Kyle: The last time I googled it, the NFL was still a tackle football league, so the answer is no. Browner made a distinct effort to use his shoulder and was penalized by the fact that he is 6’4″ tall. What the NFL should do is adopt a modified version of the NCAA’s targeting rule. When a targeting/above the shoulders hit is called in college football, the player is ejected and the penalty is assessed. There is a replay option to see if the ejection is valid. If it is deemed an illegal hit and it happens in the first half, the player is ejected and suspended for the first half the next week. If the penalty is upheld in the second half, the offending hitter is suspended for the entire game next week. What the NFL should do is to have the rule the same- an automatic ejection which is reviewable, but also, while reviewing the validity of the ejection, they should also review the hit. That way, a hit like Browner’s could actually overturned.
Rick: I don’t think Browner should have been flagged for the hit, but I have to say it is tough for the official to notice he didn’t go helmet-to-helmet in real time. My take on these penalties is they need to go to review to make sure there was direct contact to the helmet. If the play stands, then the penalty stands. Especially since the play ended up being a Devin McCourty touchdown, you never want these kind of calls to change the direction of a game. I understand the premise of the rule is for player safety, but in college, they review targeting penalties. Couldn’t we have that kind of review system in the NFL?
Raj: Absolutely not. We always say some of the really bad calls are one of the worst calls we’ve ever seen. But I’m not going to lie…that was one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen. Of course I’m not a ref (so what would I know?) but Browner was flagged for a helmet-to-helmet hit. Even if I look at a replay over 100 times over 100 different angles, there is not one instance of a helmet-to-helmet hit. In addition, Browner was just following through with the process (being a hardcore hockey fan, I’m really tempted to say finishing his check.) and it was unfortunate that Green was in his way. Everyone should see that Browner also didn’t intentionally try going to Green’s head with his shoulder either. Though the Patriots picked off Philip Rivers in that drive anyway, I still feel this was a bad call because it took Devin McCourty’s clear pick-six off the board for New England.
Derek: Absolutely. That was a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary awesomeness.
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