" So you’re unfamiliar with NFL Rule 9, Section 1, Article 3 (b)(2) … " ~ ~ ~

[kelly]

So you’re unfamiliar with NFL Rule 9, Section 1, Article 3 ( (2) …

Patriots at Jets, overtime, Jets kicker Nick Folk misses a 56-yard field goal. Patriots prepare to start a drive at the New England 38-yard line. I find this amazing: “The 2013 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League” is 159 pages long. There is even a half-page for “Guidelines for Captains,” including options on the coin toss.

For the infraction called for the first time in NFL history Sunday, on the decisive play in a game that could have major playoff implications, there is one sentence. Twenty-five words.

The sentence is on page 51: “When Team A presents a field-goal or Try Kick formation … Team B players cannot push teammates on the line of scrimmage into the offensive formation.”

On the play in the Meadowlands, as the ball was snapped for the field goal, New England free-agent defensive lineman Chris Jones tried to shove another Patriots lineman, Will Svitek, through the gap between the center and right guard. Svitek almost squeezed through, but he was blocked by the Jets’ punt-team guard, Damon Harrison (actually a defensive tackle). The blocking didn’t matter. Once Jones shoved his teammate into the gap, the umpire standing behind the Patriots’ line, Tony Michalek, threw the flag. Correctly. “That’s a rules change for 2013 that a teammate cannot push a teammate into the opponent’s formation,’’ said referee Jerome Boger to a pool reporter after the game. “It’s any type of pushing action.”

There was some confusion—partially of the league’s doing—when Bill Belichick said after the game that the call was wrong because it didn’t originate from the “second level,” or area behind the line of scrimmage. And there are videos from earlier this season in which vice president of officiating Dean Blandino refers to “the second level’’ when he interprets the rule. As Mike Florio explained Sunday night on Pro Football Talk: “The problem is that the NFL previously has explained the new rule on its official website by suggesting that the rule applies only to pushes from the second level.’’

At NBC, a digest of rules is kept handy for the particularly prickly ones. And there’s no reference to a “second level” when discussing this rule. It is just as I have written it. The rule was included at the request of several offensive lineman and approved by the Competition Committee. The linemen, particularly the centers, felt the injury risk would go down if defensive players couldn’t cave in the centers by lining up right over them or having players be pushed into a huge scrum at them.

Without the call, New England would have had to go 30 yards to be in position for a field goal. If the game is tied after the first possession of overtime, the next team to score wins. With the penalty—which was absolutely the right call—Folk had another chance and nailed it.

Said Rex Ryan: “I was fairly happy about it. I was thinking, ‘It’s about time we got a break.’ ”

Said Jones: “The mistake was mine. I take it. Put it on my shoulders.’’

We will. And now, with the Jets and Bills winning Sunday, the AFC East is more of a horse race, with two games separating top and bottom.

***

 

> http://mmqb.si.com/2013/10/21/peyton-manning-andrew-luck-monday-morning-quarterback/2/

[Maxman]

I am going to post this everywhere.  There is no stopping me.

 

[JoeKlecko]

I am going to post this everywhere.  There is no stopping me.

 

 

This picture cries out for a caption contest.  I got nothing, but I know some of you witty guys will have lots of good stuff.

[Maxman]

This picture cries out for a caption contest.  I got nothing, but I know some of you witty guys will have lots of good stuff.

 

I already captioned it. 

 

But I am all ears for other suggestions.  Anything that makes fun of Belichick is alright in my book.

 

Can't wait to go to the Hall of Fame and boo him during his induction speech.

[BurnleyJet]

This picture cries out for a caption contest. I got nothing, but I know some of you witty guys will have lots of good stuff.

Did you not get the memo from Bob Kraft!

[Sperm Edwards]

 

"Put 'er there, partner!"

 

[Sperm Edwards]

 

"This is total BULLSH*T -- it's ONE F*CKING PAYMENT.  Bob already told you that you'd have your money TUESDAY.  I can't BELIEVE this!"

 

[Sperm Edwards]

 

 

"It's just a jump to the left...and then a step to the riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..."

[Sperm Edwards]

 

 

"What's in my left hand? What difference does it make....Recording devices are illegal? No one told me we were still doing that rule. This is, like, so unfair."

[Sperm Edwards]

 

 

"Bob said he spoke to Roger, and that rule was specifically designed for OTHER PEOPLE for when we're in the playoffs." 

[Sperm Edwards]

 

"You're making a serious mistake here, bra.  You remember that 16 year-old you just happened to meet on the beach this past June? Yeah, what 16 year-old would be interested in a creepy old fool like you? You're not too bright are you.  I've got it all on video.  You KNOW I've got video!!  I hope your wife is the forgiving type."

[New York Mick]

Sperm go to bed

[AFJF]

 

 

Either one of you..I don't care which one...just put it in my hand and I'll tug that sucker all day if you just change the call.

 

[JoeKlecko]

Did you not get the memo from Bob Kraft!

 

Nope.  I'm afraid I'm no longer on his distribution list after I told him what I thought about his cheap, two-bit organization and their cheating ways.

[kelly]

I am going to post this everywhere.  There is no stopping me.

 

 

...she didn't look 14 years old

[kelly]

Bill Belichick: Jets pushed, too

PushGate took another turn Tuesday, with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick firing back at the New York Jets.

Belichick, in a conference call with Boston reporters, said the Jets were guilty of using the same illegal pushing tactic on field goals that got the Patriots busted in overtime. Asked if he's bothered by a news report that said the Jets' sideline alerted the officials to keep a close eye on the pushy Patriots, Belichick replied:

"Well, I mean, since they were using the play themselves, I don't even know about all that. But basically we're just moving on here."

It was a classic Belichick response: He wanted to turn the page, but he managed to include a snarky and incriminating comment about the Jets.

Clearly, he was referring to Stephen Gostkowski's 44-yard field at the end of regulation. On that play, video replays from different angles show the Jets' Quinton Coples extended his right arm and pushed teammate Muhammad Wilkerson from behind toward the Patriots' formation.

Wilkerson lined up in the "A" gap between the long snapper, Danny Aiken, and RG Logan Mankins. Coples was to Wilkerson's left. On the snap, Coples didn't fire off the ball as quickly as Wilkerson, delaying for a split second. Coples used his right forearm on Wilkerson's back. Wilkerson split Aiken and Mankins, and wound up getting lifted off his feet. He landed awkwardly.

Two officials were standing five yards away, behind the Jets' rush, and there was no penalty. The Coples push wasn't nearly as egregious as Chris Jones' push on teammate Will Svitek, resulting in a 15-yard penalty that cost the Patriots the game, but there was contact. The officials evidently didn't think there was enough to warrant a flag.

It's not a surprise that Belichick raised the issue. It's always tit-for-tat between the Jets and the Patriots, and it had to gall him to have this happen against the Jets, of all teams. There's 16 years of enmity between the two franchises, and Belichick has been involved in most of it.

 

> http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/29761/belichick-jets-pushed-too