Refs miss blatant unnecessary roughness penalty in Patriots-Dolphins game
There was a very controversial no-call during the third quarter of the Patriots game that left one player heading into the locker room with an injury. Mac Jones threw the ball to DeVante Parker, but Dolphins' safety Deshon Elliott tackled the receiver to the ground with a blatant helmet-to-helmet hit. Parker was taken over to the […]
There was a very controversial no-call during the third quarter of the Patriots game that left one player heading into the locker room with an injury.
Mac Jones threw the ball to DeVante Parker, but Dolphins' safety Deshon Elliott tackled the receiver to the ground with a blatant helmet-to-helmet hit.
Parker was taken over to the sidelines and was immediately ruled out with a head injury soon after. It appears that he sustained a concussion from the hit, having lost his balance while attempting to get up.
According to the NFL official rules, there are multiple reasons to throw the flag for players in a defenseless posture. Here is one of the reasons:
"A receiver attempting to catch a pass who has not had time to clearly become a runner. If the player is capable of avoiding or warding off the impending contact of an opponent, he is no longer a defenseless player."
From the video above, it's quite clear that Parker did not have time to become a runner and he could not have avoided the contact due to the position.
And it was also a use of a helmet, where the player in question (Elliott) lowered his head and made "forcible" contact against Parker's helmet.
Based on the rules, it's clear this should have been a penalty and gave head coach Bill Belichick more than enough reason to be angry at the refs, which he very clearly was.
And Daniel Ekuale, who is currently on injured reserve with a torn bicep he suffered in Week 3, is watching the game and hasn't been silent about some of the poor calls (and no-calls) from the officials this game.
This was his reaction to the hit on Parker:
This is the second controversial move by the refs this game, also having called J.C. Jackson for defensive pass interference in the end zone, which was a soft call.
And that call provided the Dolphins with a new set of downs that they capitalized off soon after.
There have been some really bad calls and no-calls in the NFL this season, and this one can certainly be added to the list.
