I just have to vent… The call getting attention on r/nfl is the tackle where Pickett got hurt.

A few things:

1. The rule is that defenders are not supposed to land *on* the QB with their bodyweight, right? The rule isn’t that you aren’t allowed to use your bodyweight to tackle the QB. On the Pickett injury, the defender had him wrapped up and just drives through his legs to bring Pickett down. Because he’s holding onto him, he goes down at the same time and he lands with like 95% of his body on the grass and one shoulder touching Pickett. Pickett seems to get hurt because he hits the ground so hard on his shoulder, not because the defender landed on him with his bodyweight (he didn’t).

2. Most of the time, QBs fight going to the ground. Defensive players get absolutely roasted when they seem to just slap their arms on a QB and expect him to fall down, only for the QB to spin out and run off to make a huge play. So what do defenders learn to do? Bring the QB down as if he’s going to fight back. That means they have to put their body weight into it. That’s what the Jags defender did, but Pickett seemed to just go limp and let himself get slammed, which is most likely part of the reason he got hurt.

3. The hit on Trevor that got a roughing call is pretty lame. I think it’s a case where refs should use some judgment and say, “yes, the rule technically says you can’t land on the QB with your bodyweight… but…” The guy tackling Trevor in this case probably didn’t even weigh as much as Trevor. He also was coming in on a speed rush and trying to get the tackle before Trevor let go of the pass, so there wasn’t time for him to slow down and try a more gentle tackling technique. It got called, though. But Trevor also didn’t get a call when a player swatted the ball and whacked him in the face, either. Just like I’m sure the Steelers had other calls they didn’t get in their favor.

4. On the idea that the NFL has some agenda to want the Jags to succeed so they’re biasing the reffing in our favor? I mean… Anybody suggesting this should really take a long time to think about what they’re trying to sell. One of the smallest market teams in the NFL is benefiting from some kind of shadow plot by the league? How do people think this thing works logistically? Roger Goodell(sp) decides at the start of the year on a storyline for the NFL season? He then systematically encourages refs to make bogus calls and miss other calls every single week in order to push his narrative toward coming true? He does all of this and a) nobody has ever come forward and admitted it’s happening, b) no NFL owners have ever caught wind of it and c) he really believes faking outcomes in the NFL would be more compelling than just doing the simple and safe thing, which is letting teams play and see who wins?

5. Occam’s razor is the idea that the simplest explanation is often the best explanation. Refs are human. They are standing *on* the field at eye level with these giant human beings who are flying around at 20 MPH+ in all different directions. They are then trying to make snap second judgments on plays we’re watching in super slow motion from multiple camera angles.

Maybe the refs aren’t all carrying out some evil conspiracy by the league. Maybe they’re just human and some of them do a shitty job.

Do I think they should just take the human error out of it and find some way to use more of a sky judge approach? Yeah, probably. But the NFL is entertainment. Things like the chain gang, yellow flags flying on the field, the refs huddling up to talk about calls, reviews, challenges, etc… that’s all part of the product. We may think we don’t like it, but there’s a billion dollar business that says we seem to like it enough to keep watching, so maybe they know what they’re doing. Maybe all the flaws are part of the charm and add to the controversy.

/end rant