ESPN Watkins: Spencer to appeal $5,000 fine...Rat's penalty under review

[WoodysGirl]

Spencer to appeal $5,000 fine
October 8, 2009, 12:22 PM
By: Calvin Watkins


IRVING -- Cowboys outside linebacker Anthony Spencer will appeal a $5,000 fine levied by the NFL for a face mask penalty during Sunday's loss at Denver.

"Hopefully they will see it my way," Spencer said.

Also, nose tackle Jay Ratliff was penalized 15 yards in the Denver game for a helmet-to-helmet hit on quarterback Kyle Orton. Ratliff's penalty is also under review.


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[DaBoys4Life]

He got fined for that? *** LoL .

 

[AdamJT13]

You get fined for any personal foul penalty, unless the NFL determines that it shouldn't have been a penalty.

Personally, I thought it should have been a 5-yard facemask, but I doubt the NFL will waive his fine.

Edit: Forgot they did away with the 5-yarder. So I'd say no penalty. He didn't twist the helmet at all, and he let go of it before Orton went down.

 

[dozin_theknick]

You get fined for any personal foul penalty, unless the NFL determines that it shouldn't have been a penalty.

Personally, I thought it should have been a 5-yard facemask, but I doubt the NFL will waive his fine.

I thought they did away with the 5 yard face mask penalty. 15 or nothing. I think his was closer to the nothing.

 

[Yeagermeister]

You get fined for any personal foul penalty, unless the NFL determines that it shouldn't have been a penalty.

Personally, I thought it should have been a 5-yard facemask, but I doubt the NFL will waive his fine.

The NFL changed the rule, last year I believe, and did away with the 5 yrd facemask.

 

[YosemiteSam]

You get fined for any personal foul penalty, unless the NFL determines that it shouldn't have been a penalty.

Personally, I thought it should have been a 5-yard facemask, but I doubt the NFL will waive his fine.

 

[DaBoys4Life]

You get fined for any personal foul penalty, unless the NFL determines that it shouldn't have been a penalty.

Personally, I thought it should have been a 5-yard facemask, but I doubt the NFL will waive his fine.

no more 5 yard penalties only 15.

 

[Hoofbite]

You get fined for any personal foul penalty, unless the NFL determines that it shouldn't have been a penalty.

Personally, I thought it should have been a 5-yard facemask, but I doubt the NFL will waive his fine.

I thought they did away with the 5 yard face mask penalty. 15 or nothing. I think his was closer to the nothing.

They did get rid of the 5-yarder.

Kind of sucks because that shouldn't have been a 15 yard penalty but it was obviously a facemask.

 

[Hoofbite]

Haha, look at how many people jumped in on this........

 

[Plumfool]

You get fined for any personal foul penalty, unless the NFL determines that it shouldn't have been a penalty.

Personally, I thought it should have been a 5-yard facemask, but I doubt the NFL will waive his fine.

Sooo the trip in ware should be a fine. Have seen news on it yet.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Cowboys LB Anthony Spencer to appeal $5,000 fine
12:57 PM Thu, Oct 08, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Brandon George/Reporter Bio | E-mail | News tips

Cowboys linebacker Anthony Spencer said Thursday that he'll appeal a $5,000 fine by the NFL for a face mask penalty he had Sunday at Denver. Spencer was called for the 15-yard peantly early in the third quarter while trying to tackle Denver quarterback Kyle Orton.

"I tried to hit the ball out or something like that and I hit his face," Spencer said. "Whenever they call it in a game, they're going to give you a fine for it."

Spencer said he feels like he's oh-so-close to coming up with his first sack. He just missed an interception early in the second quarter in the Denver game. Orton's pass went right through his hands and to RB Knowshon Moreno for a 9-yard touchdown.


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[Khartun]

I haven't rewatched it, but I though Rat's penalty was completely the wrong call at that time. He hit him in the chest/shoulder then slid up to the helmet. They can't control how the other player is going to fall. It didn't look to me like he led with the helmet either.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

You get fined for any personal foul penalty, unless the NFL determines that it shouldn't have been a penalty.

Personally, I thought it should have been a 5-yard facemask, but I doubt the NFL will waive his fine.

There are no more five yard face mask penalty calls.

 

[kmp77]

Since no one else has mentioned it, they did away with the 5 yard facemask penalty!

 

[Reality]

I thought they did away with the 5 yard face mask penalty. 15 or nothing. I think his was closer to the nothing.

They did do away with it .. however, they still call the 5-yard version .. they just use a different rule called "hands to the face".


-Reality

 

[joseephuss]

Since no one else has mentioned it, they did away with the 5 yard facemask penalty!

I always wondered how the first facemask penalty went down. No one were facemasks in the early days. Did they institute a facemask penalty when they first started putting facemasks on the helmets? Or did someone get yanked down hard by the facemask and they said "we got to do something about this"?

 

[EPL0c0]

Yeah, there is no 5yd facemask anymore. But it wasn't like he turned his head. The hand came across the facemask a bit, but he let go. It was tickytack IMO.

As for the roughing the passer flag...I was sitting near the top of the stadium and even I could see it was a lame call.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Fine appeal by Cowboys' Spencer has some merit


Posted by Tom Curran on October 8, 2009 2:00 PM ET

Anthony Spencer got handed one of those $5,000 FedEx envelopes on Wednesday with a New York postmark. The infraction committed by the Cowboys linebacker? A facemask penalty on Denver quarterback Kyle Orton last Sunday.

Spencer will appeal, according to Charean Williams of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

"I feel like [the fine] is unnecessary," Spencer told Williams. "I tried to come down on the ball."

Spencer's "I didn't mean to" lament won't likely carry much weight at the league offices. But maybe it should.

There's got to be some latitude given to defenders who inadvertently make contact with the quarterback's helmet in the course of a pass rush. Whether it was Spencer against the Broncos, or Baltimore's Haloti Ngata and New England's Mike Wright in the Ravens-Patriots games, there is an abundance of "blows to the quarterback's head" that aren't blows at all but inadvertent and insignificant contact.

Quarterbacks are moving targets. Their head position at the moment of release is often not the same as it was when a defender begins to make a move on him. Never mind the fact the defender is being forcefully redirected.

Why can't there be a 5-yard penalty for an inadverent blow to the head of the quarterback? The 5-yard facemask penalty was done away with in 2008 because incidental contact between hands and the mask is virtually inevitable. There were too many yards being walked off for something that was unintentional and insignificant.

The same thing exists on these "blows to the head." By instituting a 5-yard penalty for inadvertent occasions, the NFL can maintain its position of protecting quarterbacks who are prone (eyes trained down the field, hands occupied) while also allowing for the realities defenders are dealing with during a pass rush.

Florio, make it happen.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Oh awesome. The Ratliff penalty is under review. Big friggen deal. When they view it and realise it shouldn't have been flagged, even though they likely won't admit that anyway, it's not like it's going to change anything.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

I'm sorry but I interpret a Fifteen yard incidental face mask call as a way for the NFL and Officials to controll the game both literally plus emotionally.