Mark Barron Thought He Made A Nice Play
September 30th, 2012
Mark Barron flattens Robert Griffin III on a sack early in the second quarter, a beautiful, textbook tackle which offended the zebras.
Why is the NFL the most popular sport in America? The speed, the power, and yes, the violence.
In an effort to avoid lawsuits, the NFL under the watchful gaze of warden commissioner Roger Goodell had done it’s best to make football flag football. Today was a nauseating example of the highest order of how the NFL has dumbed itself down.
Washington was leading Tampa Bay 7-3 early in the second quarter when the Redskins started a drive back up to their own eight-yard line. On first down, from a shotgun formation, Bucs stud rookie safety Mark Barron, on a blitz, caught RHIII behind the line of scrimmage and bodyslammed him to the ground.
It was a beautiful tackle. Barron hit RGIII hard, shoulders squared and as defenders are taught, tackled through the ballcarrier.
Was it Barron’s fault that RGIII hit the ground hard? Hell no!
It was about as technically perfect as a tackle can be. And the referees, re-educated under the boot of Goodell and his cronies, determined that Barron’s tackle was too good, was too physical, and flagged Barron for a personal foul deemed “unnecessary roughness,” apparently forgetting for a brief moment that quarterbacks don’t wear flags.
A former Bucs defensive tackle sitting near Joe in the press box of the stadium on Dale Mabry Highway exclaimed, “That’s AWFUL!”
A little old lady who has something to do with a local magazine was even repulsed by the call, yelping, “That’s not a penalty!”
“Where’s the replacements when you need them?” asked disgustedFOX game analyst Tim Ryan on the network broadcast.
No, not even Barron thought it was a penalty. Though careful not to say too much to avoid having salt rubbed in the wound by getting fined for speaking the truth, as if he lived in a Soviet state, the only thing Barron told Joe about the play was “I didn’t know that was a flag, but it’s not my job to make that call. It was their job and they thought it was a penalty.”
Fortunately for the Bucs, the Redskins drive ended with a Billy Cundiff missed field goal.
Now Joe gets that the NFL wants to keep players safe. Joe’s not a neanderthal who wants players body parts shoveled off of the field. But damn, this is a physical game. The popularity of the NFL was built on plays like Barron’s.
If Goodell and his henchmen are concerned about the popularity if not the credibility of the NFL beginning to crumble, it is calls like that on Barron, sanctioned by the NFL suits, which will chase people away from the NFL a whole lot more than scab referees.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Totally ridiculous call, but I knew right away they were going to throw the flag. They are going to do anything and everything to protect Cam Newton 2012. Yet, funny how they don’t throw the flag on the helmet to helmet hit on Mike Williams in the fourth quarter. I’m not blaming the officials for the loss, but that was complete BS, and a game changer.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
disblief here…one of the worst calls i have seen, was Barron supposed to set him down gently???
September 30th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Not a neanderthal either Joe.. Football is a contact sport and over the years the effort to “protect” the quarterback has digressed to such a point where it is interfering with a player’s ability to properly perform his job. Ridiculous penalty.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1466833/barronslam_medium.gif
September 30th, 2012 at 9:09 pm
If you watch that replay, he doesn’t really even drive him into the ground. He lets up at the last second. I wish he wouldn’t have.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:11 pm
If I could have tackled like that I would have been a first rounder. That was textbook perfect!
September 30th, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Haven’t seen the play but even the Redskins radio announcers couldn’t believe it was a penalty! I say Redskins cuz the Bucs “flagship” station chooses NOT to stream the games on their website! What a joke!
September 30th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Maybe if the Bucs drafted a media friendly ESPN darling, Gatorade loving, subway eatin QB, we could get the same fairy dust and magic whistle calls.
Notice how Free never gets those calls. Cuz he’s a big dumb, endorsement-Free zone.
