Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

[7 UP]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

You know something. The players had a chance to stop all this nonsense. The players were locked out. Instead of them demanding an end to the ridiculous and unevenly distributed fines. They made their whole agenda about having less practices, less contact in practice, not playing 18 games, and of course money. All they had to do was demand #1 a legitimate appeal process, #2 a set in stone fine scale, and #3 a panel of former players to decided what is and is not a fined hit.

Ryan Clark has no one to blame but himself. He was in the negotiations and did nothing to improve what is a retarded system. So I dont feel for him having to pay a fine.

All these "safety penalties" are really hindering my enjoyment of watching football. The NFL is very cocky at this point to think viewership can never decline. Hardcore football fans will watch no matter what. But eventually the NFL will start to lose the casual fan.

[feltdizz]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

I don't blame the players at all for these fines and wussie whitsles.

Helmets touch on every play.

[ikestops85]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

You know something. The players had a chance to stop all this nonsense. The players were locked out. Instead of them demanding an end to the ridiculous and unevenly distributed fines. They made their whole agenda about having less practices, less contact in practice, not playing 18 games, and of course money. All they had to do was demand #1 a legitimate appeal process, #2 a set in stone fine scale, and #3 a panel of former players to decided what is and is not a fined hit.

Ryan Clark has no one to blame but himself. He was in the negotiations and did nothing to improve what is a retarded system. So I dont feel for him having to pay a fine.

All these "safety penalties" are really hindering my enjoyment of watching football. The NFL is very cocky at this point to think viewership can never decline. Hardcore football fans will watch no matter what. But eventually the NFL will start to lose the casual fan.

I'm not sure what you wanted Clark to do. He, and the Steelers, made their feelings known that they didn't like "Goodell is God" system. They were the only team to vote AGAINST the agreement. Clark can't help that the other 31 teams didn't think it was an issue. It's called the democratic process.

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

Steelers' Tomlin, Rooney meet with NFL commissioner Goodell on hits

Saturday, November 19, 2011
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Steelers president Art Rooney II and coach Mike Tomlin met with commissioner Roger Goodell and other NFL executives at league offices in New York so that there would be a better understanding of what are and are not illegal hits.

The Thursday meeting, according to a league spokesman, was the idea of Rooney and Goodell. Although not stated, it likely was prompted by Tomlin's public support of a $40,000 fine Ryan Clark received for what the league determined was an illegal hit on Baltimore tight end Ed Dickson on Nov. 6 at Heinz Field.

"Mr. Rooney and [c]ommissioner Goodell thought it would be a good idea to meet with our football staff and [c]oach Tomlin to review on-field issues that have been the focus of discussion recently," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in an email.

Clark told the news media about the fine Nov. 9 and said that Tomlin had used a video of his tackle on Dickson to show his players the essence of a clean, tough tackle.

Tomlin, in a statement that day, called Clark's fine "excessive" and that "Ryan has my full support" in any appeal.

Also attending meeting in were Ray Anderson, NFL executive vice president of football operations, several others from his office and former Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher, a consultant to the NFL's competition committee which recommended many of the newer rules on illegal hits.

[url="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11323/1191199-66.stm#ixzz1eAcr8mXj"]http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11323/11 ... z1eAcr8mXj[/url]

[7 UP]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

You know something. The players had a chance to stop all this nonsense. The players were locked out. Instead of them demanding an end to the ridiculous and unevenly distributed fines. They made their whole agenda about having less practices, less contact in practice, not playing 18 games, and of course money. All they had to do was demand #1 a legitimate appeal process, #2 a set in stone fine scale, and #3 a panel of former players to decided what is and is not a fined hit.

Ryan Clark has no one to blame but himself. He was in the negotiations and did nothing to improve what is a retarded system. So I dont feel for him having to pay a fine.

All these "safety penalties" are really hindering my enjoyment of watching football. The NFL is very cocky at this point to think viewership can never decline. Hardcore football fans will watch no matter what. But eventually the NFL will start to lose the casual fan.

I'm not sure what you wanted Clark to do. He, and the Steelers, made their feelings known that they didn't like "Goodell is God" system. They were the only team to vote AGAINST the agreement. Clark can't help that the other 31 teams didn't think it was an issue. It's called the democratic process.

Ryan Clark was very vocal throughout the lockout. He had an opportunity, more-so than most NFL players, to help put an end to all this fined hits nonsense. I dont blame just Clark. I blame all of them. The fines and Goodells, judge jury and executioner status were seldom mentioned, and were never really a bargaining point. And because of that we are stuck with this nonsense for the length of the contract.

[Sugar]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

So... what was the result of this meeting? Was there an understanding reached? What was the real point of the discussion? Enquiring minds want to know!

