Dashon Goldson Avoids Suspension
September 30th, 2013
In today’s world of Roger Goodell’s powder puff NFL, hard-hits are not just frowned upon, but they can break a man’s bank account.
Hits that were legal only a few short months ago, and not all that long ago were accepted, coached up and encouraged, are grave penalties.
Guys like Ronnie Lott and John Lynch wouldn’t be able to play in today’s NFL.
Sadly, one player who plays football the way it was meant to be played, Bucs safety Dashon Goldson, has had to learn the hard, expensive way that touch football, not football, is the desired goal by Goodell.
Yesterday in the loss to the Desert Rats, Goldson blasted Jaron Brown along the right sideline. It was an awesome hit but Joe knew it would be trouble. Joe reasoned that Goldson, who was nearly suspended earlier this season and was able to get out of it through mediation, was going to pay a heavy price if not be suspended because it appeared he was hitting helmet-to-helmet.
Not so, says Goldson. He was just trying to knock Brown out of bounds. Fortunately, per Anwar Richardson of Yahoo! Sports, the NFL agreed with Goldson. No suspension.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Dashon Goldson was fined twice for his overaggressive play this season, and many NFL observers believed he would be suspended after delivering a hit to Arizona Cardinals receiver Jaron Brown this past Sunday.
Goldson received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty after a hit late in the fourth quarter. It appeared Goldson was trying to knock Brown out-of-bounds without a helmet-to-helmet contact. Apparently, the NFL agrees.
Joe has been conditioned to know that if a defender goes high, a yellow hankie will fly.
This is the thing about Bucs commander Greg Schiano Joe has a hard time wrapping his head around. Schiano is a discipline kind of guy. But why can’t he teach his defenders to hit the way Goodell wants hits to be made?
Schiano is probably, like many fans, appalled at what the NFL has become. But rules are rules and until those rules are changed, not following them could lead to (more) losses.
Abiding by the rules, no matter how much you may disagree with them, is called “discipline.”
September 30th, 2013 at 4:08 pm
well that’s some good news. I guess.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Sorry but football wasn’t “meant to be played” his way either. You should tackle and wrap up, not run like a blind bull into someone and try to smash them with your helmet into the hospital.
I’d really like to see all the fans who say football is getting too powder puff to stand with theiir arms up in the air and have Goldson smash his helmet into your head while you’re not looking and see your opinion after.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Great news for Goldson, aka, our most effective offensive weapon yesterday.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:16 pm
Fire greg schiano
September 30th, 2013 at 4:21 pm
WTF??? Is Schiano the one doing the tackling??? Do you not think he’s been telling Goldson to go lower? What is he supposed to do, bench him and put Ahmad Black in?? Give me a break. It was a clean hit obviously or the NFL would have suspended him. It was a bad call. That means it WAS NOT GOLDSON’S fault.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:22 pm
Did anyone watch the game? Did anyone see this play? How was he “going high”?
He led with his shoulder, hit Brown in the chest, and drove him out of bounds. That’s as clean a hit a safety can deliver these days. It actually looked textbook. That’s why there’s no suspension, that’s why there shouldn’t even be a fine, and that’s why there shouldn’t have been a penalty called.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:23 pm
In my opinion the NFL need to review every hit that they throw a flag calling it a helmet to helmet hit. With such a small window of an area and how close the shoulder is to the head and such a hefty 15 yard penelty. They throw a flag that can cost a team the game but the next day the NFL says, no our bad that was a clean hit.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:23 pm
@zam….go hug a tree or something peaceful. Obviously the violence of football upsets you. Did someone get an owee?
September 30th, 2013 at 4:27 pm
Seriously ZAM?? Not THAT hit. The referee actually said “the defender did not allow the receiver to become a runner.”
Put on a jersey ZAM!
September 30th, 2013 at 4:34 pm
That was a bad (but understanable) call….Understandable because it was Goldson & it was violent. Sure there are other ways to get the reciever out of bounds but I also think he was trying to knock the ball loose.
