NFL admits officials should have penalized Sony Michel for lowering head

Posted by Charean Williams on October 12, 2018, 5:07 PM EDT
AP

NFL officials largely have forgotten about the “lowering the helmet” rule that raised such a ruckus in the preseason. But the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating has admitted for a second consecutive week that officials missed a textbook violation of the rule.

In his weekly video, Al Riveron said officials should have flagged Patriots running back Sony Michel for lowering his head to initiate contact against Clayton Geathers.

Like Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt last week, Michel can expect a fine from the league, too.

Hunt lost $26,739 for unnecessary roughness after lowing his head to run through Broncos safety Justin Simmons.

It unfortunately doesn’t help Geathers, who the Colts ruled out this week with a neck injury.

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39 responses to “NFL admits officials should have penalized Sony Michel for lowering head”

  2. SHOCKER!!!

    ANOTHER example of unbalanced officiating favoring the new england patriots.

    The nfl is not trustworthy.

  4. Sound the alarms!!! Refs missed a call on the Patriots…wonder which draft pick they’ll be taking from us and how long Michel will be suspended for this.

  7. I came here thinking this was the hit from last night instead of a patriots thing so the comments confused me.

    On that note it’s penalties like this, and the lack thereof, compared to the QB penalties, that are providing more and more evidence that the networks are the cause of the QB flags. Clearly the NFL will ignore penalties that are unpopular when it comes from them even at the risk of player safety but when the penalties are coming from “upstairs” in the form of The Mouse those get called no matter how much crying from fans.

  8. Pretty sure Pats fans don’t think so. I saw it. He lowered his head. Someone else got fined for the same thing. But not the Patriots and their 29th ranked strength of schedule. SMH

  9. the nfl does not know its own rules

    hunt did the same thing

    maybe the rule is dumb because it is unforceable within the sport?

    i honestly don’t even know what the rule says. if an rb lowers their shoulder to make contact, their head will also lower.

    duh

    fire goodell

  10. .
    @patsfan4life

    I’m glad a NY Jets fan learned a new phrase, “Gillette Mystique”. As an actual Patriots fan, without a false screen name, I’ve never heard of such a thing.
    .

  12. And Flowers should have been penalized for the helmet to helmet and landing on Luck.

    Imagine that Flowers committed 2 penalties on the same play but neither penalty was called.

  14. Now all the NFL has to admit is that footballs do lose air pressure in cold damp climates & that they know this because BOTH science & apparent top secret findings from over a year of monitoring footballs PROVES it to be true…. why else would they not disclose the info??

  15. patsfan4lifesbchamps says:
    October 12, 2018 at 5:15 pm
    It’s the Gillette mystique. Even the refs sometimes get caught in it.

    ————-
    Is it that same mystique that drives a Jets fan to pretend he is a Pats fan?

  16. 6ball says:
    October 12, 2018 at 6:29 pm
    .
    @patsfan4life

    I’m glad a NY Jets fan learned a new phrase, “Gillette Mystique”. As an actual Patriots fan, without a false screen name, I’ve never heard of such a thing.
    ________________________________________________________

    I’ve been reading your comments for many years 6ball. Not always agreeing, but always looking forward to the read.

    and I think we have to give our obvious troll is obvious friend some credit. We’ve been asking for Hatriot Nation to come up with something new, and they did it.

  19. 6ball says:
    October 12, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    I’ve been reading your comments for many years 6ball. Not always agreeing, but always looking forward to the read.
    _________
    You need to get out more.

  20. Wow! The Patriots not getting penalized? The Patriots get 2-3 phantom Patriot calls a game! Brady 3rd and 10, gets sacked but there is always a holding penalty on the secondary. They show the replay…….no holding and an automatic first down for Brady and the Cheats? Sound familiar? It’s been going on for 18 years!

  21. kissbillsrings says:
    October 12, 2018 at 7:00 pm
    Now all the NFL has to admit is that footballs do lose air pressure in cold damp climates & that they know this because BOTH science & apparent top secret findings from over a year of monitoring footballs PROVES it to be true…. why else would they not disclose the info??

    10 3 Rate This

    ———————-

    they can also admit they lied when framing BB for Framegate I

    2010:

    Bill Cowher: “You know, let me just say this: To answer your question, no, I don’t think so (it’s not an advantage for one team over another).
    I just know as a head coach, you are always looking for a competitive edge. We had people out there trying to look at signals. We had guys go to games. They would tape the signal caller and also write it down. They would take it back and match up the signals with the game film and certain defenses with certain plays that were being called, particularly the defenses being called, to see if we could come up with some kind of an alert for a signal. So, what they did with videotaping the signal caller, people do it with the people in the stands!!
    These people sitting there in the stands, looking at the signal, writing it down and matching up the 1st and 10 signal. Ok? Then you go back again and the 2nd and 10 and here’s the signal. You do that for a whole game.
    You then go back and match up the defenses with the signal. And you can come up with what the signal was.
    So, you don;’t need a video tape with what they were talking about doing. And people were doing it. WE were doing that. Everybody does that. You’re TRYING to gain a competitive edge. There is nothing wrong with that.
    That’s why baseball players go through the mirage of signals. They’ve got all these different codes. That’s part of the competitive spirit of the game. I think it’s totally overblown. I think if you get caught (signals compromised), then do what we did and go to wristbands, you are worried about it. We started putting defenses on wristbands. Then you find a way to not get caught (signals compromised). When your good at something and people try steal from ya, I think it’s flattering.”

