Late to the party here, but my impression was that there were at least two players at near ground-level diving headlong for the ball. Newton could have made a dive for it too, but (a) he would have put himself in the way of his teammate, and (b) probably gotten a good clout on the noggin for his troubles so he hesitated and after that pause it was too late.
Yeah, after that play I was thinking “man, halfway to the goal isn’t much of a penalty for something that blatant… he ought to be ejected.”
[1]
It was the football.
Loose.
On the ground.
Right at your feet.
Only Miller’s outstretched arm in the way.
In the Super Bowl.
Your team down by 6 and the only hope is to give your punter + defense a chance to give you another chance.
If response = “but other people are heading toward the ball” then goto [1]
We were discussing that at our Superbowl gathering. It seems unreasonable that a relatively minor pass interference can lose you the entire length of a field, but a hugely dangerous move to prevent a touchdown gets basically nothing. Football needs something like the penalty try rule in rugby.
Offensive holding in your own end zone results in a safety, so maybe a defensive personal foul inside your own five-yard line should result in a touchdown.
That’s a good point. I’d like to see a rule like that.
Also, perhaps there needs to be something more than just yardage from a penalty but not as severe as an ejection. I could see making a player ineligible for a quarter, almost like hockey’s penalty box. They do hit these players with fines, but it doesn’t seem to deter much.
It was entirely within the refs’ power to eject Talib for the flagrant facemask (and they certainly should have used that power). They should also have the ability to use video review for plays like that, as they do in college basketball. Whoever was manning the replay should have said “whoa! kick that guy out of the game”
Alstein
1767
There is something in the rulebook that allows the ref to award a touchdown for “egregious foul”, but that’s supposed to cover a guy coming in off the sideline from the bench or a coach tackling a player.
I’d expand that to intentional fouls that prevent touchdowns, such as that facemask.
As for Newton and that football, he said if he had dove he would have gone in awkwardly. The cleaning lady this morning said Cam was probably tired of being the only one on the field worth anything. My own personal thought is that he froze for some reason, and given what Cam puts himself through week to week I’m not going to question him on anything there except possibly a bonehead moment, which happens.
JonRowe
1769
Is it time for a 2016 thread?
The Joe Posnanski / Michael Schur combo columns are all great, and the Super Bowl one is no exception.
That was great. I especially loved the line, “I believe Brady will be suspended for four games for Manning’s Budweiser mentions.”
olaf
1772
I had a similar take the night of the game.
Speaking of Lynch: http://teamcoco.com/doom
That was a hilarious article Adam B, thanks for linking! The bit about Wade Phillips pre-game defensive planning with Von Miller and Demarcus Ware made me LOL. Great take on the game overall, the Panthers really did seem lost, like they weren’t at all ready to play actual football at game time.