You can best believe if that wasn’t a legal hit the NFL would suspend Goldson.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:39 pm
This was a clean hit. The refs are reacting on the conservative side and there is no one on the field or at the game that can change it. I felt it was a legal, good hit in bounds. Player landed hard but this is football, not ballet.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:39 pm
I’m afraid I’m at a loss for words.
I realize my fellow Tampa fans might want Schiano fired. They say he is tearing the team apart. It’s simply not true. There was no team before he got here. Raheem destroyed it. Completely.
Schiano has brought the team together. Who exactly is complaining aside from former players, camp fodder or a demoted QB? All the starters may not be happy with a losing record but the are still keeping together.
The discipline issues are nothing like under Morris. These are all…all…penalty related.
I’m not happy with the offense but the defense is getting better and better. It bends but it doesn’t break.
The only real problems are offensive play calling (Sully) and the execution of the offense. Play calling is an easy fix…just adjust it to the players. Both Sully and Schiano have to be more aggressive…easier said than done with a rookie QB.
Execution is the players fault. They have to do better.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:46 pm
It’s not that hard to piece together why Schiano isn’t making the unsportsmanlike penalties a big deal with his players. The game has passed him by. He’s convinced that he’s Vince Lombardi and he’s going to run a roughneck football team that is going to line up and punch you in the mouth. Problem is, his offense isn’t punching anyone in the mouth and your defense is fighting dirty. Schiano cannot or will not adapt to today’s NFL. Whichever one it is, it doesn’t matter. Either way, we have no use for the Neanderthal coach we have right now
September 30th, 2013 at 4:50 pm
There is such a fine line between legal and not legal to call a player undisciplined is really not a fair statement, unless it is unnecessarily flagrant. Here’s how it seems to work. Kind of like “you’re guilty till proven innocent”.
If it is blatant, it is undisciplined.
If it is flagged, it’s still called undisciplined, even if it is found to be legal later.
This puts defensive players at an unfair advantage and it broad strokes a player as being undisciplined to the rest of the league unfairly. Especially when it predicated by a bad call.
So far Goldson has had only one that was considered flagrant but yet if asked who’s one of the most undisciplined safeties playing this year and most will say Goldson even though he’s had one flagrant foul this year.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:51 pm
@Bonzai
The starters and people still fighting for a chance to play aren’t going to rock the boat while they’re still living under the regime
September 30th, 2013 at 4:52 pm
As to Goldson…he knows the refs are targetting him. A hard hit was not even needed there. A shove was all that was needed. Had he thought before hitting it would not have been an issue at all.
And make no mistake. That penalty did cost us the game. It gave the Cards 15 and a first….leading to their score.
While it could be argued that a conservative offense played a role (and I agree to some extent), the bottom line is that penalty.
I even think the oline played marginally better.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Patrick in VA Says: September 30th, 2013 at 4:51 pm
@Bonzai
“The starters and people still fighting for a chance to play aren’t going to rock the boat while they’re still living under the regime”
So you are saying no one is complaining. Which makes all these claims that Schiano is “tearing the team apart” a myth.
September 30th, 2013 at 4:58 pm
BuccaneerBonzi- WHAT?? I think Goldson musta gave you a helmet to head contact!! You still trying to blame Raheem?? He was twice the coach this guy is.
I’ll do it the easy way
How many pro bowlers did Dom have on Raheem’s team? 0
How many on the lil emperors? 7
How many games did Raheem win in his second year? 10
The Emperor? 0 so far
September 30th, 2013 at 5:00 pm
They’re not complaining publicly. Every person that has gone on from here after Schiano took over talks about how they disliked the program and how the way he handled players was condescending and micromanaging. Just because they’re not complaining publicly doesn’t mean they’re not quietly grumbling within the locker room.
September 30th, 2013 at 5:04 pm
@ Patrick in Va
How exactly is our defense playing “dirty”?
September 30th, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Patrick in VA Says
“Problem is, his offense isn’t punching anyone in the mouth and your defense is fighting dirty.”
The defense is a work in progress. It is still top 10 in stopping the run. Secondary is around 13th. Pass rush is doing better and better.
