Two things I am curious about from yesterday's game. Let me stress here that I am not complaining about the non-call, because I am not certain I understand the rules to the degree needed to make that decision. Just curious what others think.
The first is the unprotected receiver and how that works. Is this a gray area, much like pass interference with the wording of the rule.
Receiver catches a pass and is immediately lit up by a safety. No step. No turn. The tackle coming from the blind side of the receiver.
Did this rule change? I do recall Dallas being flagged for a vicious hit on receivers where the safety got there just as the ball arrived, and blasted the receiver. Not saying helmet to helmet. But the receiver was unprotected.
What am I missing? The safety for Houston, who is a rookie and looks like a real safety the way he sacrificed his body and slammed players really caught my eye. I seldom see a player who is rather unknown and have this desire for that guy to be a Cowboy. But he was patrolling the middle of the field like a wrecking ball.
Is this another one of those murky rules which can be interpreted by the ref. And the subset rule that goes with it which says, "2B,sub @* if the collision is committed by a Cowboy, no matter how you have ignored these bludgeonings by the opposing team, a penalty will be accessed on the Dallas team, per R Goodell, President and lackey of Robert Kraft and John Mara."
Second, did you notice the defenders of Houston grabbing the helmet's of the Dallas ball carrier to tackle. Kind of reminded me of the head slap in days gone by. It seemed several defenders were using this technique.
Not saying it is illegal, but something you don't see a great deal of since tackling kind of requires more than a hand to the helmet.
