches the ball and contact by Browner.

The penalty was BS, but that is the way shiznit happens.