I agree that Schiano is old school. But I disagree that he cannot or will not adapt. We just don’t know yet. Firing him before the end of the season, especially this early, would really destroy team chemistry since the players like him.
September 30th, 2013 at 5:09 pm
@TBBF
What I meant by dirty is the number of avoidable penalties that we keep racking up because we’re playing with the hard headed approach that we’re going to “play hard” and rules be damned. The rest of the league isn’t struggling to follow the rules the way that we are (save for Suh).
September 30th, 2013 at 5:10 pm
Capt…the year as only just started. And Schiano should at least have as long as Morris did.
And Schiano IS a better coach. Give him the same time and he’ll prove it.
September 30th, 2013 at 5:13 pm
I’m not unhappy about the production of the defense. In fact, the defense is the only thing that’s stopping the teams we’ve faced so far from blowing our doors off completely. But the inability to conform to the rules today is another example of Schiano having to have everything his way at the expense of everything else.
September 30th, 2013 at 5:16 pm
@ Patrick In Va
Dirty to me is a deliberate attempt to hurt another player by breaking the rules of football.
Playing hard is not playing dirty. You can recieve a penalty for a late hit or a hit on a defensless reciever without being “dirty”
September 30th, 2013 at 5:16 pm
i don’t understand how a team can run through tackling drills daily and still have this problem. i can’ imagine that any other NFL team has as big a disconnect between amount of preparation and looking prepared on sundays
September 30th, 2013 at 5:24 pm
@Tbbf – forgive me if I was unclear. The Bucs are not thugs or mercenaries. They’re playing lawlessly. They’re getting hits and stopping plays but we’re giving the yardage right back to the other team. I get that everyone’s figuring this new league out together but no other team is struggling as mightily as we are
September 30th, 2013 at 5:49 pm
I’m glad to hear this. That hit was 100% clean. Good for Goldson.
September 30th, 2013 at 5:52 pm
So now defensive have to wait for for the receiver to catch the ball, come down with it, make a “football” move & the tackle him?
September 30th, 2013 at 6:36 pm
zam = not a very big John Lynch fan.
September 30th, 2013 at 7:00 pm
freeman in stage one of league drug testing policy.
September 30th, 2013 at 7:21 pm
JK Says:
September 30th, 2013 at 7:00 pm
“freeman in stage one of league drug testing policy”
I saw that on ESPN just a minute ago. As a season ticket holder I’m pretty pissed off at the otganization right now. They friggin knew this was going on, but they sold us fans a lemon. Prescription pills huh? Oxy’s who knows? Wow. They are definitely getting a call from me tomorrow. The games are on TV and that’s one of the reason why I bought season tix in 1st place, because of blackouts I gotta get something out of this lemon that they sold us. I want a free parking pass or moved to seats in the shade or they can hang up my renewal for nex season. WTF?
Raphael does Josh get his pills from YOU?
September 30th, 2013 at 7:22 pm
Jrock – You and I saw that play EXACTLY the same way. It was a valid legal hit!
September 30th, 2013 at 7:24 pm
pick6 – don’t drink the Kool-Aid. That hit was legal, no helmet to helmet contact. The judges are just being little kitty cats (Puss**s)
September 30th, 2013 at 7:24 pm
JK…nope it’s.. Freeman is in stage one of the substance “abuse” program.
Now us fans are in stage 4 of the Buc fan abuse program.
September 30th, 2013 at 7:26 pm
I think refs should face a fine if they make a bad call that leads to a teams score.
September 30th, 2013 at 7:35 pm
Shouldn’t even of been flagged, I almost got in a fight in a bar up here over the hit!! Roger Goodell has brainwashed everyone and turned this game into a joke. You can tell that Goldson is playing with caution these past couple of weeks and it’s killing the game. Keep playing Dashon!! You’re a hell of a safety!!
September 30th, 2013 at 8:01 pm
The NFL has determined the best punishment is to force him to take the field with the rest of the team.
October 1st, 2013 at 5:05 am
Shoulder pad to the chest…wth else could he have done? Spun around and try to bump him with his ass?