San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh didn't like the "tough talk" coming out of Green Bay this week, so he reached out to the NFL in an effort to clarify the rules on hitting quarterbacks. Dean Blandino, NFL vice president of officiating, is here to help. He spoke with Andrew Siciliano on Thursday on our television counterpart, "Around The League Live," with the details. "You know, Coach Harbaugh wanted to understand what the rules were going to be in terms of hitting the quarterback," Blandino said. "And like we've been saying all along throughout the offseason, we've tried to clarify what the protections are in the read-option scheme or the normal drop-back passer. On passing posture, I think that's something we tried to clarify with all the coaches, and so the players understand and the coaches understand where they can hit the quarterback based on his posture." Siciliano asked if a defender can hit a quarterback like San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick right after he hands off to a running back. "When the quarterback puts the ball in the running back's belly, the referee doesn't know who has the football, the defender doesn't know who has the football, so if it's a bang-bang split second, then yes, he can hit the quarterback," Blandino said. "But if the quarterback has clearly handed off the football, and he's standing still, or fading backwards, he cannot be unnecessarily contacted, and that doesn't matter if it's a read-option quarterback or a classic drop-back quarterback. If they're standing still or fading backward after the ball has left their hand, they cannot be unnecessarily contacted." Source: NFL.com
Re: NFL Says Read-Option QBs Will Not Be Protected If They Still Appear As Threat To As they shouldn't. Let's see if the refs truly keep the flag against the defender in their pocket though.
Re: NFL Says Read-Option QBs Will Not Be Protected If They Still Appear As Threat To Harbaugh can whine all he wants but the rules are the rules and I look forward to the Packers lighting up Kaepernick on Sunday. When some of these star QBs are out with an injury, coaches are going to rethink whether or not the read-option is the way to go.
Re: NFL Says Read-Option QBs Will Not Be Protected If They Still Appear As Threat To I really can't wait for Sunday
Re: NFL Says Read-Option QBs Will Not Be Protected If They Still Appear As Threat To this is the coaching game every coach plays. make light of something in public that puts pressure on the refs to make a call. no doubt in my mind there will be controversial calls on hits on the the qb. but for me, if you fake a hand off and carry out the fake and get smoked as a qb, guess what mr qb, dont carry out fakes and you wont get hit.
Re: NFL Says Read-Option QBs Will Not Be Protected If They Still Appear As Threat To Im looking forward to watching Harbaugh cry on the sideline when Kaepernick gets lit up.
Re: NFL Says Read-Option QBs Will Not Be Protected If They Still Appear As Threat To I'll believe when the ink is dried in the box score...
Re: NFL Says Read-Option QBs Will Not Be Protected If They Still Appear As Threat To More grey area for the officials. Great...
Re: NFL Says Read-Option QBs Will Not Be Protected If They Still Appear As Threat To just a gut feeling, but the league probably doesn't like the read-option for a couple of reasons...... 1) they do everything they can to protect QB's because QB's are usually the face of the league and money generators. they might not like the read-option because they see the risk to their money-makers. 2) The league has worked very hard over the last 30 years to make it more pass-friendly for the offenses. that's what gets t.v. ratings. the league doesn't like to see more running.