[Oviedo]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

You know something. The players had a chance to stop all this nonsense. The players were locked out. Instead of them demanding an end to the ridiculous and unevenly distributed fines. They made their whole agenda about having less practices, less contact in practice, not playing 18 games, and of course money. All they had to do was demand #1 a legitimate appeal process, #2 a set in stone fine scale, and #3 a panel of former players to decided what is and is not a fined hit.

Ryan Clark has no one to blame but himself. He was in the negotiations and did nothing to improve what is a retarded system. So I dont feel for him having to pay a fine.

All these "safety penalties" are really hindering my enjoyment of watching football. The NFL is very cocky at this point to think viewership can never decline. Hardcore football fans will watch no matter what. But eventually the NFL will start to lose the casual fan.

They did not make an issue of this when they were negotiating so they are stuck with the system as it is.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

Legal hit.

This is complete garbage. If any helmets hit it was the guys facemask MAYBE.

A non-issue 3 years ago.

Wasn't Heath Miller a defenseless receiver? That one was also legal in IMO, but where is the consistency?

The Heath hit was the worse. His head snapped bag like a crash test dummy. I know that there was no flag on the play, which is insane that none of the officials on the field saw that (not that it made a huge difference in the game...it would have changed a 1st and goal from the 2 into a 1st and goal from the 1), but I still haven't heard anything about a fine for Reggie Nelson. That's bullcrap.

[fordfixer]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

Raiders' Jackson says he will reach out to league over officiating
[url="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8244d9fb/article/raiders-jackson-says-he-will-reach-out-to-league-over-officiating?module=HP11_headline_stack"]http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8 ... line_stack[/url]

MINNEAPOLIS -- Oakland Raiders coach Hue Jackson said he has held his tongue long enough when it comes to NFL officiating.

Jackson ripped the officiating crew on Sunday after the Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings 27-21 to improve to 6-4 on the season, saying he doesn't "even know what football is right now."

"I am going to reach out to the league myself, personally," Jackson said. "I normally don't complain about the officiating. I don't make any bones that way because I said I wouldn't. But today I just truly felt like it was a little unfair. I really do."

The Raiders were penalized 12 times for 117 yards. Four of those penalties were personal fouls for hits deemed illegal by referee Jerome Boger's crew.

"I know everyone says we're the most-penalized team in football and that's a fact, and I'm not running from that," Jackson said. "But there's no way, some things that happened today on that football field, I question. I just do, and I have to, and I'm going to defend my team. It's time that I do that."

The Raiders came into the game with the most penalties in the league, and that trend continued early in the game with three personal foul penalties on Minnesota's second drive. Tommy Kelly was flagged for a blow to quarterback Christian Ponder's head on a sack that would have forced a punt.

Aaron Curry then received 15 yards for what the officials called roughing a defenseless receiver on a completion to Kyle Rudolph when the linebacker collided with the tight end in traffic on a short pass and safety Tyvon Branch was whistled for a facemask on Percy Harvin.

"I don't even know what football is right now," Jackson said. "I don't know what hitting is, I don't know what tackling is, and I've been in this league a long time. I can't tell you what tackling or hitting or what's a personal foul or what's anything anymore. At the end of the day this team's 6-4 and that's what I'm happy about."

Jackson also expressed frustration at his inability to get Boger over to the sideline to explain some of those calls to him, wondering if it was because he is in his first year as a head coach in the NFL.

"Sometimes I get brushed aside," he said. "Sometimes I get talked to like I maybe don't know what I'm asking, and I just don't think that's fair. I asked several times for explanations and you just don't get them."

Jackson, however, said he was proud of his team for not getting frustrated.

"We're going to continue to play through it," he said. "This is no secret about what's happening to this football team. This is a good football team. This team is working extremely hard. This team has given me everything they've got. I just want it to be fair. That's all I ask. I want a fair playing field for these men because I think they deserve it."

[7 UP]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

Raiders' Jackson says he will reach out to league over officiating
[url="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8244d9fb/article/raiders-jackson-says-he-will-reach-out-to-league-over-officiating?module=HP11_headline_stack"]http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8 ... line_stack[/url]

MINNEAPOLIS -- Oakland Raiders coach Hue Jackson said he has held his tongue long enough when it comes to NFL officiating.

Jackson ripped the officiating crew on Sunday after the Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings 27-21 to improve to 6-4 on the season, saying he doesn't "even know what football is right now."

"I am going to reach out to the league myself, personally," Jackson said. "I normally don't complain about the officiating. I don't make any bones that way because I said I wouldn't. But today I just truly felt like it was a little unfair. I really do."

The Raiders were penalized 12 times for 117 yards. Four of those penalties were personal fouls for hits deemed illegal by referee Jerome Boger's crew.

