The amount of flags for defensive holding and illegal contact have been a major talking point throughout the preseason and one player affected by them thinks he knows why the league moved to emphasize those calls this season.
Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall said there are “no ifs, ands or buts” about the league’s reaction coming as a result of the Seahawks’ victory over the Broncos in the Super Bowl. The Seahawks secondary was one of the most, if not the most, physical defenses in the league and Hall thinks they used that to their advantage and that the rest of the league’s defensive backs are paying the price.
“Seahawks got their ring, they did it their way … now we have to pay the consequences,” Hall said, via Dianna Marie Russini of NBC Washington.
This year’s shift hasn’t really hurt the Seahawks, who have been called for a relatively low three illegal contact penalties, although it’s not the first time that anyone has drawn a line between the Seahawks’ style of play and the league’s decision to crack down on those types of infractions. It is hardly the first time that the league has moved to make life more difficult on pass defenders in recent years, though. Defensive backs have been paying the consequences of the league’s moves to create more passing offense for a while now and this year’s emphasis on holding and illegal contact falls right in the same line.