Video: Was the Saints "pick play" for a TD legal?

[Art_Vandelay421]

99.99% of football fans aren't even aware of this play.

When it comes to pick/rub plays and officiating, all they will hear and talk about is the play involving the Patriots offense when Brady spoke to the ref and they correctly picked up the flag on the TD to Hogan, giving the Pats a 20-3 lead.

The talking point everywhere south and west of Hartford will be that the NFL wants Brady to do well, Goodell and Kraft are BFFs, the games are fixed so the Patriots win, etc.

Can you imagine the Harbaugh meltdown if we were playing the Ravens yesterday...

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Everybody has that "problem". It's standard for NFL clips and has been for years. The NFL forces YT videos of its content to be watched on YT proper, not embedded. Even if the post wasn't by the NFL. When the NFL finds them they either have them taken down or if not, forces them to be watched on YT.

 

[Tony2046]

I'll add the Patriots pick play for reference: It was within one yard of the line of scrimmage.

 

[Tony2046]

Weird.. It's showing now.. BTW, the Title of the video is wrong. *GRIN*

Thanks. I fixed the title.

 

[Tony2046]

I'll add the NFL's video for OPI for reference: Which I thinks adds another point of emphasis that I missed. Blocking downfield.

"Blocking more than one yard down the field before the ball is touched"

Offensive Pass Interference | NFL Football Operations

 

[BradyFTW!]

By the rule, it probably should have been flagged, since Hill is blocking well outside the 1 yard cushion and also makes what appears to be non-incidental contact on both Butler and Chung as far down as the 1 yard line. Practically speaking, though, I don't think you can rely on that flag and Chung has to do a better job not getting blown 5 yards off the LOS. The Broncos won a Super Bowl running a series of increasingly obvious pick plays that were never flagged, so like it or not you've gotta do better against them as a defender.

 

[ivanvamp]

So you think it's PI?

Hill never interacted with Butler.

He absolutely interacted with Butler. I have it frozen at the 7-second mark. His arms are in front of his chest preparing to make contact with Butler. They're three yards downfield. As Butler tries to go around him, he keeps going, impeding Butler's progress.

Whether that meets the technical definition of OPI, you can decide. But there's obviously intent to engage (his arms are up preparing for contact), and as Butler tries to work around it, he stays in his way.

Clearly he "interacted" with Butler.

 

[ivanvamp]

The Saints ran another, far more egregious, pick play later in the game, on a pass down the right sideline.

 

[Tony2046]

He absolutely interacted with Butler. I have it frozen at the 7-second mark. His arms are in front of his chest preparing to make contact with Butler. They're three yards downfield. As Butler tries to go around him, he keeps going, impeding Butler's progress.

Whether that meets the technical definition of OPI, you can decide. But there's obviously intent to engage (his arms are up preparing for contact), and as Butler tries to work around it, he stays in his way.

Clearly he "interacted" with Butler.

Yeah I posted a few more videos later in the thread. I had forgotten that blocking downfield can also be called OPI. I vaguely remember a play last year in which Amendola (I think) was called for OPI because he had began blocking downfield before the ball was caught. Brady had to throw it over a defender which delayed the catch time.

Anyways if he didn't interfere with Butler (I agree that there was some contact) he was still blocking downfield. Although I must add that Hill didn't use his hands and apparently sold the route running enough for the refs to let it go.

 

[luuked]

@Tony2046 thanks for posting the entire thing. I hope we can maybe do this more regularly in the coming games when interesting situations happen. A good discussion can be a learning experience for a couple of people here and is much more preferable than the usual hot takes.

After rewatching it a few times I kinda agree with @DaBruinz that strictly following the book it should have been flagged for the blocking downfield but it falls into those grey areas that the NFL is not emphasizing (yet?) and that happen many times a game. We have seen refs warning players and coaches about certain behaviour (pushing, holding..) and that it will be called next time in various NFL Film pieces and I wonder if this is one of those things. In the end, I think that a lot of this can be fought by better positioning (and communication) of your defensive players which is better than relying on refs to call the game exactly according to the rules.