The NFL is making it up as it goes along with this nonsensical overreaction to quarterbacks being tackled. There is no chance -- and I'll say this in honor of the late, great Jerry Seeman -- that the NFL officials making the rounds of training camps showed a tape of past tackles identical to those made by Clay Matthews and Eric Kendricks and said:
"This is illegal. If you a tackle a quarterback in this manner, your team will be penalized 15 yards and then we will steal $20,054 from your next pay check – or more, if Roger Goodell's lackeys feel the urge.''
Tom Pelissero from NFL.com gets his information from the lackey's mouth when it comes to these matters, and he reported Monday that the NFL plans to double-down on the fiasco that took place on Sunday in Lambeau Field:
Not only will the league fail to apologize for the fact that the overzealous, egomaniacal referee, Tony Corrente, decided the outcome of an entertaining ballgame, they will send tapes to all teams claiming that the "scoop and pull'' tactic of Matthews (and also Kendricks) was worthy of a penalty.
Pelissero reported that the tackles of Matthews on Kirk Cousins and Kendricks on Aaron Rodgers could be deemed illegal under a section of the rulebook devoted to roughing the passer that states.
"A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as 'stuffing' a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball ...," with this addendum:
"The technique of grabbing the passer from behind the leg(s), scooping and pulling in an upward motion is considered a foul."
There is a serious problem with this contention. Matthews was in front and slightly to Cousins' right side as he aimed a tackle at the quarterback's midsection – pretty much the lone legal hitting area on a quarterback,