@Joker
Trying to understand this. I understand people were bothered that it wasn't a PI, especially considering what we've seen the NFL turn into, but I just don't know if this play is that black and white (no thread pun intended).
We see in the NFL, all the time, plays based on timing, where the quarterback throws the ball to an area the receiver hasn't even cut to yet. They're based, obviously, on route running, timing, and faith from the quarterback that the receiver is going to cut and move to where the ball is being thrown.
So with all that said, is it an automatic PI penalty if a defenders back just happens to be where that ball was thrown? I'm seeing a defender trailing a receiver here and a football hitting him in the back.
Short of running backwards I don't know what he's supposed to do in this situation. Stop randomly and turn? What if he does that and that isn't where the ball is thrown and instead it's thrown over his head?
Then he's burned for a touchdown.
Not trying to play the devil's advocate here but based on where that ball was thrown, the defender just seems screwed if that's an automatic PI. It's a receiver right in front of him, stopping dead in his tracks for a timing based play, and the ball hitting the defender in the back. Doesn't the defender have as much right to his lane as the receiver, and isn't that receiver stopping on a dime in that lane infringing on that right?
If the pass was a few feet to their left then I could see it being clear as day, but the ball hits the DB.
