Vikings vs. Bears (MNF)

[Dcat]

Just now, Gopher said:

He wasn’t even trying to hit Fields.  Reached down to touch him down, and their helmets collided.  Never left his feet, launched himself, etc.  If they want to call that a foul for the helmets touching, fine.  I’d still argue that it’s a bad call, given the intent (or lack of).  But, to throw him from the game is ridiculous.  I’ve actually never seen someone thrown from an NFL game for such a play.  Bizarre.  

 

That said, the refs have been bad all night, so it’s par for the course, I guess.  

 

agree 100%. Over reaction by the refs. You want to give him 15 yards?  Fine.  I get it.  But an ejection?  RUFKM?  

[gilthorp]

Don't understand the ejection unless he was warned before. This ref looks like the type of neighbor you want to make sure your dog pisses on their grass each time you go on a walk 

[purplemonster]

Kendricks plays tough but he doesn't play dirty from what I have seen. I don't think he knew that Fields was going to slide until the last minute and Fields slides with his head up high. I disagree with the announcer that he had plenty of time. I think he could have anticipated he was going to slide but I don't think he actually had that much time. Fields is pretty fast too. 

Edited December 21, 2021 by purplemonster

[gilthorp]

Nagy. Just. Has. To. Go.

[Dcat]

Let's talk about that touchdown at the end from a betting perspective.

 

I made a bet at half time on the 2nd half.  DK had Vikings -1.  MGM had Vikings -0.5.  Put a unit down at MGM.  Result was Vikes 7 - Bears 6 (thank Heaven for no extra point with :00 on the clock). Winner winner, chicken dinner.  I checked DK 1st and almost got lazy and placed the bet, but figured let me shop around.  Put that together with the original full Vikes -7 andd it was a good night.

[1fastdoc]

1 hour ago, Gopher said:

That said, the refs have been bad all night, so it’s par for the course, I guess.  

 

There were definitely a lot of bad calls. What was more interesting was the lack of explaination on many of them.

[League_Champion]

7 hours ago, FinishTheDrill said:

 

Thats cool.  

 

It's like a dog on steroids. 

[stevegrab]

11 hours ago, Gopher said:

He wasn’t even trying to hit Fields.  Reached down to touch him down, and their helmets collided.  Never left his feet, launched himself, etc.  If they want to call that a foul for the helmets touching, fine.  I’d still argue that it’s a bad call, given the intent (or lack of).  But, to throw him from the game is ridiculous.  I’ve actually never seen someone thrown from an NFL game for such a play.  Bizarre.  

 

That said, the refs have been bad all night, so it’s par for the course, I guess.  

 

As a neutral fan, a penalty is definitely warranted, not sure the ejection was. This isn't college, there is no targeting rule so not sure why that term is being tossed around here. But Kendricks shouldn't assume Fields will duck or lie down, or better yet he might know that from watching game film. 

 

But I also thought players that slide like that are "giving themselves up" and down where they start to slide, there is no need for the defense to touch them at all. Similar to a player making a fair catch for the punt, nobody needs to touch them.

 

I get many of these guys play hard and have a problem keeping their tendencies in check. Much like the issue with trying to let up when hitting a QB, or a guy going out of bounds. 

[Gopher]

4 hours ago, stevegrab said:

 

As a neutral fan, a penalty is definitely warranted, not sure the ejection was. This isn't college, there is no targeting rule so not sure why that term is being tossed around here. But Kendricks shouldn't assume Fields will duck or lie down, or better yet he might know that from watching game film. 

 

But I also thought players that slide like that are "giving themselves up" and down where they start to slide, there is no need for the defense to touch them at all. Similar to a player making a fair catch for the punt, nobody needs to touch them.

 

I get many of these guys play hard and have a problem keeping their tendencies in check. Much like the issue with trying to let up when hitting a QB, or a guy going out of bounds. 

Yeah, maybe reaching out to touch Fields down is the wrong way of describing it.  I can't say why his hand was extended.  From Fields' perspective, it looked like a pretty rough hit.  Head jerked back, etc.  If you look at solely how his body reacted to the contact, I can totally see where someone would call it a bad hit, or maybe even a cheapshot.  But, there are a few reasons why I just don't see that being the case.  One, if you simply watch the play and focus on Kendricks, he appears to be caught in an awkward position.  We see it all the time... QB slides late, and defender has to make a last-second adjustment.  Kendricks looked like he was falling forward, almost in a baseball catcher's stance.  His helmet and shoulder hit Fields, but it doesn't appear like he's trying to hit him, at least not with any type of force.  In other words, he didn't have a lot of momentum going towards Fields when they collided.  It almost looked like he lost his balance as he tried to hold up due to the slide.  Secondly, Fields slid in a very upright position, with his head higher than most, making the helmet to helmet collision more likely.  But, I get it... Any time that happens, intentional or not, there's about a 99% chance that the defensive player is going to get the flag.  That part, I don't have a problem with.  

