Dak Prescott Gets A Big Ol’ Hug
I touched on this very briefly with the last comic but lets take a deeper moment to appreciate the worst call of the playoffs so far: Dak Prescott getting “sacked” by his own lineman, La’el Collins.
Maybe it’s just recency bias but it feels like refs have been calling plays done way too early a lot more. Makes some sense, player safety and all that.
I think it’s crap. I’m all for player safety but I also think plays should end when a player is down. How many amazing plays have we been robbed of because the refs blew the whistle a little too early? Things should be left up to judgement as little as humanly possible. A player going down is fairly strong visual evidence. A player having his “forward momentum stopped” is a judgement call.
Sure, most of them are fair. Most of the time this call happens when a running back runs into a pile and it becomes a rugby scrum moving slowly backward because the RB wont give up. But how many amazing escapes have we been robbed off due to the whistle getting blown too early? One of the greatest plays in football history happened because Mike Carey managed to hold off just long enough so Eli could escape the pocket and heave a bomb down the field to David Tyree. We could have been robbed of that play, easily, by the forward progress being stopped rule. That amazing piece of football lore that I totally don’t masturbate to at least once a month would have never happened.The Patriots would probably have gone 19-0. It’s disgusting to think about.
How many helmet catches have we been robbed off? How many game-changing fumbles never happened because a ref blew the play dead right before the defender popped it out? The Browns in week 17 could have had a 99 yard fumble return touchdown against the Ravens but the refs had already called the play over. Then we get to this nonsense. Dak Prescott got sacked by his own dude. While doing a remarkable job avoiding the rush Dak and La’el basically collide and La’el temporarily hugs him. Dak escapes and has an open pocket in front of him to extend the play…but it’s blown dead. I hate the Cowboys and want them to suffer in endless torment but I want them to suffer fairly. This is pretty bullshit. If Collins had knocked him down, I could buy it. The refs were like 1 step away from calling roughing the passer on their own team.
Usually the playoffs are a marked improvement for officiating because the refs tend to back off a little and let the players play more. The officiating this year started extremely poorly but got better as terrible roughing calls eased up a bit, but this was just a shame. There is no guarantee this play would have ended better or worse for Dallas. Dak could have thrown a garbage pick, still gotten sacked, thrown it away, or got a first down. The problem is we never got a chance to see what it could have been.
It could be recency bias, but I too share the feeling that plays have been blown dead too soon.
*grumpy dad voice* THERE’S NO HUGGING IN FOOTBALL
I read this in Tom Hanks voice instead….
I agree entirely that plays are being blown dead way too early, but its nice to have something for the Cowboys to complain about other than”DEZ CAUGHT THE BALL”. If they’re going to complain about getting screwed in the playoffs they need to have some controversy because they’re never going to admit they got outplayed.
Actually, most Cowboys fans I’ve talked to agree that we just got our asses handed to us and this play, although a crap call, most likely would not have changed anything.
That Dez catch though…
Imagine this being an anime.
While I get the whole “the refs should have let them play on” angle, it runs into a roadblock with the “we need clear evidence to overturn a call”. Specifically on that Browns fumble TD, if it was a Ravens TD but the refs let that fumble through, and we couldn’t see in the video that TD to the Ravens, its a horrible call the other way just because the refs didnt call what they originally saw. Im honestly pretty happy with refs calling what they see on the field even if it stops some return type plays from occurring.
Or they could change the rule to allow some gray area. Like they can let the fumble play out with the return but then say “our call is no fumble” and the return only matters of its reviewed and found a fumble.
Also on the Dak hug. Ive never heard of it before but the refs said it was something like “bearing down on the QB” where a defender has him in his grasp and another is coming in and could create ‘unnecessary’ contact. It was still bogus because even that wasn’t right, but I dont think it was a forward momentum thing – Im actually not sure Ive ever seen a forward momentum called against a QB since they generally go down quickly even when they break it for a run
Yeah, I saw that and was like ‘what the hell, refs? Let Dak finish the play!’
