on the defenseless receiver thing

On Defensive Football

Peter King

FMIA Week 12: Seattle Steps Up As Path To Playoffs Begins To Take Shape

I’m not going to get into a screed about the death of football as we know it—particularly defensive football—as we sit here after 12 weeks … even though the three marquee games of the season have seen 80 points (Saints 45, Rams 35), 83 points (Patriots 43, Chiefs 40) and 105 points (Rams 54, Chiefs 51) scored.

By the way, for those saying the huge defensive plays last Monday in Kansas City’s loss to the Rams make all this a moot point, I say: There were three defensive touchdowns scored in the game, so would you say that a game with 84 points scored and 1,001 yards produced was big on D?

A couple points about the week in football.

• Think of a rule that has been made with the defense in mind in the last few years—I mean, a major rule. There isn’t one.

But let’s look at the effect of the defenseless-player rule. Which, in principle, everyone should support because of safety factors. There was a play on the first series of Rams-Chiefs that showed how truly preposterous the defenseless-play rule has become. Jared Goff threw a short pass over the middle to Robert Woods, who appeared to catch the ball at about the 7-yard line, with Kansas City cornerback Kendall Fuller in pursuit.

Poised to tackle Woods at about the 3-yard line is safety Eric Murray. Murray pauses for a moment, lowers his head, and appears to hit Woods somewhere in the chest region—there is not a clear view of the play on TV, or on the replay—and the ball is dislodged. In the old days, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, the safety would have blown up the receiver. Today, Murray made a perfect play, hitting Woods with his shoulder in what appeared to be his chest, and not at all violently. The ball bounded away. And a flag fluttered in.

Fifteen yards, ref Clete Blakeman ruled. “Unnecessary roughness. Hit against a defenseless receiver,” he announced in the stadium.

This is not an indictment of Blakeman, or the back judge who appeared to call it, Tony Steratore. They are enforcing the rules on the books. Even in a day when the safety of players rightfully is paramount, this call simply has to be revisited after the season. What Murray did is precisely what a defensive player should do in this case. He should lower the strike zone. He shouldn’t use excessive force.

Quite literally, the legal NFL alternative to what Murray did is to allow Woods to catch the ball, wait till he turns upfield, and then attempt to tackle him. At that point, on this play, there’s a good chance Woods would either be in the end zone by then or close to it.

I called Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, in the radio booth Westwood One that night, and asked him about the call. He was borderline apoplectic. “It was picture-perfect football by Murray, exactly what you’re trained to do,” Warner said. “And you can’t do it. I mean it just it’s absurd to me, the way they call this whole defenseless receiver penalty.

As much as I love offense … the defenseless receiver play I can’t get behind it. It’s just hard for me to watch football and see a great defensive play and he gets 15 yards for it. How do you play pass defense now? A guy throws it across the middle to your zone, you knock the ball out however you have to knock it out, and if you do that, you’re creating a penalty on yourself.”

“There was beauty in the game the other night. Back and forth, and I love offensive football. But to me the greatest part of any team sport is the competition. It’s knowing I get to go up against the best in the world and they have every opportunity to win as I do. You just don’t feel like that’s football.”