Are the NFL too harsh with fines and penalties?

by Revshawn on Oct 17, 2008 11:18 PM EDT

There is something weird going on in the NFL this year, and it has quietly happened all year with hardly anyone really talking about it. Why are there so many fines going out this year as opposed to years in the past? For the fans in Charlotte we already have 2 perfect contrasting examples of a good call and a bad call against the Panthers, and I'm sure that by now we've all heard of what happened with the Chargers game in week one. Let me just go over the two we know about though, which was Lance Briggs hit on Jake Delhomme in week 2 while he was on the ground, and Julius Peppers hit on Matt Ryan in week 4 as he was throwing the ball.

First off, it was clearly obvious that Jake Delhomme was on the ground when he was hit by Lance Briggs in week 2. Jake Delhomme slid feet first to get another yard or so and instead of tapping Delhomme down, Lance Briggs decided it would be better to take off his head while he was on the ground. If you want to tackle Delhomme like that you need to sack him in the pocket. Don't try to slam him while he's on the ground because you can't break the O-Line and you want a cheap hit. In any event, Lance Briggs received no penalty for the play, and the NFL released a statement later that Lance Briggs would not be fined because "He was already committed to the diving tackle." http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/huddleup/2008/09/no-fine-for-lan.html

Under that logic, you get the idea that any tackle is alright to do as long as you commit to the tackle and you follow through it right? Yet just a couple of weeks later, Julius Peppers gets penalized for unnecessary roughness and a fine later called on him for tackling Matt Ryan as soon as he threw the football, negating a interception return for a TD that drew lots of attention to that particular play and made the whole stadium furious. This completely opposes the following philosophy established in the previous game and leaves Panther players scratching their heads. How can you go for a tackle on a Quarterback if you always face the risk of him throwing the ball and getting called for a penalty? The NFL later defined this penalty as Julius Peppers "Leading with his shoulder but then hit Matt Ryan in the head." http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20081003/ca_pr_on_fo/nfl_peppers_fined_2

At some point you have to step back and realize that this is a manly sport. This isn't a game for little girls. People are going to get hit and bones will be broken. This is such a violent sport that you can't play this game professionally unless you really enjoy doing it. You play it because you love to hit people, love to put people on the ground, run into the endzone after making a big catch and all of that good stuff. Yet as you look around the league, you see goofy contrasting calls like the two I just showed you and fines being sent out for simple silly things like dancing in the endzone. The fines on endzone dances are especially stupid, because you're starting to fine someone for celebrating what he does for a living. As long as he isn't spurting out gang signs or shooting the moon, why do they really care?

Unless of course they're passing out fines just to get money.

That's where it gets interesting. One of the biggest points of penalties and fines in the NFL is to protect the players from getting hurt after the play is over. But when they start chalking up fines for dancing and hitting a QB, you start to wonder the motive behind these fines. After all, exactly how much does it hurt the game of football when Ronnie Brown does his thing in the endzone? If I see some bad refs let go at the end of the season or even punished then I'll know that it's just me. But if that doesn't happen, I call shenanigans on the NFL.

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Comments

One thing to remember

While I can’t say I disagree, I do believe the fines are given to charity and not back to the league.

by LittleKing on Oct 18, 2008 9:35 PM EDT reply actions

You are right on Revshawn

Troy P with pittsburgh agrees with you. Did you see his comments over the weekend?

I blog the Carolina Panthers at www.catscratchreader.com

by Jaxon on Oct 20, 2008 8:27 AM EDT reply actions

As far as the fines...

there’s speculation there are sending the money to a NFL Retired Players “Charity”, I imagine where the dudes that played in the NFL for just a short period of time and spent all their jack now get hand-outs.

I blog the Carolina Panthers at www.catscratchreader.com

by Jaxon on Oct 20, 2008 8:29 AM EDT reply actions