September 19, 2018 at 1:05 p.m.
Shoutouts & Callouts
Complicated rules affect weekend of perfectly good football games
Shoutouts & Callouts
After sitting in the hot Wisconsin sun for more than three-and-a-half hours for essentially nothing, none of the more than 78,000 fans in attendance seemed satisfied. No one was smiling. Packers and Vikings fans alike were confused, not knowing how to feel after tying their arch-rival.
A good part of that bewilderment centered around a play that proved critical in sending the game to its bizarre ending - the Clay Matthews roughing the passer call that negated Jaire Alexander's game-clinching interception late in the fourth quarter. That penalty extended a Minnesota drive that eventually led to the Vikings game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute of regulation.
Matthews, who hit Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins as he was attempting a deep pass down field, was flagged for roughing the passer. Referee Tony Corrente told a pool reporter after the game the reason he flagged Matthews was, "he picked up the quarterback and drove him into the ground." Replays seemed to show the hit wasn't as dramatic as Corrente made it out to be.
Packers fans are quick to point out there's more than a twinge of irony here, considering Vikings' linebacker Anthony Barr was not called for roughing the passer last year on a hit that broke Packers' quarterback Aaron Rodgers' collarbone and effectively ended the Packers' postseason hopes.
The NFL banned that exact type of hit prior to this season. Looking at a replay of Matthews hit against Cousins, a case could be made that he landed with his weight on Cousins. Matthews insisted he was trying to pull up after making initial contact.
"I don't know what else to do," Matthews told reporters afterward. "I don't know. You let me know. You tell me. Did I put pressure on him? I thought I hit him within his waist to chest, I got my head across, put my hands down. To call it at that point in the game is unbelievable."
Unfortunately, as Packers fans learned the hard way on Sunday, we cannot have it both ways.
It's easy, looking at the world through green-and-gold colored glasses, to view Barr's hit on Rodgers as one of the dirtiest plays in the history of pro football and compare Matthews' hit on Cousins to the innocence of a playful kitten pouncing on a ball of yarn.
Conversely, those of a Vikings persuasion called the Barr hit just a good, hard football play and the Matthews hit a cheap shot on the team's new franchise quarterback.
Of course, the truth of both of those plays lies somewhere well within the extreme views of the understandably biased fan bases.
For better or for worse, these two plays will forever be intertwined in the Packers-Vikings rivalry because, without the Rodgers-Barr play, it's less likely the Matthews-Cousins play gets flagged.
Even though Corrente insisted the Rodgers-Barr rule was not at issue on Sunday, it's impossible to think that an ever-increasing emphasis on protecting quarterbacks - and the $100 million-plus investments on them by NFL franchises - didn't play a role in the flag being thrown.
In fact, NFL referees are calling more roughing the passer penalties early in the 2018 season, compared to recent years. According to ESPN Stats & Information, in a well-written piece Monday by Kevin Siefert on the current epidemic of roughing the passer calls, 21 such violations had been flagged through two weeks of the regular season - excluding the Monday night game between Chicago and Seattle. That's by far the most called during the first two weeks over the last seven seasons - surpassing the 15 roughing the passer callas made during Weeks 1 and 2 in 2012 and 2015.
The NFL on Monday backed Corrente, saying that it would include video of both the Matthews' penalty and a roughing the passer call in the second quarter that went against the Vikings' Eric Kendricks in its weekly teaching video to teams. In particular, the league said the Matthews' play was an example of the "scoop-and-pull" tactic it wants to outlaw.
Not even those who donned the black and white stripes agree with the league on this one. Former NFL referee Terry McAulay, now the rules analyst for NBC's Sunday Night Football, tweeted his displeasure at both roughing the passer calls in the Packers-Vikings game.
"I'll just say this now: if the two hits on the QB in #MINvsGB are indeed fouls for roughing the passer, I am glad that I am no longer on the field and have to make those calls," McAulay tweeted.
That's the bigger issue at stake here, as opposed to whether a call/no-call cost a team a football game. At what point does the emphasis on player safety compromise the credibility of the sport itself?
That's a very slippery slope, one that's been further lubricated by the specter of CTE and the long-lasting effects that football may have on one's body. And it's a debate that is not mutually exclusive to the pro game.
On Friday, Rhinelander was called for a personal foul on an open-field block that helped spring Drake Martin for what would have been a crucial fumble-return touchdown late in the first half of the Bell Game at Antigo.
After the game, my radio colleague, Ben Meyer, texted a member of that night's officiating crew, who replied that the flag was for a blindside block, which is a point of emphasis for high school officials across the country, according to the National Federation of High School Associations.
According to the NFHS, "A blindside block is a foul if: (1) the block occurs outside of the free-blocking zone; (2) the blocker does not initiate the block with open hands; and (3) the block is forceful. If all three of these factors are present, the blindside block is illegal."
That's part of a 16-paragraph explanation the NFHS gives on its website in regard to the play that resulted in a 15-yard penalty on Friday night.
To be fair, game officials have been put into a very difficult position. In real time, they have to break down what they are seeing in front of them and make a split-second call as to whether or not the action ran afoul of rules that have become increasingly nuanced and complicated. As we saw Sunday in Green Bay and Friday in Antigo, the official is more often than not going to err on the side of player safety.
To be sure, while both calls certainly played a role in their respective games, they certainly were not the be-all, end-all, a la the Fail Mary call between the Seahawks and Packers in 2012.
On Sunday, Muhammad Wilkerson had another potential game-clinching interception go through his hands the play immediately following the Matthews roughing-the-passer call, the Packers' defense reverted to its 2017 self and couldn't stop the Vikings' offense in the fourth quarter and Mason Crosby missed what would have been a game-winning 52-yard field goal as time expired in regulation.
Rhinelander, meanwhile, nearly recovered from that touchdown-negating penalty and had the ball inside the Antigo 10 when time expired in the first half before the Hodags were able to line up for one final play. Even then, the Hodags were up 13-12 at halftime, but Antigo came up with more big plays in the second half and wound up with the Bell yet again.
The penalties in question notwithstanding, a change in one of any number of plays in either game could have dramatically altered the final outcome. Still in rivalry games - such as Green Bay-Minnesota and Rhinelander-Antigo - sports fans want the game come down to the play on the field. The notion that a game was affected, even in some degree, by an official's call is bound to leave a sour taste in fans' mouths.
The problem is, the more complicated the rules become and the more officials have to interpret on the fly, the more likely judgment calls will have an impact on close games.
Because of that, expect to see more expressions like the ones on the faces of those leaving Lambeau Field on Sunday - dazed and confused.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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