Luke Kuechly Ejected

[hbk314]

Luke Kuechly ejected for personal foul penalty - NFL.com

The above "story" has a video of the incident.

To me as a non-official, this looks absolutely terrible on the part of the officiating crew. Not only did they not flag the Packers player for ripping him off the pile, they ejected him for merely breaking the hold of someone who grabbed him from behind.

Am I wrong here?

[HLin NC]

NFL pretty much has a zero tolerance policy regarding contacting an official.

[hbk314]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

NFL pretty much has a zero tolerance policy regarding contacting an official.

Has there ever been a good zero tolerance policy?

What Kuechly did shouldn't have even been penalized much less resulted in an ejection. Let's see if the NFL head the common sense not to fine him.

Same thing happened with the Colts Erik Walden today. Official had a hold of Jermaine Gresham and Walden and Walden swiped his arm away.

[hbk314]

Originally Posted by AremRed

Same thing happened with the Colts Erik Walden today. Official had a hold of Jermaine Gresham and Walden and Walden swiped his arm away.

I'm not sure I would say they're the same. In Kuechly's case, he was being grabbed from behind. All he did was kind of a "get off me" motion. If he'd actually initiated contact with the official (or known it was an official at all), I could see the penalty and ejection. With the way it happened, I have no idea how even a penalty was considered, much less an ejection.

[JRutledge]

I am sure he was talking to him too. I have no problem with the ejection. When the play is over, stop!!!!!

Peace

[hbk314]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I am sure he was talking to him too. I have no problem with the ejection. When the play is over, stop!!!!!

Peace

Considering the way he way ripped off the pile by a Packers player, I can't really fault him for trying to free himself from someone grabbing him from behind.

I'm not sure what you mean by "when the play is over, stop" when he appears to be walking away from the pile and only reacts to the contact initiated by the official.

[Sturno]

Originally Posted by hbk314

Luke Kuechly ejected for personal foul penalty - NFL.com

The above "story" has a video of the incident.

To me as a non-official, this looks absolutely terrible on the part of the officiating crew. Not only did they not flag the Packers player for ripping him off the pile, they ejected him for merely breaking the hold of someone who grabbed him from behind.

Am I wrong here?

This is the same video I saw while at the game yesterday and this was going down right in front of me...I was about 26 rows up.

What you should see on this video is:

1 - #21 of the Panthers pulling a Packer who happens to be holding Kuechly. The Packers player didn't rip him away from the pile, another Panther did indirectly. Just so we're both clear on what took place.

2 - Kuechly throws a punch at the Packer player when kicking his feet trying to get up as being dragged back....that swing was flagged by R Jeff Triplette, but you don't see it in the first video angle. The second Unsportsmanlike that got him ejected was the swing at the BJ.

3 - As an official, you know full well the Back Judge was telling him to cool it and probably let the one arm swing and shove go without issue until he swung an arm and clocked him on the side of the head and at that point he had enough.

I guess I don't know how many swings you want to let this guy throw before you've seen enough.

And on a side note, the habit of opponents dragging and pulling each other off of these piles needs to be addressed. It's trickling down and happening at the lower levels and creates the inevitable shoving match every time.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by Sturno

I guess I don't know how many swings you want to let this guy throw before you've seen enough.

And on a side note, the habit of opponents dragging and pulling each other off of these piles needs to be addressed. It's trickling down and happening at the lower levels and creates the inevitable shoving match every time.

Agree wholeheartedly, on both counts. A player striking an official (anywhere, anyhow) is equivelant to someone striking their MOTHER, and is NEVER excused (anywhere, anyhow).

Pulling opponents off the pile is NONSENSE. First time (at least) is a stern talking to, if it repeats, or is bad enough the first time, 15 yards. It is a trickle down from the professional game and shouldn't be tolerated.

[hbk314]

Originally Posted by Sturno

1 - #21 of the Panthers pulling a Packer who happens to be holding Kuechly. The Packers player didn't rip him away from the pile, another Panther did indirectly. Just so we're both clear on what took place

I see what you're saying, but for whatever reason, the Packers player's grip on Kuechly made it seem a lot more violent than the way the Panthers player pulled him away from the pile. Someone could easily get hurt being ripped off a pile that way. I don't think it's horribly out of line for him to try to defend himself (not sure I would call that throwing a punch). After he went down, he got up and was walking away. He didn't take a swing at anyone.

