Impending new emphasis on defensive holds

per Mike Pereira:
https://twitter.com/MikePereira/status/ ... 0248307712

I put this on the Hawks forum because like many of you who viewed the Hawks' 2014 schedule, I believe the nfl is conspiring against us this year -- and this is another way to do it. Take clean plays and throw penalties at the most physcial DB's in football.

Meh, it'll hurt every team equally.

They say that every year it seems like they also said that in the run up to the Super Bowl. It doesn't matter as long as they call it fairly for both teams something they rarely do.

Mike PereiraVerified account ‏@MikePereira

Btw, officials were shown many plays regarding illegal contact and defensive holding. How many Seahawk plays???. None.

https://twitter.com/MikePereira/status/ ... 1208710144

From Pereira:

I'm not worried. The notion that Seattle gets away with holding all the time is bullshit anyway.

therealsm":630dpolk said:

From Pereira:

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Much ado about nothing.

oasis":3053g088 said:

I believe the nfl is conspiring against us this year -- and this is another way to do it.

Click to expand...

Meh. Our guys are students of the game. If they alter the rules, or change the way they enforce them, our guys will figure out what they're doing and still have an advantage. They flagged Browner a few times at first, but that was more of a "Welcome to the NFL, rookie" than anything else. That all simmered down after a few games.

I'm more worried about their penchant for throwing flags and levying fines on legal hits than this.

Seahawks don't get away with any of that stuff any more than anyone else does, this is yet another myth that begins by some dumbass analyst making an unverified observation of an isolated scenario. This perception is only kept alive because they are good.

holds and contact have nothing to do with the fact that Thomas covers the whole field and essentially makes it so that the D is quite literally playing with 11.5 or 12 men because he's that good.

Which basically frees Kam up to cover the middle and take that away

which means our corners can blast guys legally at the line and then shut them down.

Excuses excuses.

OMG!!............wait......... (digesting info.)..........meh.

Birdfinger":1nn179bu said:

Mike PereiraVerified account ‏@MikePereira

Btw, officials were shown many plays regarding illegal contact and defensive holding. How many Seahawk plays???. None.

https://twitter.com/MikePereira/status/ ... 1208710144

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That's the key right there. People love to hate on the Hawks, but most of the "holding" they do that opposing fans complain about is perfectly legal.

The illegal stuff they do is the same amount as every other team in the league, and it is usually called correctly. Most of it is usually a panic reaction to being beat on a play, not an intention.

Once again teams and fans thinking it's about us, we play within the rules, the biggest problem is most the fans don't know the rules so think we are committing penalties.

That stuff is fine, I don't care what they call as long as they do it evenly.

I would like to see some more attention made to offsides not being called.

The other thing I would like to see is no holding calls made against a player who is offsides. I have seen offsetting penalties called where the defensive player left early and to protect the QB a blocker will grab the offside player. That is ridiculous and should be evaluated.

I expect this to be an issue in the preseason and early in the regular season. Refs called games super tight in the preseason last year, making some of those games almost unwatchable. Pete likes to push the envelope and go as far as he can without getting whacked. That will result in some growing pains early in the season before Seattle adjusts.

Maxwell grabbed players illegally quite often and was called for it only rarely since a lot of those plays were in the postseason where refs are notoriously lax. I already expected him to be a penalty magnet before reading this, so it should be interesting to see how he does when he can't grab quite as much.

The Seahawks were the most penalized team in the league last year and still won the Super Bowl, although I think about half of them came on Robert Turbin runs rather than defensive holding.

Not worried about it.

People don't know the rules. They don't understand the difference in rules from before the QB releases the ball and when the QB leaves the pocket compared to when the ball is in the air. Our coaches and players do and they play within those rules but to the average viewer it looks like penalties.

Scottemojo":2k3vglrb said:

I'm not worried. The notion that Seattle gets away with holding all the time is bullshit anyway.

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Both Greg Cosell and Cian Fahey said that thought was overblown and the Hawks don't get away with it anymore than any other team and both watch an extensive amount of film, the latter of which focused on DBs.

loafoftatupu":17dh14eu said:

The other thing I would like to see is no holding calls made against a player who is offsides. I have seen offsetting penalties called where the defensive player left early and to protect the QB a blocker will grab the offside player. That is ridiculous and should be evaluated.

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Actually the rules are already in place to prevent the QB from being hit in that scenario. "Encroachment" is generally thought of as defensive players contacting offensive players before the snap, but it also includes defensive players having a direct path to the QB. They blow the whistle when that happens, and if the defensive player still hits the QB it's a personal foul for a late hit. It's the reason why some apparent offsides penalties get blown dead. Any holding penalty an offensive lineman commits to try to protect his quarterback is his own fault for not knowing the rules.