Safety First!

Now that the playoffs are well under way, you might notice that the level of play becomes more…intense.  Every play is more significant, emotions run higher and trailing teams become more desperate.  Consequently, regard for personal safety becomes, well, disregarded.  So, I thought it would be a good time to review some of the rules that are intended to protect life and limb.

Facemask:   It is illegal to twist, turn or pull a player’s facemask.  The rules used to distinguish between an incidental facemask, which carried a 5-yard penalty, and a flagrant facemask, which resulted in a 15-yard penalty.  Under the current rule, the contact with the facemask must lead to a twist, turn or pull of the facemask to draw a flag. 

Uniform Requirements:  Other than specifying color schemes and brands of uniforms, many of the rules pertaining to the uniform address player safety.  Examples include requiring chin straps to remain snapped and specifications for pads and any casts or braces worn by players.  Click here for our post on uniform rules.

Horse-Collar:  Tacklers are prohibited from “grabbing the inside collar of the back of the shoulder pads or jersey, or the inside collar of the side of the shoulder pads or jersey, and immediately pulling down the runner.”  A take-down of this kind is called a “horse-collar” tackle.  It is important to clarify that the tackler must pull the runner down immediately after grasping the inside collar for the penalty to be called.  If he grabs him but the runner continues to run a few steps before being grabbed and tackled another way, there is no foul.  This is an interesting rule because it was enacted in the NFL long before it made it into the rule books at the college, high school and youth levels.  Usually, safety-motivated rule developments start at the lower levels and work their way up.

Unnecessary Roughness:  The name is self-explanatory, and is often used as a catch-all penalty.  Common examples (some of which I explain further) include: 

·         Hitting a player who’s run out of bounds;

·         Roughing the passer;

·         Roughing the kicker;

·         Sliding into, or diving onto, a player who is already down;

·         Using part of the helmet to spear or ram another player; and

·         Hitting a defenseless opponent.

Hitting the Kicker:  The rules differentiate between “running into” the kicker and “roughing” the kicker:

·   It’s “running into” the kicker if a single defender contacts the kicker without touching the ball after it’s been kicked;

·   "Roughing” occurs if the contact rises to the level of unnecessary roughness, in the discretion of the referee.

The distinction is critical because running into the kicker comes with a 5-yard penalty which roughing results in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down for the offense.  Since these penalties typically occur on fourth downs when the offense is punting, these penalties, especially roughing, can be devastating for the offending team.  And they make coaches really angry!

Roughing the Quarterback:   This one always gets people going, whether it’s the offense complaining about the defense trying to kill its quarterback, or the defense displaying utter shock that introducing the QB to the turf drew a flag.  Commentators and the media like to fan the flames as well.  But, the league has placed a particular emphasis on protecting quarterbacks in recent years and the referee will not hesitate to call a penalty when a quarterback is tackled well after he has gotten rid of the ball, especially if the defender makes contact with the QB’s head. 

Hitting a “Defenseless” Player:  There is a lot involved in this one, and it has been a point of emphasis in recent years.  There are actually two separate provisions in the rules:

·   Players are prohibited from “launching” into a defenseless opponent.  To be an illegal “launch,” the player must (1) leave both feet “to spring upward into his opponent” and (2) use any part of his helmet to initiate contact against any part of the opponent’s body. 

·   It is also illegal to initiate “unnecessary contact” against a “defenseless” posture.  “Unnecessary contact” is either:  lowering the head to make contact against the opponent with the top of the head; or using the helmet, facemask, forearm or shoulder to hit the opponent’s head or neck area.  This includes those “helmet-to-helmet” hits you’ve probably heard about, and which now carry fines from the league.  The following are some examples of “defenseless” players:

o   The quarterback, while throwing, or just after throwing, a pass;

o   A receiver who is trying to catch a pass, or who has just caught it and is not yet considered a “runner”;

o   A player trying to catch a kick that’s still in the air; and

o   A player who’s already on the ground.

The recent emphasis on these rules was prompted by a series of vicious hits last season, particularly on October 17th, which became known as “Black Sunday.”  One hit in particular drew national attention—when Steelers linebacker James Harrison clocked Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi (#11 in picture).

Making Progress: Part 3 of 3

Today we wrap up our three-part series on forward progress with a discussion of how it impacts whether a safety is scored.
 