  22. carloswlassiter says:
    October 12, 2018 at 7:25 pm
    So basically the NFL is saying that every Walter Payton and Earl Campbell run would be considered a penalty today?

    What kind of idiocy is this?

    8 1 Rate This

    ———��————-

    look who the commissioner is

  24. I celebrate every missed call as an opportunity to witness real football.

    Tell me what these things have in common;

    Crackdown on opioids
    The wrath of the metoo movement
    Every new rule in NFL football

  25. TruFBFan says:
    October 12, 2018 at 6:18 pm
    Pretty sure Pats fans don’t think so. I saw it. He lowered his head. Someone else got fined for the same thing. But not the Patriots and their 29th ranked strength of schedule. SMH
    **************””””

    Dude, how did you ever pass the ASVAB?

  26. It’s a dumb rule period. How can you lower your shoulder WITHOUT lowering your head…Physically Impossible. That said, I can’t believe how much free space the Patriots take up in some peoples heads!

  29. NE fan. This is not a team-based rule. It is for the entire league.
    CTE, brain damage, and permanent, lifelong deteriorating dementia, alzheimers and chronic traumatic encephalopathy are REAL… macho tough guy bs nothwithstanding.

    I wonder how all you tough ‘authentic’ football fans would feel if that was your brother or son whose head got caved in, who was never the same.
    Who, later in life, struggled to do the most basic daily activities.

    ah, for the good old days, when life was “nasty, brutish and short”

  30. “Roger loves NE”? Refs call games for the Pats??? You are all out of your minds. I guess the witch hunt against Brady slips your mind? The stolen draft picks? The refs??? Please the Pats get called for BS call all the time, you just think that they desever the calls while your teams don’t. You’re all pathetic.

  33. That is dumb. Michel didn’t even hit him with his head, he hit him with his shoulder. If anything Geathers should have been penalized for lowering his head to initiate contact with michel’s shoulder. But neither of those should be penalties, there wasn’t even any helmet to helmet. Now I guess you can be penalized for lowering your shoulder even when you don’t touch them with your head.

  34. upon unpreventable contact, both players are obliged to jump in the air and chest-bump for supremacy

  35. There should be NO LOWERING of the helmet rule for BOTH DEFENSIVE/OFFENSIVE LINEMAN within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage……
    The lowering of a helmet for a RB/FB within 10 yards FROM THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE should be legal, after the 10 yards there is no reason to lower the helmet at that stage…..
    There should be NO RULE for lowering the helmet for a QB ONCE HE CHOOSES to become a runner, HOWEVER, the EXISTING spearing rule should still be in effect for him…..the SAME rules that apply to a QB should ALSO APPLY TO WR’s once they catch the ball & become runners AS THEY ARE TRYING TO PROTECT THEMSELVES from impact hits…. the lowering of a helmet should be enforced MORE on the DEFENSIVE side of the ball 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage w/ the EXISTING spearing rule ALWAYS ENFORCED anywhere on the field…..,

  36. I saw many lowering the helmet hits last week not called. Ridiculousness of the NFL and it’s pathetic rules must end. Sometimes I think they do it just so they can fine players and build up the fine coffers. That’s just not right.

  37. There are certain things that we are all born with. Fear of falling and loud noises for example. The reaction to lower one’s head when an facing an impending collision is hard wired, or at the very least, firmware. Very difficult to override this particular instinct. Keeping one’s face perpendicular to the ground when approaching an obstacle would create a situation conducive to breaking one’s neck. I know some believe that NE doesn’t get flags due to the domestic relationship between Kraft and Goodell which does not fly in the face of the penalties in excess of the (alleged) crimes possibly committed be NE. Any righteous body having suspended a player, along with fines to the team and draft picks removed, would have produced their so-called evidence, which in fact they denied having, and further would have supported their questionable position by producing evidence from the “random” checks on PSI in 2015. But we have seen how that played out and the only conclusion that can be reached by reasonable minds is that the “random” testing produced results that did not support the claim of tampering, rather proved what most already know, that air filled object lose pressure when cooled. Pretty basic stuff that your children or grandchildren can explain if you can’t get fathom this novel concept.

    That said, it makes no sense that a fine was not levied here except that, as the article above indicates, the rule has been largely forgotten. This being the case is seems that NE is not alone in avoiding penalties for violation of this rule. But if it help some folks sleep to believe that the only reason NE wins is payola, then mazel tov.

  38. The funny thing is that this rule has been a point of contention involving various teams literally every week. And we have all been jumping on those articles to complain about the rule. But 6 weeks in when we finally get our case involving a Patriots player we cant help ourselves but to jump on the article to defend the rule and blame the Patriots.

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