The Hoover Penalty

I disagree about when the ball came out, but it doesn't matter anyway. It would have been a catch two years ago, but the rules were changed to say that the receiver must maintain possession all the way through contact with the ground or else make a football move, whatever that means.

 

From Steve Reed's notebook column today:

http://www.gastongazette.com/sections/panthers/story.asp?id=264

CHARLOTTE — Carolina Panthers fullback Brad Hoover was still trying to figure out one of the most puzzling officiating calls of the season following Sunday’s 24-6 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Hoover was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second quarter after catching a pass and flipping the ball up in the air after being tackled.
The ball landed in cornerback DeAngelo Hall’s hands and Hall shoved the ball at the back of Hoover’s head. Yet somehow, the officials flagged Hoover for the 15-yard penalty.
“I thought the flag was on him,” Hoover said. “They saw it the other way and put it on me. I thought I was in the right and he was in the wrong. But that was a referee’s job to make that call. He called it to the best of his ability.”
Hoover has a reputation for being one of the fieriest players on the field and center Jeff Mitchell said the fullback was furious over the call.
“Hoover was already on edge, but when they threw that flag I thought he was going to pop,” Mitchell said. “You can barely understand him anyway with his accent, but when he starts screaming you can barely understand him.”
Hoover said he’s never been called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty before in his life.

 

Hoover went down, rose to his knees and flipped the ball up and oper his shoulder - it was a "gentle toss" that went straight up, NOT AT anyone. He wouldn't have known who if anyone was behind him. Hall caught the ball - it wouldn't have touched any part of him had he not put his hands out for it. Then he shoved it at Hoover. No foul whatsoever on Hoov. Pure BS.

 

No shit. FOr anyone to even suggest the flag was legit is dumbass shit.

 

actually the flag WAS legit, they just called the wrong guy.

 

There ya go. No doubt.

 

"whatever that means" means a lot. I do not like the rule change but you are correct. The refs made the right call.

 

I agree. Then an INT on the next play. But our guys regained their composure, and made them pay.

 

It means like running with the ball. Thats the example Tex Schramm used to use.

a runner who clearly already has the ball can't fumble because of contact with the ground. He's down the instant he touches. But a receiver who hanst established possession is in a different situation.

Just on a practical level, if you didn't rule a runner down by contact, you'd have fumbles all over the place and it would detract from the game. I think the rule, or the interpretation, was changed on a catch because there were a bunch of fumbles. The WR would "catch" it, get hit, and "fumble". They went back to the traditional interpretation. Tex Schramm got it changed to the more liberal interpretation when Butch Johnson had a TD ruled incomplete in the win v. Denver when he had it for a millisecond, got hit at the same time his feet touched the ground, and dropped it. So for about 15 years or so we did the instant catch thing. I like the way its ruled now. I thought it was a drop after I saw the replay.

The guy I was sitting with thought the roughness call on the out of bounds was OK. He said Vick was slowing down.

I sit on the other side of the stadium from the Panthers bench. Fox's face looked so red as he was screaming at the officials it was amazing.

I thought the call on Hoover was horrendous. I'm glad to hear the ref who called it at least thought Hoover did something. I thought he called the thing Hall did, and then forgot which player did it. That was an almost unbearable thought.

 

No, I understand what it means, I was just referring to the fact that it's one of those "know it when you see it" kind of terms. There is no real definition in the rulebook.