SUMMARY:

·         A safety results in two points to the defense when a play ends in the offense’s end zone

·         After a safety, the offense kicks the ball to the defense

·         Forward progress can keep a safety from counting

 

SAFETY DEFINED

You might be thinking, “Wait, I thought a safety was a player on the field!?!”  It is.  A safety is also one of the ways that the defense can score points... two points, to be precise.  According to the NFL online Rules Digest, a safety occurs when the ball is dead on or behind a team’s own goal line if the impetus came from a player on that team.  In other words, a safety occurs when a play ends in the offense’s own end zone, if an action by the offense caused the play to end up there.

A safety can happen several ways, but the most common is when a player is tackled in his own end zone.  How does this happen?  It is usually because the line of scrimmage was very close to the goal line, like the offense’s 1- or 2-yard line.  It may have ended up there because, among other things, a punt was downed there, or the offense lost a lot of yardage on the previous play.

A safety will also be called if the offense commits a penalty inside the end zone and that penalty is one that is enforced from the spot of the foul.  The clearest example of this is offensive holding.  When a holding penalty is called, the offense is pushed back ten yards from where the holding occurred.  Therefore, if holding happens in the end zone, it results in a safety.

Officials signal a safety by raising their arms over their heads and pressing their palms together.

FORWARD PROGRESS

What does forward progress have to do with safeties?  Look again at the definition from the NFL Rules Digest.  A safety occurs when the play ends in the end zone if the impetus of the play came from a player on offense.  This means that the player has to put the ball in his own end zone under his own power.  Sound familiar? 

We have already learned that the rule of forward progress gives the ball carrier credit for yards he gains under his own power.  Imagine, for example, that the line of scrimmage is the offense’s 1-yard line (so they have 99 yards to go to score a touchdown).  At the snap, the quarterback gives the ball to the running back who runs to the 3-yard line.  He is met at the 3 by a herd of defenders who stop his momentum and push him back into the end zone where he goes down.  Instead of a safety, the new line of scrimmage should be the 3-yard line.  However, if the running back had run back into his end zone to avoid the herd, it would be a safety.

If you read my first post, you know that I am not an Ohio State fan by any stretch of the imagination.  However, below is a video of when OSU got completely hosed by a bad safety call:

This should not have been called a safety as the running back clearly made it out of the end zone and was driven back into the end zone by the defense; he didn’t run there under his own power.  It didn't affect the outcome because OSU won, but this could have been a costly error by the officials.

By the way, the offense’s woes don’t end with having two points scored against it.  After a safety, the offense must then kick the ball to the other team, which then goes on offense.  Under the NFL rules, the offense can kick off using a punt, placekick without a tee (so one player holds the ball for the kicker), or a dropkick.* 

Interesting, huh?  Safeties are rare in football, so don’t expect to see them on a weekly basis.

 

*A dropkick is where a player drops the ball and then kicks it when the ball bounces off the ground.  Dropkicks are kind of cool.  In fact, I’m going to write a post just on the dropkick because there is an interesting one in NFL history.

The Secondary: Safeties and Cornerbacks

We have already learned about the defensive players that battle the offense at or near the line of scrimmage (LOS):  the linebackers and defensive linemen.  Today’s lesson features those players who make up the last line of defense before the end zone:  the safeties and cornerbacks, known collectively as the secondary.

SUMMARY

·         Safeties and cornerbacks make up the secondary

·         The secondary has primary responsibility for defending pass plays but must also recognize and defend against running plays

·         The secondary can disrupt passes by blocking receivers, preventing catches and intercepting passes

·         Players in the secondary can also be used to rush the quarterback

·         These players are most likely to commit pass interference, illegal use of hands and defensive holding penalties

TERMS TO KNOW AND LOVE:  safety, cornerback, strong safety, weak safety, man-to-man defense, zone defense, interception, YAC, sack and blitz

GOALS OF THE SECONDARY

As we have discussed, a team’s defense aims to:  prevent the offense from scoring; cause turnovers; and score points for its own team.  The players on the secondary support these goals by:  (1) preventing offensive players from catching passes from their quarterback; (2) intercepting those passes; and (3) preventing a runner from catching a pass in the end zone or running into the end zone after catching a pass.