It’s not rocket science TAMPA! Get some dang talent down here that will attract TMZ and ESPN and we’ll start getting the calls.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
And that BS roughing the passer call on Mason Foster! I’m done!
September 30th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Can’t drive the QB into the ground behind the line of scrimmage. That has been the rule for a decade now. It is a good rule.
September 30th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
@Hand,
Agreed, but he’s no longer a QB at that point. Even the announcers said that. Not to mention that he didn’t drive him into the ground. He lifted him up and put him down. Big difference.
September 30th, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Textbook tackle! He was running the option at the time not even passing the ball. What a BS call!!!!
September 30th, 2012 at 10:26 pm
The QB is a QB whenever behind the line of scrimmage and he has the ball(barring a pass to himself Brad Johnson style lol).
You can argue all day how hard he was driven into the ground, but the rule isn’t about “how hard”. If he would have let go and let him fall, no penalty, but he landed on top of him with his shoulder in his chest. That will get called 100% of the time.
Still looked awesome from the stands lol. Griffin just softly ran right into him. Barron will soon be known for big time tackles if he keeps this up. Nice to have a big hitter back on the team.
October 1st, 2012 at 1:53 am
@Hand,
I actually just went through the official rule book (gotta love the internet), because that just didn’t sound right to me. It is, however, a judgement call as to whether or not the QB is trying to advance the ball. If it is determined that he is running outside the pocket, but not trying to advance the ball, then it is a personal foul. If, however, he is trying to advance the ball (again, a judgement call by the official), then he is treated as a running back and the play is legal. There is NOTHING mentioned in the rule book about being behind the line of scrimmage. This is exactly what the announcers said, by the way. I’ve watched the play about 50 times, and there is absolutely no way in hell Griffin was not trying to advance the ball. It was an option play – you can clearly see his pitch man.
October 1st, 2012 at 6:48 am
It’s actually way more dangerous to let someone go at the high point. In Ruby it’s a foul if you don’t tackle/lead him all the way to the ground.
If the tackler, Barron, lets go at the high point the tackled player, Griffin, will land on the back of his head risking major neck injury. There is nothing the tackled player can do to brace himself for that impact.
October 1st, 2012 at 6:58 am
Goodell, why don’t you just put velcro flags on the QBs and get it over with. If that was an illegal tackle, we need to start retraining all the way from the PAL level up.
On a funnier note, on that play, the 80 year old woman sitting behind us, in the end zone where it happened, looked at my girlfriend, with a mean, nasty scowl on her face, and said, “welcome to the f###ing NFL RGIII”. That’s the moment I’ll remember most about that game. The rest is forgettable.
October 1st, 2012 at 7:01 am
…another thing: if Barron takes his time getting Bob III to the ground on that play, Bob showed in that game that he was every bit capable of making a throw while in the grasp. Nice play Barron — keep doing it.
October 1st, 2012 at 5:29 pm
I thought It was a great, clean legal hit. The only reason it looked bad was because of Griffin leaving his feet trying to avoid Barron. It definitely impacted Barron’s thought process as in 2nd quarter at 6:03 mins left he was coming on a blitz & had clear lane to Griffin. Instead of crushing him for 2nd time in game he ran straight to RB who was blocking. It’s a shame bad calls impacted his decision making to point of avoiding Griffin as they scored very next play. On which refs missed the holding call on Talib 20 yds down field.
October 8th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
“Have A Nice Day Says:
September 30th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Can’t drive the QB into the ground behind the line of scrimmage. That has been the rule for a decade now. It is a good rule.”
He was running the option, at that point he is considered a ball carrier/running back not a QB in the pocket. The tackle was perfectly legal. You see him lowering his shoulder trying to run over Barron.
October 19th, 2012 at 3:05 am
Funny enough, they also took away a sack because they determined the QB was a runner…even though he was taken down behind the line of scrimmage. Seems as subjective to me as was a ball “catchable” or not. Asinine.