Ravens safety Bernard Pollard was flagged on Sunday for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Colts receiver Reggie Wayne. He wishes Ravens coach John Harbaugh could have thrown a flag of his own on that penalty.
Pollard says the NFL should add helmet-to-helmet hits to the list of calls that the referee can review on instant replay, arguing that it happens so quickly in the moment that there’s no way for the officials to be sure they got the call right without slowing it down and getting a closer look.
“They [replay] touchdowns, fumbles, turnovers, all this other stuff,” Pollard told the Baltimore Sun. “They need to have somebody up there to say, ‘No, the hit was legal, the guy tried to dodge him, but the [receiver] ducked his head.’ We make a lot of money. I’m talking about the NFL. Why can’t we can’t do that?”
On the play for which Pollard was flagged, a replay review wouldn’t have negated the penalty: Pollard’s helmet did make contact with Wayne’s helmet at a point when Wayne was considered to be in a defenseless posture, and that makes it a penalty. But Pollard does make an interesting point: The league office uses replay review on helmet-to-helmet hits to determine when to fine players. So why not use replays during the games to make sure the calls are correct?
PFT Planet, tell us what you think.
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