Poor Devin Thomas

Not true because Reggie Bush did his little mocking thing before the TD and his was assed on the kick off. It is BS!

Interesting point...but technically accurate.
That touchdown by rule should have been called back...correct?
or is there some sort of stipulation for taunting fouls?

"Not true because Reggie Bush did his little mocking thing before the TD"

Taunting is a flagrant foul resulting in a 15 yd penalty but it is always enforced after the play.

This answers my question...I should have read the whole tread.

The replay of the Heyer hit, in my view, clearly showed Heyer pushing the opposing player in the chest to the ground with both hands at the same time that Campbell was releasing the touchdown pass. Players are taught to play to the whistle. This hit was during the play and not to the head. How the hell was that a penalty? Just because the guy wasn't defending himself, does not make it a penalty. He should be playing to the whistle. That's how you get hurt on the football field, lolly gagging and not paying attention. Just because it was away from the ball is crap also. How is Heyer supposed to know if Campbell was scrambling and taking off running. If Heyer was lolly gagging and his man hustled and hit Campbell from behind, we would be complaining about Heyer not playing until the play was over. This was a B.S. call.

Keep in mind, this was a passing play....if Heyer was too far from the play, he'd be downfield....which is a penalty anyways.
Anyone behind of the line of scrimmage will be blocked...period....you do not penalize the offense for doing their job by blocking multiple people during a passing play...the only reason he should be penalized is if it was an illegal block

Burress does that on EVERY play. I couldn't believe that first one was called. Thomas really got boned... but he'll learn from it and hopefully he can adapt to be more subtle.

Totally. It always makes me sick. I mean when he does it, it's TOTALLY blatant.

Keep in mind, this was a passing play....if Heyer was too far from the play, he'd be downfield....which is a penalty anyways.
Anyone behind of the line of scrimmage will be blocked...period....you do not penalize the offense for doing their job by blocking multiple people during a passing play...the only reason he should be penalized is if it was an illegal block

Heyer was definitely not downfield. The replay of the hit was shown from the camera angle used to show Jason throwing the ball. As Jason's throwing, you see Heyer hit the guy in the background. To me, it looked like he hit him in the chest. I just don't see the rule against that. Saying "the ref's were watching" doesn't give them a right to call a foul against a player clocking a guy when he isn't paying attention. If it did, just think of some of the fouls you would see on special teams. If Campbell had to turn around and scramble back, would a pancake block to the chest have been legal? The ref's made up a foul to protect a guy who made a dirty play against Portis and then got clocked, legally, when he didn't play to the whistle.

has anyone found a video of the play yet? i looked on youtube but its not there. if JC was in the act or just got rid of the ball when heyer hit him then im starting to think it shouldnt have been a foul regardless of whether dockett stopped playing.

from the replay i saw, it doesnt show JC but shows most of the lineman on both sides kinda standing upright not really playing anymore which led me to believe the ball was half way down the field. if JC was in the act of throwing when heyer hit him then imo it was a bad call.

go skins!

I think the call was crap--can anyone on this site recall a similar penalty? Now, if it was just illegal hand to the face, ok. But if it was hitting an unprotected player, like when a WR gets hit on a high pass or a punter gets nailed on a return, then it's nuts. This was a lineman blocking a rusher DURING A PASS PLAY! So the guy gave up on the play--is that Heyer's fault? People get their clocks cleaned EVERY play on the line. let it go.

THomas played a much better game and JC will be looking to him more and more as he gets used to what he can do. My feeling is when plays break down, Thomas is working hard to get open. Jc will learn that and look his way more often. Pity about the TD, but wins are what matter!

Can't wait to see both Thomas AND Kelly healthy and in synch with JC.

Heyer was definitely not downfield. The replay of the hit was shown from the camera angle used to show Jason throwing the ball. As Jason's throwing, you see Heyer hit the guy in the background. To me, it looked like he hit him in the chest. I just don't see the rule against that. Saying "the ref's were watching" doesn't give them a right to call a foul against a player clocking a guy when he isn't paying attention. If it did, just think of some of the fouls you would see on special teams. If Campbell had to turn around and scramble back, would a pancake block to the chest have been legal? The ref's made up a foul to protect a guy who made a dirty play against Portis and then got clocked, legally, when he didn't play to the whistle.

I completely agree with this. Campbell still had the ball in his hands AND let's say that Campbell throws the ball across the hashmarks, that block would be instrumental in the play's potential.

It shouldn't matter whether he is actively rushing the passer or not, he should be allowed to be blocked until the play is finished.

The play wasn't even halfway over when Heyer made that block. It was a hard block but that's about it. Completely dumb call.

I finally found a decent replay of it (NFL Video Galleries (http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80b02019), about 2:30 in, thanks to In Which We Attempt to Understand Why Heyer Was Flagged on Thomas' TD | Mr. Irrelevant (http://misterirrelevant.com/index.php/2008/09/22/in-which-we-attempt-to-understand-why-heyer-was-flagged-on-thomas-td/)), and watching it again, Portis hit Dockett, then Heyer no more than 1 second later hit him, with Portis watching on. Leads me to believe even more that it was a questionable call...

Thanks for the video. Bad call. Skins should not have been punished. Dockett has to learn not to stand around like a grazing cow during a pass rush, that should be all.