Clark's Hit on Welker Ruled Legal
The NFL is calling the jarring hit by Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark that knocked New England Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker from Sunday's game at Gillette Stadium legal.
Clark was penalized on the play for hitting a receiver who was in a defenseless position and, given the league's propensity for fining players this season for illegal hits that risk injuries, it seemed likely that a significant fine by the NFL would follow this week. Welker didn't return to the game and had his NFL-record streak of 11 straight games with at least six catches to open a season ended.
But Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating, told the Boston Herald that Clark's hit on Welker was legal.
"A lot of people think it's a foul to leave your feet," Pereira told the newspaper. "Launching is not a foul. There is nothing in the rule book that states that at all. It's a misconception people have.
"It is a foul to hit with your helmet against a defenseless receiver. It is a foul to throw a forearm into the neck or head area of your opponent. I don't think either of those things happened. I'm not a fan of those high hits but if you do it with your shoulder you're okay."
Pereira is not in charge of assessing fines. But given his assertion that the hit was legal, it appears virtually certain that Clark won't be fined.
Even with his assertion that his review of the play determined the hit to be legal, Pereira said he was not upset with the officials for calling a penalty on the play.
"The actual hit itself is probably okay but the officials are told to err on the side of safety," Pereira told the Herald. "That was a tough call to make in real time but we want to lean toward safety. The rule clearly states if you don't lead with your helmet it's not a foul, but we threw the flag and I'm happy we did because I think we need to do it when in real time it looks so tough. It looked like a decleater type hit."
By
Mark Maske
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December 3, 2008; 11:55 AM ET
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Posted by: Bill Flynn | December 7, 2008 11:23 AM
The below is from an article in 2003 and I would assume that the officials have only erred on the side of safety even more now, so I think the NFL might want to review with their officials before coming out and making comments about "Launching."
According to referee Terry McAulay, if Florence leaves his feet to make
the same type of play during the regular season, he will pick up a
15-yard personal foul penalty because the NFL has done a better job of
defining what is an illegal hit and what's not.
"It doesn't even have to be a helmet-to-helmet hit," said McAulay at the
Chargers' training camp at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
"Launching with a shoulder would be a foul too. The key is, you can't
launch at anyone that is defenseless, usually meaning receivers and
quarterbacks. When you jump in the air and launch yourself into a hit,
that's a foul."
Posted by: skip11 | December 3, 2008 5:09 PM
"It looked like a decleater type hit."
Is every big hit now going to draw a penalty? Sounds like he just put the kibosh on all decleaters.
Posted by: Cavalier83 | December 3, 2008 12:23 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
It was one of the most cowardly vicious hits I have seen in 40 years of watching football.