Matt_In_NH

Steelers

That may be true but his numbers have been down the last two weeks. He was seen upset that he was not going in on a key third down. I tend to think this is more than just gameplan specific.

Agree with you, force is irrelevant per the wording of the rule for the reason you cited. I did not catch his feet in the air during the game, I assumed at least one was on the ground. If I understand the rules (which I may not) you cannot hit the passer in the knees forcibly whether "on time" or not unless you are blocked into him.

Forcibly is subjective so that gets decided by the ref, not a Bills fan....I think it qualifies. But I agree on the feet on the ground aspect, initial contact happened with feet in the air. That is an interesting part of the rule, doubt the ref was looking for that.

I think the need is more long term than short term. Get it healthy then he can come back. If there is any question, he gets a third week rest after this week with the bye, my guess is he does not play.

I think Clark was guilty of RTP based on the bolded below. When they started with the enhanced RTP, the driving to the ground was a point of emphasis, you can make conact in the strike zone but you need to try and not drive them to the ground. It is tough to be a defender these days but I think Clark could have and should have eased off. I think it was a flag but dont think he is dirty or anything. The crew calling the game does not know the rule. https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/nfl-video-rulebook/roughing-the-passer/ A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as “stuffing” a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball, even if the rusher makes his initial contact with the passer within the one-step limitation provided for in (a) above. When tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture (e.g., during or just after throwing a pass), a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down or land on top of him with all or most of the defender’s weight. Instead, the defensive player must strive to wrap up the passer with the defensive player’s arms and not land on the passer with all or most of his body weight. Also, this is why Oliver was guilty 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.

I have not noticed AJ much other than the Dolphins game when he was a total beast. I agree with your sentiment though, its good to see the young guys stepping up.

Do you think the call on KC was also "ticky tac"? Both calls, Oliver and the one on KC converted drivers that eventually led to TD's. KC had an INT wiped off the board. Or do you see the KC as obvious and egregious but the call on Oliver was ticky tac?

Fans are way more biased than any officials. Holding (Defensive and Offensive), Pass Interference (Defensive and Offensive), illegal contact, late hits are all subjective to some degree so you get different humans with different interpretations in situations they are trying to see a lot in real time. They are not incompetent, they are doing a job that is really difficult. Are they are human and have unintentional biases sometimes when it comes to marque players/coaches? Yes probably at times that happens. There is no agenda to make the Chiefs win because they are 2-2, that is ludicrous and it would come out at some point...just like Grudens emails came out. Go back and watch games pre instant replay when it was commonplace to have a clear turnover called down by contact or a clear dropped INT called a turnover that absolutely changed the game. No one complains much about what is ruled a catch/not a catch like a few years back, they cleaned it up in the rule book with common sense. Officiating has gotten better over the years, not worse and its not close. What has also changed is expectations of fans, slow mo instant replay in high def, instant tweats and memes. Subjective penalties are a left over human element that are not easily solved with replay or new rule language, its part of the game. I agree with the OP, the gameday thread was hard to look at because of the volume of complaining about the refs. There were bad calls in the game, I agree. From reading the gameday thread there were dozens and dozens, probably hundreds of non calls against the Chiefs....on the flip side there were 0 non calls against the Bills.

Who do you waive to make room? Assuming you want him active on gameday, who becomes inactive now? This seems kind of random, I mean is he better than Moss/Singletary? Maybe I guess, could see arguments either way.....but even if you think he is, it's such a difference that it "puts us over the top"? Marlon Mack does not put the Bills over the top, I would not think he would be the guy to put any team over the top.

Against the Bills or not that was a thing of beauty

This is an interesting comment to me. Pretty much fans of every team "thinks" the refs favor the other teams and not their team. They can't ALL be right can they? I mean Bills fans are right, we all know that but most of the other teams fan bases are incorrect in thinking the refs favor their opponents right?

The division is not out of the question for them. Sure they cant lose many more games but just beating the Chargers in their rematch would go a long way to closing the gap there. The Broncos and Raiders are pretenders.

Kc has played ravens bills browns chargers which along with kc are the other 4 teams that are the class of the AFC. They are wounded but will make the playoffs. Denver and Vegas will be behind them when all is said and done.

Kumerow started the game....there is clearly something going on with him and the Bills. Hope they figure a path forward.

Week 1 is forgiven

Nice drive Allen!

Daboll is ready for the blitzing.

Yes Chris you can’t drive him to the ground.

The offense needs a drive to end this game

Haack is a hack

Put a drive together!

Holy *****!!!!!

Controlled pass rush is working. It’s what teams do to the bills sometimes.

What’s killer penalty. Hard to blame Oliver. It’s just hard to be a defender with all these rules.