Last play for Green Bay down 2 points – 75 yards to go. Lions tackler gets to Aaron Rodgers and reaches for his shoulder – Rodgers dips his head an his face mask is touched by the open hand that does not grab the facemask but slips down to the shoulder and pulls Rodgers down. Happened so fast the ref behind assumes his hand was in the facemask and gives Green Bay one more play – a 61 yard hail Mary touchdown pass. Another game stolen from the Lions by poor officiating.Here’s the rule:GRASPING FACEMASKArticle 5 No player shall twist, turn, or pull the facemask of an opponent in any direction.Penalty: For twisting, turning, or pulling the mask: Loss of 15 yards. A personal foul. The player may be disqualified if the action is judged by the official(s) to be of a flagrant nature.A.R. 12.12 Third-and-10 on A30. Runner A1 runs to the A33, where he is tackled by B1, who incidentally grasps A1’sfacemask on the tackle, but it is not a twist, turn, or pull.Ruling: A’s ball, fourth-and-seven, on A33.
When you are a loser – these things happen to you________________
I don’t have a problem with the ref making that call. In real time, you see a hand near a facemask and then you see a player’s head jerk. As Dean Blandino said, a ref is going to call that a 15 yard personal foul almost 100% of the time.
it will just help the Lions get a higher draft pick
The Gators, Jags, Bucks, Dolphins – they are right up there with the Wolverines and Lions this year….. all just looking toward next year. Michigan’s best chance to win a New Year’s Day bowl game would be to get paired up with Florida again. Never lost to them- even when they had a Heisman Trophy Winning QB under center. We just can’t play poorly enough to lose to the Gators. Hopefully the Gators will make the Citrus Bowl and meet us there- LSU would slaughter either one of us
The five yard penalty for incidental grasping was removed before the 2008 season. If you simply touch the facemask, it is not a penalty. Spartanfan cited A.R. 12.12 from the digest of rules which describes an incidental grasp (more than just incidental contact) that is not a penalty.
Friend, its all part of the Aaron Rogers Conspiracy, which includes a number of sports commentators and writers, media outlets, advertisers and elements of the NFL. You see the Packers are storied and the Lions are, well their not. No Bart, no Vince, no Brett, no frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, no Super Bowls I & II. Detroit is Cleveland without the lovable losers story, sorry. So you got your evil empire in New England with its pretty boy QB on the AFC side of things, now you need the Pack back with Aaron walking on water for the old NFC/NFL teams. Or, maybe Detroit just lost the game. They looked great the first half.
Would it have really mattered? At the end of the day, they’re still the Detroit Lions.