Remember that roughing the passer video the NFL was going to send out? It was supposed to contain the hit by Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews on Kirk Cousins.
Didn’t.
It did contain the hit by Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr on Aaron Rodgers, last season. You know, the one that broke his collarbone.
Even though the competition committee is talking about the rule next week, the league and the committee aren’t expected to change it. They can, however, change the way it’s officiated. That appears to already be what’s happening.
According to Kevin Seifert, there have been 34 roughing the passer penalties this season, more than twice the total over the same period in 2017. Someone at league headquarters has told officials to make this an emphasis.
Matthews has three of those penalties. Two of them were BS.
One of them cost the Packers a win.
NFL executive vice president and Badger great Troy Vincent issued a statement this week that went out to teams showing the right and wrong ways to sack the quarterback. It did not say the league was looking to reduce the number of these penalties. However, remember that helmet-to-helmet rule that was overcalled during the preseason? Something that happens on pretty much every play?
Vincent came out with a statement then and that dumbass crap has rarely been called since.
“I don’t know if that statement really expresses how they’re going to call it moving forward,” Matthews said. “I’m sure what many, if not all of NFL fans and players, are hoping is that they’re not changing the rule but much like the helmet rule we saw in the preseason, it’ll change. But I said that after the Minnesota hit on Cousins, and nothing changed last week. If that’s the case, that’s truly unfortunate because I think I speak on behalf of everybody that doesn’t like the rule and the way it’s being called and the way it’s being officiated.”
Hey, player safety. Hell yeah!
But, football. Fuck yeah!
Can we stop being stupid about this? You don’t want to get hit? Play baseball. And you still might get hit — with a fastball.
It seems like something is going to change, which is three weeks overdue, at least. Matthews says he spoke to Packers president Mark Murphy, who is on the competition committee, and asked him what to do differently.
Murphy told him not to do anything differently.
“That’s the biggest thing is, from speaking with Mark, coach Mike, my position coach, everything, it’s not to change a thing,” Matthews said. “I just think somehow you need to program something in your head that when you’re coming with those straight-on hits with the quarterback, to pick a side, maybe go after the ball. Those are going to be the tough ones. As a pass rusher, most of your sacks — that’s not true.”
RULES! Made by guys who, mostly, never played the damn game.
And let’s be honest. Guys who only care about money and TV ratings.
And maybe fan disgust. And I think everyone is disgusted right now.
Well…one of the guys who was instrumental in crafting and approving this new rule is Mark Murphy, a member of the competition committee.
What has he said? Has anyone seen him?
Much like during the Martellis Bennett drama, when Ted turned into more of a ghost than he already is, Murphy hasn’t been seen or heard from, just like his hero.
I despise the hierarchy of this team, and i can’t wait for the day justice is done, in whatever form that entails. This team (and Packer Nation) are bathing in Teds and Murphy’s dirty bathwater and i’m getting damn tired of it.
No offence to those thinking the Packers have a chance to go all the way. Keep the Faith.
True. They aren’t going to win another championship until they clean house. From top to the bottom. Front office to those sewing ladies. I want them all out of here. Whos Murphys hero?
I don’t know who Murphy’s hero is, but I do know Murphy is a life long fan of the Buffalo Bills. So Murphy’s got that going for him this weekend. I would love it if there was a TV shot of Murphy in the booth cheering a Bills big play.
Remember when we had to listen to Murphy spew shit out of his mouth earlier in the year when they were going through front office changes? Dude was such a shady lying sack of ginger. Hearing him try to weasel his way around questions was like nails on the chalkboard. I’m glad I don’t have to listen to him any more than I have to because it just pisses me off. I don’t know who’s the worse public speaker, Murphy or Ted…
Gutekunst, on the other hand, has been a breath of fresh air in those regards. He actually talks to the media and is good at doing so, at least from what I have heard. He doesn’t sound like a bumbling idiot who’s trying to cover his ass at every corner like the other three stooges.
Hell yes, at Murphy’s first news conference regarding Ted…..
It started out with Murphy’s stupid joke that no one laughed at, followed immediately by Murphy’s fake laugh, and then…it went downhill from there. With the lies of it was a “mutual” decision. Followed by how the new GM would have full control over hiring coaches, which a week or so later proved to be another lie.
Having Aaron Rodgers has been a blessing for us Packer fans, but it has also been a curse, because winning seasons provided the hierarchy in Green Bay to bathe in a completely uncountable atmosphere.
I suspected the report was false when it came from Tom Pellisaro, an NFL reporter who bailed on the Packers to become a Vikings reporter. This was just some made up BS so that his fellow Viking fans had some weak argument to make about a game the Vikings clearly should have lost.