 

What I found very strange was that Kendricks got kicked out of the game.  That just doesn't happen at the NFL level very often.  This isn't college, with their silly targeting rule.  Guys get thrown out for throwing punches or whatever, but for a debatable hit that wasn't as egregious as it appeared?  The last ejection from any sort of hard hit that I can remember was Burfict trying to literally kill Antonio Brown.  That was clear as day.  This was nothing like that, whatsoever.  Not to mention, Kendricks has had like one unnecessary roughness penalty in his career (three years ago).  The guy plays his heart out, but he's far from a dirty player.  

 

Earlier in the game, either Riddick or Griese said that intent must be considered when a penalty is called, after the CHI player blocked a MIN O-Lineman in the knee while lunging to make a tackle.  I find that interesting because intent is never considered when it comes to hitting a QB.  A D-lineman can brush a QB on the helmet with one finger, and if a ref sees it, it's called a "blow to the head."  There is no intent considered whatsoever in those cases, yet the defender should get a pass when tackling anybody else?  Doesn't make any sense.  

 

 

[stevegrab]

1 hour ago, Gopher said:

Yeah, maybe reaching out to touch Fields down is the wrong way of describing it.  I can't say why his hand was extended.  From Fields' perspective, it looked like a pretty rough hit.  Head jerked back, etc.  If you look at solely how his body reacted to the contact, I can totally see where someone would call it a bad hit, or maybe even a cheapshot.  But, there are a few reasons why I just don't see that being the case.  One, if you simply watch the play and focus on Kendricks, he appears to be caught in an awkward position.  We see it all the time... QB slides late, and defender has to make a last-second adjustment.  Kendricks looked like he was falling forward, almost in a baseball catcher's stance.  His helmet and shoulder hit Fields, but it doesn't appear like he's trying to hit him, at least not with any type of force.  In other words, he didn't have a lot of momentum going towards Fields when they collided.  It almost looked like he lost his balance as he tried to hold up due to the slide.  Secondly, Fields slid in a very upright position, with his head higher than most, making the helmet to helmet collision more likely.  But, I get it... Any time that happens, intentional or not, there's about a 99% chance that the defensive player is going to get the flag.  That part, I don't have a problem with.  

 

What I found very strange was that Kendricks got kicked out of the game.  That just doesn't happen at the NFL level very often.  This isn't college, with their silly targeting rule.  Guys get thrown out for throwing punches or whatever, but for a debatable hit that wasn't as egregious as it appeared?  The last ejection from any sort of hard hit that I can remember was Burfict trying to literally kill Antonio Brown.  That was clear as day.  This was nothing like that, whatsoever.  Not to mention, Kendricks has had like one unnecessary roughness penalty in his career (three years ago).  The guy plays his heart out, but he's far from a dirty player.  

 

Earlier in the game, either Riddick or Griese said that intent must be considered when a penalty is called, after the CHI player blocked a MIN O-Lineman in the knee while lunging to make a tackle.  I find that interesting because intent is never considered when it comes to hitting a QB.  A D-lineman can brush a QB on the helmet with one finger, and if a ref sees it, it's called a "blow to the head."  There is no intent considered whatsoever in those cases, yet the defender should get a pass when tackling anybody else?  Doesn't make any sense.  

 

 

 

The game as setup now does make things very hard on defensive players, no doubt. From the hits on QBs where a player is expected to magically alter their path, landing style, where their weight goes etc...all while in mid-air. 

 

And of course the rules seem to change more often lately than in the first few decades I followed football (mostly from early 80s on). There was a play on Sunday where the punt coverage team blasted the guy as he tried to catch it, I thought they needed to give them a chance to field the ball. I guess that is only if a fair catch is called, announcer said "that's right there is no halo rule anymore." 

 

I think most would agree it was (under current rules enforcement) a penalty, but did not warrant an ejection. And I understand the points you're making about Hendricks and his motions, and how quickly the QB goes into a slide can the defender adjust their action. I think the key to this being called and the refs thinking it was vicious were the snapping of Fields neck as he got hit. It will be interesting to hear if Kendricks is fined, because if not it the ejection was not at all warranted.