How was that not interference on Turpin (running into punt receiver)?

[KJJ]

look again. sure looked like both the Charger and the Cowboy contacted Turpin.

I’ve looked several times and Tolbert was the first one to make contact with Turpin after he was blocked into him. I don’t think it matters if the defender made some contact with him after that. It was the initial contact that caused Turpin not to field the punt.

 

[HungryLion]

Found this on a Charger Forum

"Ja’Sir Taylor is in his second year in the league, and for the second straight year he has made the same momentum-altering play for the Chargers.

When a punt returner calls a fair catch, they are supposed to be given a “free” opportunity to catch the punt without disruption from a defender. However, a clever wrinkle for special teams gunners to remember is there’s no rule against your own teammate disrupting your fair catch."
https://www.boltsfromtheblue.com/20...staley-cowboys-chargers-deane-leonard-broncos

If this is a "loophole" then why aren't more teams doing this? Need to get Bones on this ASAP!

Even still the one tonight was a penalty that should have been called because the chargers player made contact with the returner. Regardless of the cowboys played making contact, that alone is cause for a penalty.

 

[Runwildboys]

If they had simply made the correct call on the illegal hands to the face then none of the ensuing stuff would have mattered.

I'm not sure if the hands to the face would have negated the turnover. It may have just put them farther back.

 

[HungryLion]

I’ve looked several times and Tolbert was the first one to make contact with Turpin after he was blocked into him. I don’t think it matters if the defender made some contact with him after that.

Why wouldn’t it matter. The penalty clearly states they cannot make contact with the returner. The chargers player made contact with turpin.

Nowhere in the rule does it stipulate about the cowboy player making contact first. So it’s meaningless.

 

[bsbellomy]

There was no interference because the defender never ran into Turpin. One of the Cowboys players was blocked into Turpin.

Wrong watch it again

 

[bsbellomy]

Tbh I put this on Turpin. He should've just let the ball bounce.

Why? He should be able to catch the ball without any problem there.

 

[bsbellomy]

I’ve looked several times and Tolbert was the first one to make contact with Turpin after he was blocked into him. I don’t think it matters if the defender made some contact with him after that. It was the initial contact that caused Turpin not to field the punt.

And you'd be wrong

 

[KJJ]

Why wouldn’t it matter. The penalty clearly states they cannot make contact with the returner. The chargers player made contact with turpin.

Nowhere in the rule does it stipulate about the cowboy player making contact first. So it’s meaningless.

The problem was Tolbert was blocked into Turpin. It was the initial contact by Tolbert that caused Turpin not to be able to field the punt.

 

[KJJ]

And you'd be wrong

If I’m wrong then why did the call go the way it did? It was reviewed and even ESPN’s former official said it was the correct call.

 

[KJJ]

Fake news. The Defender in fact made contact with Turpin while engaged with Tolbert.... while simultaneously clamped to his face mask. I swear you live in an alternate reality.

However, the initial contact was made by Tolbert who was blocked into Turpin. This is why he couldn’t field the punt and got knocked down.

 

[Roadtrip635]

I'm not sure if the hands to the face would have negated the turnover. It may have just put them farther back.

It should have since it happened before the change of possession, back them up and re-kick.

 

[mldardy]

I couldn't believe it either, I found this.



No excuse for the Special Teams coach to ever allow such a thing, and Tolbert should have to walk to the airport. It's a rule that should obviously be changed.

Yeah totally all the Cowboys fault there

 

[buybuydandavis]

No reason to blame Tolbert on that, it was confusing for everyone.

Unclear if Tolbert could have seen that they did *not* touch the ball.

 

[Cowboys5217]

Found this on a Charger Forum

"Ja’Sir Taylor is in his second year in the league, and for the second straight year he has made the same momentum-altering play for the Chargers.

When a punt returner calls a fair catch, they are supposed to be given a “free” opportunity to catch the punt without disruption from a defender. However, a clever wrinkle for special teams gunners to remember is there’s no rule against your own teammate disrupting your fair catch."
https://www.boltsfromtheblue.com/20...staley-cowboys-chargers-deane-leonard-broncos

If this is a "loophole" then why aren't more teams doing this? Need to get Bones on this ASAP!

Even playing devil's advocate and granting all that it still does not get rid of the blatant hands to the face which should have been the first flag thrown which then negates everything that happened after that be it the interference, blocking into, contact with Turpin, muff, recovery or even this so called loophole.

 

[Cowboys5217]

I'm not sure if the hands to the face would have negated the turnover. It may have just put them farther back.

It occurred before the muff.

 

[Roadtrip635]

Even playing devil's advocate and granting all that it still does not get rid of the blatant hands to the face which should have been the first flag thrown which then negates everything that happened after that be it the interference, blocking into, contact with Turpin, muff, recovery or even this so called loophole.

Agreed the hands to the face was blatant and should have been called, but that being able to shove an opposing player into the returner seems messed up that it is an allowable act.

 

[buybuydandavis]

Looks like a foul by the rules to me. Pertinent text in red.

RULE 10 OPPORTUNITY TO CATCH A KICK, FAIR CATCH​

SECTION 1 OPPORTUNITY TO CATCH A KICK​

ARTICLE 1. INTERFERENCE. During a scrimmage kick that crosses the line of scrimmage, or during a free kick, members of​

the kicking team are prohibited from interfering with any receiver making an attempt to catch the airborne kick, or from obstructing​

or hindering his path to the airborne kick, regardless of whether any signal was given.​

​

Item 1. Contact with Receiver. It is interference if a player of the kicking team contacts the receiver, or causes a passive player​

of either team to contact the receiver, before or simultaneous to the receiver touching the ball. It is not a foul if a kicking team​

player is blocked into the receiver or the contact is the result of a foul.​

​

Item 2. Right of Way. A receiver who is moving toward a kicked ball that is in flight has the right of way. If opponents obstruct his​

path to the ball, or cause a passive player of either team to obstruct his path, it is interference, even if there is no contact, or if hecatches the ball in spite of the interference, and regardless of whether any signal was given.​

The blocker wasn't a *passive* player, he was an active one.
Item 2 says "passive player" as well.

I read the rules as putting no restriction on blocking an *active* player on the receiving team into the returner.

Seems like a crap rule, but crap rules no longer surprise me. If, as this thread indicates, the Chargers and other teams are weaponizing this rule, it will probably get changed next offseason.

I'm pushing 60 and have been a football fan since I was a kid. I've never seen a team do this before. Probably why the rule hasn't been canceled earlier.

However, I'd say the *first* paragraph was clearly fulfilled. The returner's path to the ball was "obstructed or hindered".

 

[Roadtrip635]

 

[Cowboys5217]

This conveniently does not discuss that the Chargers player also touched Turpin simultaneously to blocking Tolbert into him, nor does it even mention the obvious illegal hands to the face that preceded all of it.

It was a horrible call, and the league isn't going to get out of it. Might as well send the apology letter to Dallas tomorrow morning.

Also, for sake of clarity, the muff does not actually occur until Tolbert attempts to recover it.

 

[Doomsday]

I think the keyword in this rule is causes a "passive" player. Sounds like if the returning team initiates contact the other team can push them into the return man.

More of that player safety the NFL is always talking about.