12/21/24
September 22, 2011
Ex-Player: Giants Coached to Fake Injuries: Linebacker Bryan Kehl, a former New York Giants player now with the St. Louis Rams, said that Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell coaches the team to fake injuries. Giants safety Deon Grant and linebacker Jacquian Williams faked injuries during Monday night's game to slow down the Rams' no-huddle offense. Rams quarterback Sam Bradford said he heard a Giants player say "someone go down, someone go down" before Grant and Williams flopped.
thought you were forced to take a time out if you had a series of injuries on the field
I believe the rule is you are charged a timeout if it is under 2 min left in the game or half.
I think that the league needs to change the rule to something along the lines of, "If the medical staff has to come on the field, you have to sit out the rest of that series". I know some teams have enough depth to make that work, or you have a nickel guy "get hurt" and get your base defense back on the field, or the other way around, but It is hard for the refs or the league to decide if an injury was real or not. The league can't say they really care about player safety then call a penalty or give a fine based on their decision about the validity of an injury.
posted by Debo270 at 09:43 AM on September 22, 2011
The refs should call a defensive delay of game when imaginary snipers fell players at convenient times. If Bradford could hear players saying "someone go down," refs should've heard that as well.
Here, two players falling simultaneously and one getting right back up ought to be enough evidence to flag the Giants.
posted by rcade at 10:19 AM on September 22, 2011
It is a shameful practice. The Chargers were doing the same thing to the Patriots. At one point Tom Brady went and stood right over one of the Chargers as their medical staff were "treating" him.
I think we need a combination of Debo270's suggestion along with rcade's. I thought the exact same "If you cannot make it off the field in time for the next snap, you are out until the next possession change" rule, and I would expand rcade's idea to allow officials to call an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty on a player they know to be flopping. Obviously, you would only want to call that in extreme circumstances, but it would be good to give them that option.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:31 AM on September 22, 2011
This happens in lots of sports. I was watching the rugby the other day and wondering if I could find some stats on Brian O'Driscoll needing medical attention in the 70th minute of a rugby match and compare them to the number of times that treatment resulted in him having to go off. Memory can be fickle, but mine tells me the first number is high, the second is low.
The trouble with imposing automatic penalties for people needing the medics to come on is you'd get people who really did need medical attention trying to avoid a penalty for themselves or the team then worsening their genuine injuries by trying to leave the field under their own steam.
As a complete derail, the other thought that occurred to me while watching the rugby the other day was that the answer to the muscle-bound arms-race that seems to be developing in that sport could be to revert to the old system regarding substitutions. These days, teams tend to have half a dozen impact subs lined up so that those on the field can bust themselves for 60 minutes and be replaced by fresh legs late in the game. The old system insisted that substitutions were for injuries only and could not be tactical. Enforcement is obviously an issue, but what it would do would be to put a higher premium on endurance, which would presumably reduce the average size of the players. Also, as people tired, more gaps would open up, encouraging more running rugby!
Sorry - I'll just go and get my own blog now.
posted by JJ at 11:27 AM on September 22, 2011
At one point Tom Brady went and stood right over one of the Chargers as their medical staff were "treating" him.
Which I found amusing given the Patriots beat the Colts a few years back due to Willie McGinest's miraculous injury & recovery.
The league is claiming they will suspend players and take away draft picks as penalties. Believe it when I see it.
posted by yerfatma at 11:47 AM on September 22, 2011
Glad to see the NFL acted quickly to prevent the erosion of NFL Football into Soccer.
posted by cixelsyd at 01:01 PM on September 22, 2011
And Oor Willie did the same thing to none other than the Rams in the SB during a goal line stand. When the Pats held, he was DWTS getting his previously maimed self off the field. Never saw such an exuberant injured man.
I don't know why some of these guys don't appear on the 700 Club when they're doing miracle segments.
posted by beaverboard at 02:36 PM on September 22, 2011
I thought you were forced to take a time out if you had a series of injuries on the field? What sport does that? Any of them?