That was a weird game. The Cowboys, who looked so mighty against Russell Wilson and the Seahawks only a week ago(except that mess on Seattle’s last drive, whatever they were doing), simply collapsed on defense, letting CJ Anderson gash them effortlessly. All this talk about the stout defense being Dallas’s new identity, and against the Rams they were the reason they lost. On a game where Dak outplayed Ryan Gos… err, Jared Goff(the similarities are uncanny, by the way, like you said Dave. All my family have taken to calling him Gosling).
Well, as a certain Cowboys fan lamented after the game, “We just can’t fire on all cylinders at the same time. When that lukewarm offense finally seems to get a groove on an important game, the defense falls apart. We’ll never win anything.”
In any case, while I think it’s pretty clear to all and sundry by now that Dak will never be as good a QB as Romo was(unless he somehow hits major breakthroughs in his game… which is now pretty much not expected to happen to a QB who’s finished his third year in the season), at least he does seem to have a ‘clutch’ factor to him unlike Romo’s (undeserved) infamy as a choker. He keeps the game interesting. Who knows how the game might have gone on if the Boys converted that 4th down at the start of the 4th quarter(where they failed because the Rams stuffed Zeke, another example of Jason Garrett’s stale incompetence).
Apparently old Jerry values that way too much. If the Boys want to win they should be done with giving Dak a Bortles-esque contract and try to maintain Zeke and that newly high-powered defense while shoring up their O-line and replacing Garrett and all the offensive coaches. Instead, it’s looking more like everybody’s being retained and Dak being poised to be one of the newest additions to the Money Wars saga.
Here’s to another two decades of mediocrity for the Cowboys! *shrugs*
I guess Friday’s comic will now feature Big Dick Nick having a case of being ‘premature’ (heh heh) for that final INT? That play was stupid even before it got picked off, I was confused as soon as the ball was snapped.
The way Dak’s eyes popped out during that hug, I envisioned him sounding like a squeaky toy.
I’m fine with plays getting blown dead to early when the quarterback is involved. I actually think the “in the grasp” rule should be so strict that all you have to do is basically grab the quarterbacks jersey with one hand to be awarded a sack.
The other thing I would like to see is a change to the “outside the pocket” grounding rule. The quarterback should never be allowed to throw the ball away. The options should be: 1.) Take a sack, 2.) Run out of bounds for a loss or no gain, 3.) Try to advance the ball personally, or 4.) PUT THE BALL IN PLAY. We already give referees judgment calls on uncatchable balls for pass interference penalties; this would not be much more responsibility, and it would throw defenses a bone.
Oh yea sure you don’t like forward progress now. Was nice in 2011 right lol?
That call was too early too and I’ve never defended it
Since in most cases this play occurs when they are trying to protect the QB. I suggest that the QB has a safety word he can yell out to blow it dead. That way the play is stopped when a player is down or when they are too much of a pussy and yelled out Bananna or some shit
Why would quarterbacks ever do that when they can just take the hit and fish for a penalty?
I don’t think this gets called on QBs almost at all (This case excepted of course), it’s usually on RBs who get stood up but don’t actually go down
So, the refs got the wrong call, but it *was* a foul. Rule 12, article 1, section 4, rule b:
No player may use interlocking interference, by grasping a teammate or by using his hands or arms to encircle the body of a teammate
This shouldn’t have been called down as a sack, but it should’ve been flagged as a 10 yard penalty if you’re going by the super hard interpretation of the rules.
That’s seriously a rule? Wow. There really is no hugging in football.
I can see why though. It’s basically to prevent, what I can only describe as “pain trains” or “crowd surfing.” Imagine having to tackle a RB when he is being carried by lineman or has a 1500 lb convoy of five O-lineman attempting to keep him upright. It also would probably lead to some rough injuries as well.
Well, last year this was ruled to not be a fumble because the Refs claimed they had blown the play dead due to Mariota’s forward progress being stopped before the fumble. I don’t know if you can blow a play dead any quicker than that. https://youtu.be/XkT_mNU6ecI
That David Tyree play should have bee. called back for holding on the entire OLine. Every other point you made I’m ok with
Lenny, put down the quarterback.