By now you’ve seen or heard the call: Hitting a defenseless receiver. The NFL is turning into a soft league. Well this may be so, but its nothing new. This video today shows a 1987 game by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the Detroit Lions. Vinny Testaverde was a rookie back then. He came off his first ever start where he threw for over 350 yards, a record at the time. Vinny was a strong QB who could evade a tackle. But the new rules were in place to save QBs. All you had to do was grab a QB and he was “in the grasp”. The rule was never really changed, but over time, its rarely called. These days, you have to really have a QB in your arms, and then it will be called.
Back in 1987, some officials were really overzealous with it. Here is one example. Under no circumstances could anyone expect this play to be ruled dead because of in the grasp. Hopefully we never see an Defenseless Receiver call this bad this year.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kpAw0AgwhOI?hl=en&fs=1
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