On the most recent edition of the New Heights podcast, brothers Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce answered tweets from fans to give commentary of certain notable NFL plays. One play that was brought up was former Steelers WR Antonio Brown’s dropkick on Browns P Spencer Lanning back in 2014. Brown was fined $8,200 for kicking Lanning in the facemask at the end of a 36-yard punt return. On top of the fine, Brown was also penalized 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.
The two brothers watched the play and proceeded to debate whether Brown should have been fined for kicking Lanning in the face. Travis Kelce agreed that Brown should have been fined while Jason Kelce thought that Brown never should have been penalized for karate kicking Lanning at the end of his punt return.
“I still don’t understand why this is a penalty,” Jason Kelce said on the New Heights podcast, which aired on the show’s YouTube channel. “You can stiff arm a guy, why can’t you stiff kick?
“This is why he’s one of the best receivers of all-time. This is why. Who in their right mind goes from a hurdle to thinking to front kick somebody in the middle? Because this was not the plan the whole way. He’s clearly making multiple people miss. He decides that the kicker is probably going to go low. Jumps, kicker is not low enough, and instead of kind of stepping over him, front kick. Gosh, this should not be a penalty.”
Jason Kelce’s argument is that Lanning was indecisive in his pursuit of Brown as a tackler, attempting to get low to tackle Brown as a runner, but never got low enough as Brown attempted to hurdle him. Granted, Brown made the split-second decision while in the air to push his foot through Lanning’s face mask, resulting in the front kicking motion that had Lanning hit the turf as Brown managed to stay upright and continue before being dragged down by the 25-yard line by a host of Browns’ defenders.
“I will go to my grave… where is it in the rulebook that you can’t jump kick somebody?” Jason Kelce said. “Where is it? Show me the rule.”
Well, according to the NFL rulebook, striking, kicking, or kneeing an opposing player is a form of illegal contact that results in a personal foul penalty of 15 yards with the play being reviewable to see if it is flagrant, potentially resulting in a player getting ejected from the game. Luckily for Brown, he wasn’t ejected from the game, but he still incurred the personal foul and the fine that followed.
Based on the rules and the view of the play, it’s hard to debate the initial ruling of Brown’s kick being a penalty. As much fun as it is for Jason Kelce to say that Brown’s play should have been deemed legal, it doesn’t line up with the league’s current policy as the look to protect players like Lanning as Brown did kick him in the head and neck area. While it will be a play that will live in the memory of Steelers fans for years to come, it’s hard to come up with a strong argument against the ruling that the league made in real time given the nature of the play.
You can watch the full episode of the podcast here:
