Comments on: Whisenhunt says coaches are reminded of red-flag rule before every game

By: tshirttom

tshirttom — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 15:26:49 +0000

I have to say Schwartz has been a disappointing coach. The Lions need a coach like Bill Cower to instill some discipline in the team. Schwartz could be a good defensive coach but is lacking as a head coach. The Lions have the talent to be a perennial playoff team, but excellence is in the details.

By: 1historian

1historian — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 12:39:48 +0000

Schwartz KNEW he had made a mistake – he was pointing at himself on the sideline just after the play saying “my bad”.

It was his stupid mistake and it cost the Lions the game. It IS a stupid rule, but rules are rules.

Change it.

Game set match.

By: sariff420

sariff420 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 07:53:28 +0000

All this fuss over throwing a piece of cloth onto a football field. Really NFL?

By: rmc1995

rmc1995 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 07:10:33 +0000

Does the NFL remind the refs before every game that a player is down when the elbow, knee and the forearm hit the ground? Maybe they should start.

The real problem was how badly the refs missed the call 75 yards away from the goal line.

The rule was not in place to test the head coach’s patience, nor was it’s intent to let the refs off the hook. Yet most seem quite content to let the refs off the hook.

Until this rule is changed there is reason for teams test the competency of NFL refs by continuing to run to force a whistle. Given that refs will defer to a replay rather than make the right call on the field, it may create unnecessary scoring reviews, or make another coach throw the red flag in disbelief.

By: pravin68

pravin68 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 06:05:05 +0000

Why should there be a penalty in the first place? Why not just use the timeout and consider it a lost challenge and review the play? Consider it a case of the coach forfeiting the right to an automatic challenge and using one of his given challenges instead.

By: klunge

klunge — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 05:16:31 +0000

Schwartz knows the rule, he just got hotheaded and lost his cool after yet another giant officiating blunder. I’m not sure why people think the scoring review would have overturned the TD, after the extremely obvious muffed punt recovery which was given back to Houston erroneously by the refs and then upheld after the challenge.

Also I personally believe the rule does NOT negate the review in this instance, it is just ambiguously worded and the refs interpreted it in a way detrimental to the Lions. I says “a foul that delays the next snap”…WHAT NEXT SNAP??? It was ruled a TD!!! There was no next snap pending! The automatic review should already have been underway, and even if it was upheld there would be a long commercial break before kickoff. Just like the Calvin rule, there really isn’t anything intrinsically wrong with this rule itself other than the refs that enforce it. They don’t use any football or common sense in applying it, they quibble over technical wording of rules without consideration of the principles they are based on, thus altering the outcome of individual matches and ruining the integrity of the game overall.

By: thestrategyexpert

thestrategyexpert — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 01:28:57 +0000

This is awful protocol. Why are they being reminded? Let the smart teams retain their advantage for being responsible and out-thinking their opponent where they might be vulnerable. Leave it to the teams to figure out how the game works and let the strongest teams win and leave the weakest teams in the dust until they get the job done.

Otherwise why not remind each team of every rule that exists. They are bound to make mistakes under any potential aspect of the rulebook, and either remind them or let them figure it out since that’s part of the game and it should not be a handicapped part of the sport. Otherwise the weaker teams should get the point spreads added to their score if they are an underdog if you want to balance things out for those that haven’t EARNED it.

By: beavertonsteve

beavertonsteve — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 01:03:42 +0000

what is to keep a coach who knows a TD would be called back from throwing the flag to prevent the bad call from being brought back?
—————————————-
Because the rule is that you can’t benefit from penalty (in this case an illegal challenge delay call) that happens during a challenge. The Texans wouldn’t have benefited, play would have been reversed and the penalty would have been added.

Don’t get me wrong. I hate the rule, but that’s the reason your idea wouldn’t work.

By: xplicitpits

xplicitpits — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 00:57:21 +0000

Then why didn’t Mike Smith get the same treatment? Oh wait no he didn’t. The ref just told him it was unchallengeable & let him neatly & nicely tuck his flag back in while the play was reviewed upstairs & overturned! So don’t give that BS. This whole entire faux pa should of been taken care of well before that game, it’s been going on all year across the NFL! Replacement & Garbage Refs! We all know they don’t review all scoring plays otherwise Trindon Holliday wouldn’t have a record tying return to his name. It would be the longest run in the other teams touchback history! Take a bite out of reality! Swallow it & digest with your Turkey!

By: koenig61

koenig61 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 00:36:38 +0000

Just wait until a patriot scores a TD that’s up for review and belichick in his wisdom throws the flag before they can review it. Pats will be penalized 15 yards for an illegal challenge, but TD will stand, negating any review. It’s an insane rule. Penalize the coach for throwing the flag, but the review should not be nullified.

By: bobhk

bobhk — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:36:16 +0000

@jimmylions

Schnartz is the douche bag that was laughing at harbaugh for the same mistake. At least harbaugh’s mistake didn’t cost them a TD (maybe the game). Face it, he’s a nitwit. He’s take lions back where they came from.
Regarding Suh, he’s classless for stomping on people and kicking them in the groin.

By: mogogo1

mogogo1 — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:31:05 +0000

I’d penalize them on any non-reviewable play where the challenge flag gets thrown. But I don’t really get where any advantage is derived when a challenge is made on a play that is already being reviewed. Play is stopped then, anyway.
The intent of the rule was to keep guys from essentially getting a free timeout by tossing the flag out there for no reason.

By: profootballwalk

profootballwalk — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 22:01:22 +0000

Leave the rule alone. Teams with stupid head coaches should be punished. This is a good way to weed out the wheat from the chaff.

By: ashoreinhawaii

ashoreinhawaii — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:52:32 +0000

Unnecessary rules come from bad management – I’m sure anyone who has ever had a job or is a citizen of the U.S. could tell you that. Get rid of the rule, and then legalize pot.

By: coachglove

coachglove — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:45:09 +0000

what is to keep a coach who knows a TD would be called back from throwing the flag to prevent the bad call from being brought back? Schwartz throwing the flag was seriously stupid. Kubiack throwing it would have been really smart. Take the points and 15 yards on the kick-off.

By: laeaglefan

laeaglefan — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:29:03 +0000

Andy Reid will be available in a little over a month.

By: lks311

lks311 — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:27:49 +0000

Okay, we get it. It was dumb. The coach was an idiot for throwing the flag. He lost his cool. Got it. Fire him if you want to Lions (I definitely would consider it on his next boner).

But, it’s about as dumb a rule as there is in the NFL. It serves ZERO purpose other than for decorum’s sake. But, we aren’t talking golf. Football is a violent, emotional game, played with passion. And, because of that, I keep coming back around to, “why is that even a rule?”

By: endzone

endzone — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:16:54 +0000

I think responsible challenge flag throwing certainly must be a minimal job function any owner should expect from his head coach. As an owner, if I could not trust my expensive head coach for that much, I’d be mailing out resume requests to new head coaching candidates. Having to delegate that to someone other than Schwartz is ridicules. A head coach needs to model self-control At All Times to his players not join them in the lack of it. That is even more true at the height of exasperation everyone feels during an obvious bad ref call. If Coach keeps his cool, he models that expectation to his players.

Whether the rule is stupid or not is not really the problem. Who doesn’t have to follow stupid rules where they work?

By: rajbais

rajbais — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:15:56 +0000

Could he be reminded that he deserves to be on the hot seat??

By: nagaswan

nagaswan — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:15:30 +0000

You didn’t say if they are reminded that throwing the flag will result in a challenge being impossible. It is so amazing that the rule is in place to prevent London Fletcher from kicking the football to delay the game. NFL is a joke.

By: jimmylions

jimmylions — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:14:11 +0000

The Schwartz haters are leaving out the fact that when the penalty flag was thrown, he could be clearly seen admitting the error and saying, “that’s on me.”

If you want to discuss the rule … go for it. But this is really just more Lions bashing and most of the haters didn’t even bother to watch the game.

By: usmutts

usmutts — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:09:03 +0000

It’s not the rule, dummy, it’s the dummy.

By: nytitancl

nytitancl — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:44:50 +0000

Wasn’t Schwartz the one who ridiculed Jim Harbaugh for not knowing the rules during Harbaugh’s first season with the Niners (during the “backslap” game)?

By: bobhk

bobhk — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:39:20 +0000

Schnartz is a moron. Knew it from the moment he had that flap with Harbaugh.

By: laserw

laserw — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:29:11 +0000

Why should the rule be changed? Joe Gibbs called two timeouts on consecutive plays and was penalized. That is a stupid rule but it didn’t get changed. The fact that Jim Schwartz is both a douche bag and an idiot should not excuse him from responsibility and the rule is just fine. The real solution is to terminate Schwartz and to hire a smarter coach.

By: 2ndaryinsanity

2ndaryinsanity — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:07:40 +0000

Schwartz got pissed and automatically threw the challenge flag (he admitted this). How shocking….a case of Schwartz’s lack of impulse control! I wouldn’t expect anything else from this man, and his personality has rubbed off on the players (Suh, Titus Young, etc).

By: flickaboogie

flickaboogie — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:07:02 +0000

The problem is that not all scoring plays are actually reviewed.

By: mrcosio

mrcosio — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 20:04:04 +0000

Jim Schawrtz is a clown

By: db105

db105 — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 19:55:08 +0000

How about having game managers as most head coaches can’t manage the clock and challenges properly?

By: hutch119

hutch119 — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 19:45:27 +0000

This is why I have no real problem with the rule. It is just so easy not to break. How many times a week do we hear all scores and turnovers are automatically reviewed? Gotta be about 50 times every weekend.