I thought it was a normal hit, just so happen that the shoulder caught the helmet. I knew Pollard would get fined cause there are players that have a history and won't get the benefit of the doubt. As a Texan fan I'm didn't care that he was fined, but I hate they are turning this into a touch football league.
It didn't help Pollard's cause that he celebrated and hi-five with teammates after Johnson was not getting up. NFL trying to protect their stars.
too much noise in this thread. it was illegal because it was launching and fine warranted. if someone tries to argue it was clean, in the old days blah blah, you're old school, football is pussified, or some other nonsense, i will continuously reply with this post. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...t-defenseless-players-expand-launching-rules/ The expansion of the launching rules prohibits any use of the helmet, in addition to a player leaving feet prior to contact to spring forward into an opponent.
not surprised and I actually expected it. While I don't think it's a dirty hit, per se, it is certainly the kind of thing the league is cutting down on. Argue all you want but Bernard went high on a defenseless player and you just can't do that. That being said, i'm not sure he would have been fined is A) he didn't have a history and B) it wasn't AJ.
Interestingly, I saw plenty of hits around the league that didn't give players concussions, and weren't penalized.
It's really that simple. It's spearing. And it's always been illegal. Not sure what all the fuss is about.
Wow, can you imagine how the new nfl rules will be in 5 years. Good clean hit pollard. Andre Johnson was making a football move, so were you. Next time just push him out of bounds with both hands.
that was a clean hit. NFL is going full potato The concussion was a result of andre not being able to break his fall, unfortunate play is all it is.
Pollard did what you would want any safety to do, hit the guy hard and hope he drops the ball. Kareem's hit was way worse
My response was regarding the launching, which in itself was perfectly legal according to your post. He definitely did make contact with the head area, and Andre would certainly be characterized as illegal by that rule, thus the fine.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>"I never lost consciousness at all.When I hit the ground my head slammed against the turf and everything was just blurry," A Johnson <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Texans&src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) <a href="https://twitter.com/taniaganguli/statuses/381123978724909056">September 20, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Johnson says Pollard did hit his head, but he didn't get blurry vision until his head hit ground. He wanted to go back into game. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Texans&src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) <a href="https://twitter.com/taniaganguli/statuses/381124169054035968">September 20, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Andre Johnson says he didn't really see a big deal with Bernard Pollard's hit. "That's what he gets paid to do." <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Texans&src=hash">#Texans</a></p>— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) <a href="https://twitter.com/taniaganguli/statuses/381125512472854528">September 20, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Andre doesn't make or enforce NFL rules, the NFL does. Pollard launched and made contact which is illegal.
I don't like to see the NFL "toning it down" on the action, but I also don't want to see Andre Johnson get early onset dementia at 45, so I'm ok with the fine.
It was high, but it wasn't dirty. As far as intention, Pollard tries to knock everyone. I don't think he wants to injure anyone. Kareem's definitely looked worse. Same here, no ill will, but I'd say more "illegal" than Pollards.
