The preseason is a time for everybody to knock off the rust, especially in Game One. it’s the first time for everybody in quite a while for an in-game situation, and that always comes with some growing pains. The officiating crew is no different, and they seemed to be in midseason form on one key drive-sustaining judgment call on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ third possession of the game.
Already trailing the Pittsburgh Steelers 7-0, the home team appeared almost set to head back to the sideline after ILB Kwon Alexander absolutely stamped RB Chase Edmonds for a 2-yard loss, which would have set up a third-and-4 situation. Tampa had given no signs leading up to that point that it could muster up a play on a possession down.
But the officials flagged Alexander with an unnecessary roughness penalty, spotting the Buccaneers 15 yards and a new set of downs, moving the ball to the Steelers’ 36. They ultimately finished the drive in the end zone to tie the game, converting twice more on third down, to their credit, including on third-and-6 from the eight for the touchdown.
Still, it’s hard to accept at face value the accuracy of the call on the field. It did not appear as though Alexander made any illegal contact with the receiver’s head and neck area or with undue force with his own head. It appeared as though the linebacker made an effort to turn his head to the side, and he did not leave his feet.
At least, not both of his feet, and therein lies the problem—a problem that could turn into a larger issue over the course of the season. You see, the NFL changed the rule for what defines “launching” when contacting a player deemed defenseless. If you pick up even one foot off the ground and make contact with your helmet, that’s now considered launching against a defenseless player.
Real-time adjudication is always strained, of course. You have to make snap decisions based on high-speed collisions for which you may not even have the clearest view. And chances are the officials have been instructed to err even more heavily on the side of caution during the preseason.
But officiating is a perennial concern for football fans, and sports fans in general, and roughness penalties are frequently right at or near the top of the complaint list. While most of the ire is reserved for the league’s efforts to protect the quarterback, a lot of older fans especially find the game today difficult to watch at times, seeing flags thrown against plays that were considered clean 15-20 years ago.
The league has done the officials no favors in trying to get them to enforce this. How many times a game does a defender pick one foot off the ground in order to make a tackle? It’s not that easy to move forward to make a tackle while making sure that both feet are on the ground during the tackle process. I’m not sure this rule can be sustained on the field.
It will be interesting to monitor how it gets enforced, because if they try to call it by the letter, then we’re going to see a lot of yellow laundry thrown this year. Everybody attempting to catch a pass is practically treated like a quarterback now.
