By John Turney
But, in an effort to make the game more offensive (see what we did there) the rules have been changed to favor the offense. And also, for player safety, which we are in favor of. All that is understandable and commendable.
However, beginning in the early 1990s, it is our memory that offensive players got to push off, at least far more than defensive players. In other words, offensive pass interference was rarely being called and there were players who made a living off of that, even made the Hall of Fame.
We think that has continued.
Is it unconscious by the official? Is it cognitive dissonance to the rules? We don't know. We do know that the game has to be fair. And that defenders should not be called for something and the offensive player not called for the same thing or worse. We think that happens. A lot.
We will show one example.
Zach Ertz did this and was not called—
Sunday night Jason McCourty did this and was flagged—
We get it. Different games, different crews. So skip all that.
Just get it right. McCourty did go to the face and the call was illegal use of hands. Fine. he did brush the face of the receiver.
But Ertz grabbed the mask, pushed to the point the defender's neck was arched. It could have been offensive pass interference, facemask or illegal use of hands, hands to the face.
Unless, that is, receivers are exempt from those calls. If they are, then we stand corrected.
Get it right NFL. That's all your fanbase asks.
John, you may have just opened up a can of worms here.....there is SO much wrong with NFL officiating in 2019.....1. what IS a catch?....back in the 60s there was no such controversy as far as I'm aware...."did the receiver have 'control' of the ball when his forward progress was stopped?" seems to me to have been the standard, it's a judgment call and call it and get on with it.....2. my personal "along with single platoon that ship has sailed" if only......replay.....I get there's a lot of money at stake, but why and when was it decided that the absolutely overarching priority was "perfection"?....nowadays, all these replays often totally disrupt the flow of play....so the zebras missed a hold.....make it up on the next play....oh...it's called "play"....so call it or not, and get on with it....play like it's 1959....christ......
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