POSITIONS

Cornerbacks: Before the play starts, the cornerbacks (or “corners”) usually line up opposite the offense’s receivers, within a few yards of the LOS.  Under the rules, defensive players can impede an offensive player’s ability to move down the field within 5 yards of the LOS.  However, once a receiver has advanced five yards past the LOS, a defensive player is no longer allowed to keep him from running downfield.  Therefore, the corners will meet the receivers as they cross the LOS and attempt to keep them from running those first five yards by bumping or pushing them. 

Safeties:  A team might have two different types of safeties on the field at once:  a “strong safety” and a “weak safety.”  These terms are not judgments on each player’s strength or talent.  A strong safety is generally responsible for the “strong side” of the offensive formation.  For example, an offense might have a tight end and two receivers lined up to the quarterback’s right-hand side, but only one or two receivers on his left-hand side.  The strong safety, then, will be responsible for defending plays that develop on that player-heavy side of the field (which in this case is his left, since he is facing the offense).  The weak safety will take care of the other side of the offense.

RESPONSIBILITIES

When the ball is snapped, the corners will bump, or block, the receivers at the LOS (within that 5-yard zone), then run with the receivers if they continue down the field.  On a running play, the receivers become blockers for the runner, so the corners attempt to fight off the receivers’ blocks so they can pursue and tackle the runner.  Once a run play is recognized, the safeties will also converge on the runner to tackle him.

On a passing play, the secondary tries to either keep the receivers from catching the ball or will try to catch, or intercept, the pass themselves.  Generally, the secondary has two ways to do this:  (1) each player in the secondary is assigned a specific offensive player to cover, called “man-to-man defense”; or (2) each player in the secondary is assigned an area of the field to cover, called “zone defense.”  In zone defense, once a player runs out of your zone, another player on the secondary is responsible for that receiver.  There are many variations on both types of defense, but we’ll leave these for another time.

To keep a receiver from catching the ball, the defender can try to prevent the receiver from running his designated route, thus leaving the quarterback without that target.  He can also be so close to the receiver physically that the quarterback will throw the ball to a different receiver so the pass isn’t intercepted.  If the quarterback does throw the ball to his receiver, the defender can knock the ball away as it comes to the receiver (called “breaking up the pass”).

The defensive player can get an interception by either catching the ball as it comes to his receiver, or he can “break on the ball,” and run to a different spot on the field where he thinks the pass is going.  Of course, he had better be right about where the ball is going because he runs the risk of his receiver catching the ball and running free to the end zone.

If a receiver catches a pass, the corners and safeties both want to keep the yards the runner gains after the catch (called “Yards After Catch” or “YAC”) to a minimum.  Therefore, they work together to tackle the receiver as soon as possible.

Finally, one or more members of the secondary may be called upon to rush the quarterback on a given play.  This is either intended to tackle the quarterback behind the LOS for a loss of yards (called a “sack”), or to disrupt the quarterback so he is unable to complete a pass.  The use of a player from the secondary in this capacity is one form of “blitz” play.  In general terms, a “blitz” is a play in which one or more players that are usually assigned to defend the run or pass (like a linebacker, safety or corner) is committed to rushing through the offensive line to rush the quarterback.  Blitzes come in different formations and are used in a variety of circumstances, so they merit a post of their own.

As you can see, the secondary has several jobs that they must be able to perform on any given play. Therefore, as a general rule, safeties and corners are the most athletic players on a team's defense; perhaps on the entire team.  This may be why these players in particular tend to be more arrogant and outspoken.  Some corners are so successful at dominating receivers that quarterbacks avoid targeting the receivers they are covering.  A great example of one of these so-called "shut down corners" was "Neon" Deion Sanders, a.k.a. "Prime Time" (both nicknames self-given), an incredibly talented cornerback who played for several NFL teams, most notably for the Dallas Cowboys.  Though he is known for his talent as a cornerback, he played other positions including receiver and kick returner.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011, the first year he was eligible for that honor.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed in the preseason, players in the secondary run the risk of committing a variety of penalties in their defense of their end zone, which can be very costly for their team.  Such penalties include pass interference, illegal use of the hands and defensive holding.  Stay tuned to this blog for a full discussion of these and other exciting infractions.