Can Someone Explain How It Wasn't a Penalty?

I don't see that play as a penalty. Brooks is not a dirty player. He tackled Brees with his right arm wrapped around Brees' shoulder as he was running past. Brees' head fell underneath the arm tackle as he fell backward. Not a penalty to me.

What I find funny was that when Kaep was sacked 47 times the refs couldn't find fault in any of those.

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

I don't see that play as a penalty. Brooks is not a dirty player. He tackled Brees with his right arm wrapped around Brees' shoulder as he was running past. Brees' head fell underneath the arm tackle as he fell backward. Not a penalty to me.

Exactly. But the NFL will fine him just to back their refs.

Anybody remember the SuperBowl no-calls. The refs were so scared to throw a flag in that game that they literally allowed the Ravens to cheat there way to a SB victory.
In real time the hit on Drew Bree's must have looked pretty bad, but when you take a gander at the slow-mo replay it's clear that Brooks intent wasn't malicious and the initial hit was Brooks chest making contact with Bree's shoulder pad. In my opinion the worst way to win or lose a game is when it comes down to a ref making a bad call or no-call.

Originally posted by Dshearn:
That has to be called.

It was to close to being a foul...

In real time, full speed....they have to call that a foul.


Course....it was not a foul. That was a legit hit.

Exactly! I mean, did you see that still-shot of Brees eyes (deer in headlights)? He KNOWS he's about to get destroyed. It looked brutal from one angle...the other angle they showed in real time, not bad at all. In fact, it just looked like a forced fumble. But if I was standing behind and I was the ref and see Brees' head look like a pez dispenser, I may call that as well. But...it was legal. Too bad.

What drove me crazy about the call was Brooks shed the block high and was immediately right on Brees. He did not have the time to change his body position and lower the strike zone. What he did show was the awareness to not lower the crown of his helmet or touch Brees in the head. His arm also first starts in the upper chest area and the impact causes Brees to fall into Brooks sliding up in to the neck area. If that deserves a flag then the QB should just have a two hand touch rule.

Originally posted by niners94:
It wasn't a penalty. Notice how his arm was bent when hitting him. If it was straight, then yes. It was close but not a penalty.

Also, if you watch it again in slow motion, you actually see Brees turning TOWARDS Brooks (protecting the throwing arm). If he had stayed square that would have been shoulder-to-shoulder contact (form hit/tackle). Also, Brooks lets go as well and doesn't DRIVE him into the ground which I see all the time (never called).

This is why personal foul penalties need to be reviewable. Everyone says they will take too much time, but you have to give the refs the opportunity to at least evaluate the penalty in slow motion--you need to get the call right.

It was a horrible call. Initial contact was at the shoulders. If the intention is to protect qbs from hits on the shoulder or higher, they should write that into the rules. There was no unnecessary roughness. It was a hard hit that caused a fumble. That's normal. The initial contact was not prohibited. Ridiculous.

it's because Brees is a midget.

It would have been better to have the ball midfield with a 3 pt lead and 3:12 left on the clock rather than have the ball on the 20 with 2 min left and the game tied. Kap isnt comfortable when the game is on the line.

Originally posted by alwaysa49erfan:
What drove me crazy about the call was Brooks shed the block high and was immediately right on Brees. He did not have the time to change his body position and lower the strike zone. What he did show was the awareness to not lower the crown of his helmet or touch Brees in the head. His arm also first starts in the upper chest area and the impact causes Brees to fall into Brooks sliding up in to the neck area. If that deserves a flag then the QB should just have a two hand touch rule.

Of course. We are asking a lot from defenders in game critical situations to micromanage their movements under extreme duress.

Have to say, Brooks is so clutch when the defense needed a qb pressure or a sack late in the game. Too bad the penalty took away another clutch play by Brooks. And I'm thinking back to the pressure on Ryan against Atlanta. So underrated until we needed a play.

the same way it wasn't a penalty when Kaepernick was brought down by his neck

This is my thing... I'm not mad at the call, it was a vicious hit, but it was clean. They should review this type of penalty, because the punishment (and fine that will be soon to follow) is just too harsh. It totally negates the play, PLUS you get 15 yards?! The refs should have to go in and look at the hit and see where the INITIAL blow was around the shoulder pads and chest. If there is contact to the head or neck after the initial blow then that should just be considered nature of physics. With the game on the line like that and as borderline as the hit was you have to let that one go refs. The defense made a great play, got to the QB and made a turnover that could have sealed the game.