The fifth provision of Rule 12, Section 2, Article 12 (roughing the passer) says that: "A rushing defender is prohibited from forcibly hitting in the knee area or below a passer who has one or both feet on the ground, even if the initial contact is above the knee. It is not a foul if the defender is blocked (or fouled) into the passer and has no opportunity to avoid him." This new provision was anounced at the owners meeting on March 23, 2009.
Brady was not "forcibly hit" anywhere on that play. It was a terrible, terrible call.There is no interpretation of that rule which suggests intent is enough to satisfy the criteria for a penalty.
These posts appear to be correct to me. It was a bad call
according to the written NFL rule as far as I can tell. You can interpret 'forcibly' to certain degrees, but if you apply that to what Suggs did you're in denial. This was quoted by Dungy immediately after Rodney Harrison's comment. I don't understand why so many are conceding this as an appropriate call. I don't think we can have a meaningful discussion until people involved understand first that it appears to have been a bad call, not because the rule is bad, but because the rule was not violated. There was no forcibly via intent or reality. I have looked for the rest of Rule 12 online and haven't been able to find it, that's why I said "appears to be a bad call". If someone has access to the complete wording of Rule 12, I'd be interested in seeing it. Honestly, this a couple in the Chiefs game, another in the Charger game... man, this is getting silly, and I honestly started losing interest. The Jarrad Page hit on Steve Smith, called a personal foul, was a thing of beauty and the next play is a TD to Smith. That's just ruining football. It's a violent game. That's a major part of its appeal.