[Sturno]

Originally Posted by hbk314

I see what you're saying, but for whatever reason, the Packers player's grip on Kuechly made it seem a lot more violent than the way the Panthers player pulled him away from the pile. Someone could easily get hurt being ripped off a pile that way. I don't think it's horribly out of line for him to try to defend himself (not sure I would call that throwing a punch). After he went down, he got up and was walking away. He didn't take a swing at anyone.

He took a swing at 89 of the Packers when he was getting dragged backwards, and he just missed landing it and that was what got Triplette to throw his flag first. Look for more video of it. He was staring at 15 yards before he ever got on his feet...

Let's play this game. You find yourself with some buddies in a skirmish in the parking lot of a local sports bar. Cops arrive and you happen to elbow a cop mistaking him for one of "the other guys". Guess who's going downtown.

How about we look at Kuechly not throwing elbows and acting like an adult instead of defending a guy that met every condition/actions for ejection? Take your Carolina blue glasses off and see this from an outside perspective. Accusing the official of wrongdoing by trying to separate him and get him away from the action isn't appropriate either. Can you imagine how these games would get out of control if they don't get in there? Kuechly acted like a spoiled 6 year old and paid the price.

[Adam]

Lesson #1: know who you're swinging at before you take a swing.
Lesson #2: keep your freaking head about you. There's no reason we can't expect these guys to act like adults instead of 9 year olds who don't get their way.

[JRutledge]

Cris Carter got ejected from a game when he was mad about a call on the sideline, he spiked the ball and hit the official. It was clear CC did not purposely hit the official with the ball, but he still hit him. He was ejected from that game and fined as well if my memory works properly. Because if Kuechly hat hit a player in the helmet, I would say the very same thing.

Peace

[hbk314]

Originally Posted by Sturno

He took a swing at 89 of the Packers when he was getting dragged backwards, and he just missed landing it and that was what got Triplette to throw his flag first. Look for more video of it. He was staring at 15 yards before he ever got on his feet...

Let's play this game. You find yourself with some buddies in a skirmish in the parking lot of a local sports bar. Cops arrive and you happen to elbow a cop mistaking him for one of "the other guys". Guess who's going downtown.

How about we look at Kuechly not throwing elbows and acting like an adult instead of defending a guy that met every condition/actions for ejection? Take your Carolina blue glasses off and see this from an outside perspective. Accusing the official of wrongdoing by trying to separate him and get him away from the action isn't appropriate either. Can you imagine how these games would get out of control if they don't get in there? Kuechly acted like a spoiled 6 year old and paid the price.

I'm by no means a Carolina fan. I don't consider him trying to shake the grip of someone grabbing him to be throwing an elbow.

[ump33]

Originally Posted by Sturno

This is the same video I saw while at the game yesterday and this was going down right in front of me...I was about 26 rows up.

What you should see on this video is:

1 - #21 of the Panthers pulling a Packer who happens to be holding Kuechly. The Packers player didn't rip him away from the pile, another Panther did indirectly. Just so we're both clear on what took place.

I did not notice that a Panther player was pulling the Packer player ... thanks for pointing it out

Originally Posted by Sturno

2 - Kuechly throws a punch at the Packer player when kicking his feet trying to get up as being dragged back....that swing was flagged by R Jeff Triplette, but you don't see it in the first video angle. The second Unsportsmanlike that got him ejected was the swing at the BJ.

Triplette did not throw is flag, he is tossing the football in to the U or C. You can clearly see that Triplette still has his flag in his pants (0:47 of video)

Originally Posted by Sturno

3 - As an official, you know full well the Back Judge was telling him to cool it and probably let the one arm swing and shove go without issue until he swung an arm and clocked him on the side of the head and at that point he had enough.

If there was contact, it was very minor at best. I do not know the exact wording of the rule/policy and I will defer judgment to the NFL Office

Originally Posted by Sturno

I guess I don't know how many swings you want to let this guy throw before you've seen enough.

And on a side note, the habit of opponents dragging and pulling each other off of these piles needs to be addressed. It's trickling down and happening at the lower levels and creates the inevitable shoving match every time.

Agree 100%