"I know everyone says we're the most-penalized team in football and that's a fact, and I'm not running from that," Jackson said. "But there's no way, some things that happened today on that football field, I question. I just do, and I have to, and I'm going to defend my team. It's time that I do that."

The Raiders came into the game with the most penalties in the league, and that trend continued early in the game with three personal foul penalties on Minnesota's second drive. Tommy Kelly was flagged for a blow to quarterback Christian Ponder's head on a sack that would have forced a punt.

Aaron Curry then received 15 yards for what the officials called roughing a defenseless receiver on a completion to Kyle Rudolph when the linebacker collided with the tight end in traffic on a short pass and safety Tyvon Branch was whistled for a facemask on Percy Harvin.

"I don't even know what football is right now," Jackson said. "I don't know what hitting is, I don't know what tackling is, and I've been in this league a long time. I can't tell you what tackling or hitting or what's a personal foul or what's anything anymore. At the end of the day this team's 6-4 and that's what I'm happy about."

Jackson also expressed frustration at his inability to get Boger over to the sideline to explain some of those calls to him, wondering if it was because he is in his first year as a head coach in the NFL.

"Sometimes I get brushed aside," he said. "Sometimes I get talked to like I maybe don't know what I'm asking, and I just don't think that's fair. I asked several times for explanations and you just don't get them."

Jackson, however, said he was proud of his team for not getting frustrated.

"We're going to continue to play through it," he said. "This is no secret about what's happening to this football team. This is a good football team. This team is working extremely hard. This team has given me everything they've got. I just want it to be fair. That's all I ask. I want a fair playing field for these men because I think they deserve it."

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

Hopefully Tomlin took a video showing Ben getting drilled left & right with zero calls.

[Keyplay1]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

Disclaimer: I have been ranting on and blaming Goodell for everything connected with the NFL when it is possible he is not necessarily the culprit. For example: the site nfl.com sucks. It loads unwanted videos, the pages are overloaded screwing up the computers and the linking is sometimes senseless. I only can stand visiting that site once a week and it takes forever to finally get to download the Steeler Gamebook.

My criticism is that Goodell must be hiring a bunch of his relatives who know nothing about programming sites.

On the matter at hand here he probably does not even know who the freaking people are who are handing out these inconsistent, unfair and biased decisions. But since he is the commissioner my response to the following quote stands.

So... what was the result of this meeting? Was there an understanding reached? What was the real point of the discussion? Enquiring minds want to know!

Yeah, also which one kicked that freaking idiot's ass? Wait, scratch that, it sounds a bit vulgar. Let me rephrase it since I've been watching a lot of lousy English movies lately. Uhh! Blimey! Can you tell me which one of our chaps kicked that blundering, bloody blighters arse.

[steelz09]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

I also have to put significant blame on the head of the players union. I think DeMaurice Smith is a joke and Goodell has him in his back pocket.

He is the guy that is supposed to represent the players and he is complately hush about all this. I guarantee you Upshaw would have done something by now.

If Smith can't see that this is hurting the game then he is freakin' blind. There is no consistency, judgement calls, etc. The league is turning into the NBA where defense will be an afterthought.

A couple other areas that are just dumb:

1) The new kickoff rule is just stupid
2) Offensive pass interference is a major problem. If I was a WR coach, I would tell my players to push off if they need to. It almost NEVER gets called. Meanwhile, a DB can sneeze on a WR and it gets called....

It's just getting out of hand.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

I think the Clark hit was clearly helmet to helmet.

While the two helmets did make contact, there is a difference between leading with the helmet - as Ray did on Hines, and leading with a shoulder and the two helmets making contact incidentally - as with the Clark hit.

One is reckless, one is inadvertent. One should have been a penalty, one is iffy on whether a flag should have been thrown. One should have drawn a steep fine, one should not have warranted a fine.......the problem is that the two hits both got the wrong results.

[msp26505]

Re: Tomlin and Art met with Goodell.

1) The new kickoff rule is just stupid

You know, I thought the same thing at first, but the farther we get into the season, I have come to these conclusions:

1. Obviously more kicks into (and out of) the end zone, mean more touchbacks, meaning fewer high-speed collisions on kickoffs, meaning fewer injuries. Mission accomplished by the league (and I am very much NOT a fan of the league office).

2. That said, there have still been a surprising number of returns from the endzone, meaning the best returners are willing (and apparently encouraged) to take chances to improve field position, resulting in a fair number of exciting returns.

3. It seemed that until the rule was changed, we were the ONLY team in the league who could never kick the ball into the endzone. Not a problem anymore. Suisham may have been able to kick into the endzone more often than Reed, but with the new rule, the opposing offense almost always has farther to go on average than they did in the past, which is HUGE considering the new pro-offense rules on the books.

I'm now a fan of the new kickoff rule.