Pretty bs amount to me. It wasn't that flagrant or violent of a hit for that big of fine. More of the nfl trying to look like it cares since it was on a prime time game than anything else
Both. He made the hit because Cutler had passed the LOS (becoming a runner), but didn't have the time to adjust and get low.
If you want to examine Tim's comments at face value, do you truly believe that Tim believes Cutler ran into the contact? I sure don't. Pure PR spin designed by Tim's agent to give him the best shot at avoiding a fine. I don't think his postgame statements to the media truly reflect his views or intent.
Why does it make a difference that Cutler had passed the LOS to make the hit? Cutler had the ball, you tackle the player with the ball, regardless of his location on the field. Seems like Dobbins had time to adjust from his crouching defensive posture and launch himself upward towards the bottom of Cutler's chinstrap/helmet. And by his own quote (“But with him, he was trying to deliver the ball so I really tried to hit him up high so I can mess up the throw as well.”), shows his true intent of launching high. So that contradicts your runner theory. That was what Buck was referring to.
See prior post. If you take postgame media quotes at face value, you're a fool. I know what Buck was referring to. It was agent-driven PR spin. As far as why it makes a difference, it's because once past the LOS, he becomes a runner and not a quarterback. He doesn't have the ability to legally throw and the rules protection that comes with that. I posted the GIF on the prior page, but I don't know what you're talking about with launching himself upward. He stays at pretty much the same level all the way through, until he's past Cutler and the hit is over with.
What part of “But with him, he was trying to deliver the ball so I really tried to hit him up high so I can mess up the throw as well.” is PR spin? Sounds like he was being truthful there, since that's what exactly happened, he hit Cutler high. The other stuff he said afterwards were the ones I was saying that were disingenuous. Beyond the line of scrimmage the qb is still protected as a runner as long as he slides feet first. And Cutler was only about one foot over the LOS before he released the pass, in which previously he was pumpfaking. So the clues in which Cutler was about to become a runner was less apparent then him trying to pass, which Dobbins already commented he was trying to hit high to mess up his throw. Again, what I see is that he moved upward to hit high, which he did.
So Tim was disingenuous on some things, but not others? Fact of the matter is, any time there's anything AT ALL controversial in a game, these players have multiple texts/emails from their agent telling them exactly how to respond when questioned. In this case, it's good PR spin because it's a half-truth. As you said, he did hit Cutler high. Where I think he's fibbing is on the reasoning. It sounds better to say the hit was high to try and mess up the throw. That's more likely to avoid a fine, in my opinion, than saying the hit was high because he viewed Cutler as a runner and didn't have time to readjust his position. It's pretty clear by now that the NFL doesn't buy the "reaction time" argument in most cases, so players have adopted other tactics as their stated reasoning. Ignore the NBC line of scrimmage and the down marker (roughly at the Houston 49), because both were inaccurate. Go back and watch the actual play. The Bears snapped the ball from their own side of the 50. Cutler wasn't about a foot over the LOS. He was over a full yard past the LOS at the point of release, and over two yards if you go by the front foot. It was very apparent. <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CMRgX81eqe4?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CMRgX81eqe4?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> We can agree to disagree on that, I suppose. (not that he hit high, but whether he moved upward prior to the hit)
You say that until Matt Schaub goes out for the year again. It's a great rule. It sucks as a fan to lose your starting QB. It can ruin a season or a playoff run.
That sucks! He didn't know if Cutler might pump fake and keep running so when he knew for sure Cutler was going to pass he went for the tackle. He didn't hit Cutler in the helmet on purpose he just reacted and then once the pass was gone he held up. I wouldn't want to be a defender these days. You can't touch the QB anymore.
It sucks as a fan to lose the captain of your defense (Brian Cushing), then watch the guilty party receive nowhere near the usual punishment after a much dirtier hit. No offense, but I think your attitude is a common problem. It should be about safety, not which players are most liked by the fans or most important. To me, Shayne Graham and Donnie Jones should be every bit as protected as Matt Schaub. I'd be completely fine with Goodell's safety emphasis if it were fully extended to those beyond glamour QBs.
Well anybody who would say they hit high because they viewed any player as a runner needs a new PR guy, regardless if the player said he didn't have time to readjust. Players are taught to hit low on runners. So he had no other logical choice to explain his high hit other than disrupting the pass. We're not talking about a full 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage where it's apparent Cutler only has one choice to do with the ball. We're talking about a running step just beyond the line, or even in your explanation 2 yards beyond (which Cutler was already throwing the ball). Add that to the speed of the game and that would again explain Dobbins hitting high to disrupt the pass. The Cutler was a runner resulting into Dobbins hit was high just doesn't add up. The only other explanation is something Dobbins alluded to “It was good that he was out. You always wanted to take the quarterback out of the game.” but would never admit outright, he saw a chance to deliver a knockout blow to Cutler and took it. At the 7-8 second mark, Dobbins was in a crouched defensive stance, lower than Cutler. In the 9 second, you can see him rising up and finally his helmet is underneath Cutler's helmet as Dobbins tattoos Cutler. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P-wu6VwU6hI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
His agent needs to work on his talking points. It's pretty simple: defensive player hits defenseless QB in the head. Gets flagged immediately. NFL watches tape and fines him. Don't see what is so egregious or surprising.
Regardless? Uh, if you don't have time to readjust, you either hit high or you don't hit at all. He chose to hit high, which I'm thankful for. As you said, though, that's not the best PR spin to avoid a fine, so it's entirely plausible that he said something else, truthful or not. Uh, players are very aware of where a ball is snapped, especially if it's something as obvious as the 50-yard line. I think it's extremely plausible and apparent that Dobbins realized Cutler was beyond it. As for the final quote, yes, it's always nice to take a quarterback out of the game. When Cutler crossed the line, he saw what appeared to be a legal opportunity to take a shot at a runner, and he took it. That doesn't mean he intentionally created helmet-to-helmet contact. I froze it at 7 and 8 seconds, and his helmet looks directly underneath Cutler's facemask - pretty much the exact same angle that it eventually collides in. He rises up after the hit when he looks downfield.
Because it's entirely plausible that the head contact was accidental, yet the NFL fines defensive player three times the amount of the player that ended Brian Cushing's season on a clearly dirty and malicious play. It's a double standard and Roger Goodell is a ****ing ******* for creating that environment.
I agree the punishment on Slauson should have been higher, as I stated earlier they don't give defensive players the same level of protection as offensive players (may be a good thing for a team as cut-block happy as the Texans are ). As you very well know, the NFL is FINALLY taking brain injuries seriously, and you'll see those types of hits get the larger fines, just the way it is, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Dobbins changed the hit to go up high. The league's response was mild. Please stop whining like this- it is embarassing. The league protected Schaub more than it did Cutler- the conspiracy theory of a "known" QB is embarassing, esp since Schaub is better known that Cutler.
I think it's embarrassing to deny that the league has unique rules for its glamour quarterbacks (and no, Matt Schaub is nowhere near as known as Jay Cutler). What kind of bubble do you live in? By the way, Schefter just said on ESPN that there was a dispute on the Dobbins fine, with many in the league office believing Cutler was a runner (past the LOS) and, as such, did not deserve the usual QB protection. Maybe Tim has a shot with his appeal.
