Bengals’ William Jackson: I knew Le’Veon Bell was out of bounds, but he wasn’t

Posted by Michael David Smith on December 5, 2017, 9:06 AM EDT
AP

Bengals cornerback William Jackson committed one of the strangest plays of this NFL season on Monday night when he stood and watched as Le'Veon Bell raced down the sideline for a touchdown. Jackson easily could have pushed Bell out of bounds, but he didn’t.

After the game, Jackson said he was sure Bell had stepped out of bounds, and he avoided touching Bell because he was afraid of picking up a penalty. Unfortunately for Jackson, replays showed that Bell had tiptoed along the sideline and remained inbounds.

“I thought he was out, and I didn’t want to late-hit him. He’s a veteran guy. He turned it up, caught me slipping and scored a touchdown,” Jackson said. “I was definitely surprised. I just knew he was out of bounds, but obviously, he wasn’t. It is what it is.”

It was an incredibly costly play in a game the Bengals appeared to have in hand early on, but ended up losing. Jackson made a huge mistake.

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41 responses to “Bengals’ William Jackson: I knew Le’Veon Bell was out of bounds, but he wasn’t”

  2. Weird that in a game with so many hits that were over the line and dirty, we have a guy who watches a touchdown being scored on him because he was afraid to give a guy a nudge.

  3. He tackles like Antonio Cromartie used to. Just prolonging his career, nothing to see here.

  5. I can’t criticize Jackson. It looked like Bell had stepped out of bounds. And with yesterday’s flag happy crew, he would have drawn a penalty if he had. The league has put defensive players in a tough position. There was a play later in the game where the Steelers defender had Dalton in his grasp but let him go when Dalton made a throwing motion but held onto the ball.

  6. I get it, he had to assume Evans was going to knock him out and a penalty moves them in to the redzone. He clearly isn’t afraid to hit, just an unfortunate sequence of events. That said, if you had to pick a team it was going to happen to you would have stopped after guessing the two Ohio teams.

  7. Well, refs have these things called whistles. When they blow it, the play is over. Did you hear the whistle blow, William? If not, hit him.

  8. Fire Marvin Lewis. His teams are undisciplined and play sloppy every week. You shouldn’t have to remind professional football players to “play to the whistle”, but here we are.

  10. Bengals players and Bengals fans know why he didn’t touch him:

    13 penalties – 167 yards for Cincinnati
    7 penalties – 66 yards for pittsburgh

    Every game is like this for Bengals players and fans.

  11. Annnnnnnd THIS is what football has become! Defense isn’t allowed to hit anymore. If they do? 15 yards for doing what a defensive football player should be doing. Hit the ball carrier with extreme prejudice and hope to separate the ball from the ball carrier. Period. The NFL has way too many rules at this point. Especially when a defensive player make a hard nosed football hit but is flagged for ‘unnecessary roughness’. Jackson was caught between a rock and a hard place. I can almost guarantee that he would have been flagged if he hit Bell. And then the announcer would have called him out for a stupid penalty and that he hurt his team blah blah blah. Seriously football has become a joke. This is exactly why the NFL’s TV ratings continue to decline.

  17. Well, refs have these things called whistles. When they blow it, the play is over. Did you hear the whistle blow, William? If not, hit him.
    ————–
    Players get flagged for shoving runners who have stepped out of bounds all the time. It doesn’t matter that the whistle hasn’t blown.

  19. Yup. I’m about done with this pathetic ‘product’ that is the nfl
    due to the inequality of nfl officiating.

  21. It was clear that Bell intended to give himself up and get nudged out of bounds, but boneheaded play by Jackson to just let him walk by. After that I kept thinking “now who is going to whine about it when Vontaze Burfict blows up the next Steeler tiptoeing the sideline?”

  22. This same type pf play happened in the mid-90s in the Pats-Steelers Wild Card(?) game.

    Kordell Stewart was heading for the sideline and (I forget which Pats’ LB) let up to avoid a penalty. Ol’ Slash tiptoed down the sideline and scored a TD.

    Final score? 7-6 Steelers.

  26. jm91rs says:
    December 5, 2017 at 10:04 am
    It was clear that Bell intended to give himself up and get nudged out of bounds, but boneheaded play by Jackson to just let him walk by. After that I kept thinking “now who is going to whine about it when Vontaze Burfict blows up the next Steeler tiptoeing the sideline?”

    ——————
    I think you just hit it here. I see so many condemning the lack of a hit here also on other threads condemning hits. Do you want a guy headed out of bounds getting clocked or not?

    In any event, the next time around someone is going to get hit. A penalty is a less severe thing to risk than a touchdown, they are going to err on that side of things.

  27. William Jackson is one of the best CB’s in the NFL. That was just a freak play. Bell was so close to the sidelines, I’ll bet the refs would have thrown a flag if Jackson hit him. The refs would have said he was already out of bounds. The other Bengals player should have knocked Bell out of bounds before he got to Jackson, but Bell kind of slipped that tackle. That was really what threw Jackson off.

  29. THANKS A LOT Williams! – your bonehead mistake enabled Bell to score enough points and knock me out of my Fantasy Playoffs. Again Thanks!

  30. Let’s say that Bell was out of bounds, Jackson hits him, and draws the flag. The same people bashing him for not hitting him, playing flag football, whining that ratings are down would be the first ones to bash him for not being smart.

    He WAS being smart but saw something different.

  32. RealDeal15 says:
    December 5, 2017 at 11:00 am
    THANKS A LOT Williams! – your bonehead mistake enabled Bell to score enough points and knock me out of my Fantasy Playoffs. Again Thanks!

    ———

    I’m sure he cares. He’ll apologize soon, I’m sure.

  35. cheapseater says:

    December 5, 2017 at 9:53 am

    Steelers were driving well. That was gonna be a TD regardless. This is a talented young player.
    __________________________________________________________________________________

    You can’t say that at all. Nice try.

  36. bradygirl12 says:

    December 5, 2017 at 10:51 am

    When in doubt, push him out! I’m surprised he didn’t put his arm out and say “After you, Mr, Bell.”
    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    I figured he asked Bell to grab him a soda from the concession stands and “nudged” him towards that direction.

  37. RealDeal15 says:
    December 5, 2017 at 11:00 am
    THANKS A LOT Williams! – your bonehead mistake enabled Bell to score enough points and knock me out of my Fantasy Playoffs. Again Thanks!

    File that under “who cares.”

  38. Saints game 3rd and goal. Peppers got tangled a guy as the play went out of bounds. Peppers tried to let up but the guy went down. Results. Another shot for one of leagues best offenses and they made them pay.

  39. AtheistsareIdiots says:
    December 5, 2017 at 9:55 am

    How does Lewis still have a job? I ask myself this question every year.
    =======================================================

    I had been asking the same thing about Jeff Fisher for the longest time .. finally fired him .. now look at the Rams.

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