Ward fined for hit on Hilton AND untucked jersey

[bronx_2003]

Yea I was being sarcastic, its getting ridiculous under Goodell.

[Conner13]

This is pretty much an embarrassment. With each passing year, I enjoy the NFL less and less. Ward hit Hilton with his shoulder. Any helmet contact was incidental. Let's also remember why the players wear helmets. Oh, that's right -- to protect them from inevitable collisions that occur during football games.

I know football is being targeted right now and everything that can be done is being done to try and snuff out the safety controversy. There are high schools dropping their football programs and people speaking out against the sport. It seriously wouldn't surprise me if football wasn't around in about 30 years or so -- maybe even sooner than that.

[ChupaThingy]

I was going to post about this when the news broke, but got sidetracked. I could understand the flag in real time as it was a bang bang play. But the hit was legal. Vicious, but still legal. And as you have all said, by no means should it have been a fine. I hate this continued wussifcation of the NFL and where it's going.

[JakeNbake]

Why u support goodell?

[beastlyskronk]

You're both wrong.

He was being sarcastic. An untucked jersey is not a "BIG" problem.

First time I've seen a fine for this and ward/talib do it quite frequently. With how tight they wear their jerseys it's amazing that they can come untucked without any sort of hold on their jerseys...

[Papa-pwn]

Not sure you read his post. "Full respect to Goodell, he is tackling the BIG problems in this league."

I'd guess that Goodell was not watching the tapes himself but had his group do it and they fined him not Roger himself.

You're both wrong.

He was being sarcastic. An untucked jersey is not a "BIG" problem.

[Garfield]

Why you support Goodell?

Not sure you read his post. "Full respect to Goodell, he is tackling the BIG problems in this league."

I'd guess that Goodell was not watching the tapes himself but had his group do it and they fined him not Roger himself.

[Garfield]

I disagree with the bolded text. Seattle has sold quite a few tickets with a top 5 defense these past few years. In fact they have won or played in the superbowl twice in that same timeframe. So IMO- Winning sells tickets or in some cases the hope of winning sells tickets. The Broncos win an awful lot and so as a result we sell a ton of tickets. Ditto for the Pats. Other teams not so much. I also think that with the surge of fantasy and stats being such a big market these days that there is a growing number of fans who are more in-tune with the finer details of the game. As a result the defense is being talked about more. As are the defensive players.




refs making decisions is in my opinion much different than the ones made by the league office. A ref is tasked with making a quick on-the-fly snap decision. They always lean on the side of conservative play calls (except when it is on us it seems). The league office is supposed to have the luxury of clarity....This fine on Ward is more like insanity. So sure I can agree that GREAT defenses will be penalized but it is the fines by the league which need to be addressed.

Refs making a split second decision in the heat of battle can we do make mistakes.

I agree with you about the league office having the SLOMO ability to make the correct call.

I suspect that Goodell as arbitrator on this would change that decision handed down by the underlings that fined him. On the other hand it undermines the on field refs and his working group that does the fines after the fact.

[Spice 1]

What I find funny though, is I thought his hit on Luck and Stewart's hit on Hilton were both worse than the one he got fined for. Neither of which I thought were illegal either.

I'm not going to go into how the rules relate to higher scoring, fantasy football, or any of that, because it's hard for me to believe that Jeff Fisher, among others in the committee have any vested interest in increasing offensive efficiency. I think they are trying to either appease the doomsayers about head injuries, or actually lower the rate of injuries. Mission accomplished on that front, but the take away is that you can never efficiently regulate the contact injuries in a full contact sport. Bridgewater did the right thing in sliding, and still got knocked out. There was nothing illegal going on when Luck decided he wanted to run over two linebackers. Murray for the Raiders was preparing himself for a collision he saw coming, and still got knocked out on a routine play. It's the nature of the game.

[Rastic]

Why you support Goodell?

Taunting

[taz1458]

It makes about as much sense as Defensive Holding on a flipping field goal try. Pathetic. About par for the course with the idiot running the show.

[trc1962]

It is almost as if Goddell is saying to the Broncos to quit being aggressive because the fine was ridiculous. I have seen at least 2 hits on Manning that weren't even flagged and they easily could be. I truly believe there is an attempt to slow the broncos aggressive defense down, especially before the Pat's come to town...

[one_bad_55]

come on guy's, stop being homers. He deserves the fine and is lucky not to be looking at a 2-3 game ban.

Yea the hit was legal but he had his JERSEY UNTUCKED !!!!!!!!

Full respect to Goodell, he is tackling the BIG problems in this league.

I just hope TJ learns from this experience

Why you support Goodell?

[gtown53]

Lamarcus Joyner was fined $23,152 for knocking out Teddy Bridgewater with a late hit after Bridgewater slid.

That's $89 dollars more than what TJ Ward was fined.

So, what's the message? Is it to go after opposing Quarterbacks with the purpose of putting them out of the game knowing that you won't be fined more than what is arguably a clean hit on a WR? I'm guessing that is exactly how a lot of Defensive players will look at it.

[qbronco]

Like most of you, I agree the hit was fierce but also legal. I thought the same thing when it happened live. It brought back memories of Dennis Smith and Steve Atwater.

To be fined after the fact is ridiculous. I understand why the coaches and players are feeling targeted.

I say play on, TJ. Good job!!!