Dolphins: Pats used illegal formaton. Sending grievance to NFL?

Deus Irae said:

When did the word "might" become invisible to you?

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"Might" was his first of several backtracks. His first opinion was that Collins' feet appeared to be lined up with the DL's feet, and that this definitely constituted a penalty. His next opinion was that his feet might have been lined up with the DL's feet, and that this definitely constitutes a penalty. His latest opinion is that Collins' feet might have been lined up with the DL's feet, and that he has no idea if this constitutes a penalty.

I've been perfectly clear in what I object to about Volin's statements, and it has nothing to do with his use of the word 'might'. I know that this is what you do since it's easier than acknowledging when you're clearly wrong, but it's completely pointless.

BradyFTW! said:

"Might" was his first of several backtracks. His first opinion was that Collins' feet appeared to be lined up with the DL's feet, and that this definitely constituted a penalty. His next opinion was that his feet might have been lined up with the DL's feet, and that this definitely constitutes a penalty. His latest opinion is that Collins' feet might have been lined up with the DL's feet, and that he has no idea if this constitutes a penalty.

I've been perfectly clear in what I object to about Volin's statements, and it has nothing to do with his use of the word 'might'. I know that this is what you do since it's easier than acknowledging when you're clearly wrong, but it's completely pointless.

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Your claim was that I moved goalposts when I obviously didn't. I wasn't wrong. You were. Now you're just being an ass with the needless personal stuff, so piss off.

Not that I give 2 sheets about this play ....but...
.....these DL that are in their 4 point stance with their hands on the 28 yard line therefore have their feet positioned approximately 1.5 yards behind their hands...the 26.5 yard line give or take. Collins front foot appears close to the 26.5 yard line as well. Did he creep forward after these stills and his feet aligned with the horizontally positioned DL...I guess the Dolphins think so...and I can only assume their must be some alignment rule in existence that may have nothing to do with FG alignment...but regardless....the Dolphins are using as precedent for this play.
Who knows. We the fan look at head positions that are 2 yards apart and think this is futile. The Fish look at feet and they think an overlap is a breach....who knows.
I suspect the end result of this complaint will be some sort of clarification.
Wished the Pats saved this one for a cold January day.

I DVR'D the game and watched this play numerous time. The problem isn't the formation. The problem is Miami cannot block worth s***. There is a hole big enough to drive a Mack truck through and Collins blew right through it.

Bombdog said:

I DVR'D the game and watched this play numerous time. The problem isn't the formation. The problem is Miami cannot block worth s***. There is a hole big enough to drive a Mack truck through and Collins blew right through it.

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Presumably, the reason that the rule was created was to keep teams from using overloaded formations on kicks, where the offensive team doesn't have the ability to respond with an overloaded formation of their own, by rule.

What I see on review is the hole you speak of is the result of the Dolphins having to block more guys than they have guys to block with.

Now, the idea that Collins was on the line of scrimmage is pretty silly. The Pats executed well using an overloaded formation that was within the rules.

My hunch is that the rule will be changed in the off season to prevent this from being done again.

The issue with Volin is that he isn't writing the real story here, which is this: why are the Dolphins filing an official grievance in the first place? If they believe the Pats weren't called for a penalty when they should have been, the mature, intelligent thing to do is to bring it to the officiating and rules committees in the off season, and get it fixed. Filing a grievance is an emotional reaction to having their butt kicked, which makes them look like poor losers. And it is what teams do when they are tired of losing to the same team year after year after year. That's the real story.

And the journalism story behind the football story is that a Boston writer still has his old homer glasses on for his previous assignment and therefore can't see the story for what it is. Instead he in micro-focusing on details and interpreting rules to favor the team he used to write about rather the one that he writes about now. His perspective is corrupt, and that's an abandonment of the most fundamental principle in journalism.

You guys should quit piling on the lolphins. It's the time of year to air your grievances. Next is the feats of strength and i think we're looking pretty good with Vince and Branch there.

Deus Irae said:

I wasn't wrong. You were.

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Hey Deus, this is perfect Signature material for you! You would save yourself a LOT of typing by just including it there and not in every other post of yours.

Deus Irae said:

Now you're just being an ass with the needless personal stuff, so piss off.

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Seriously, for being SUCH an aggressive, quick to attack poster, you have suuuuuuuch a thin skin.

Actually I think this might be a more appropriate signature for him... LOL

Danger Zone said:

Hey Deus, this is perfect Signature material for you! You would save yourself a LOT of typing by just including it there and not in every other post of yours.

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Postscript on this story, from yesterday:

Ben VolinVerified account ‏@BenVolin
FYI, the NFL ruled that #Patriots did not have an illegal formation on the FG block. Dean Blandino will explain in detail later today

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Several other people mentioned this in the thread, but when I did a search on this story to see if there was more information or if Blandino's explanation was posted anywhere, all that came up were stories from the beginning of the week. Of those, there were some from 'national' sites, like SI.com and Bleacher Report, but the other first page mentions were Boston.CBS.local, NESN.com, Boston.com, and Boston.Globe.com. No Miami related sites had this story. I checked Omar Kelly's twitter feed and he had no mention of this yesterday or today. I don't know quite what that means, but it's kind of odd.

So basically they were just butt hurt that they got a FG blocked and ran back for a TD or it's time for them to bone up on the FG rules.

Thanks
Obama
Patriots!

Can Patriots fans file a grievance with the league that with this distraction, they're ruining "the Jets' Super Bowl?"

The New York JEST deserve every headline about being humiliated at the hands of the Patriots this week. it is completely unfair to have a media circus further humiliating the Miami Badsushi.

The NFL league office has rejected the dolphins grievance and informed the team that the Victory Formation is indeed legal and fined them $100,000 for not knowing that when the Patriots have used it on them so many times.

Koma said:

Postscript on this story, from yesterday:



Several other people mentioned this in the thread, but when I did a search on this story to see if there was more information or if Blandino's explanation was posted anywhere, all that came up were stories from the beginning of the week. Of those, there were some from 'national' sites, like SI.com and Bleacher Report, but the other first page mentions were Boston.CBS.local, NESN.com, Boston.com, and Boston.Globe.com. No Miami related sites had this story. I checked Omar Kelly's twitter feed and he had no mention of this yesterday or today. I don't know quite what that means, but it's kind of odd.

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It does seem odd but the Miami media could just still be buttthurt about this whole thing and now won't accept the ruling.

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...4683/quick-hit-thoughts-around-patriots-nfl-7

In reviewing the play, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino explained, “This would be very technical if we called this. We’re not going to be overly technical in saying ‘He was an inch within.’ He has to be in there within the feet [of the other down linemen and gain an advantage because of it].”

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I've heard you can't be within a yard of the LOS but I've never heard you can't be within a certain distance to the lineman's feet. Maybe I just don't have the right rule books, but it certainly looks like it wasn't even close unless you use the feet rule which to the best of my knowledge doesn't exist.

I still am glad the LOLPhins brought this up now rather us than having to deal with it in the playoffs.

Also, isn't a formaTON the jumbo lineup with Fleming and Manieri?