Halo

I personally think the rule is chicken-chit, designed to protect offensive linemen. WTF?
Anyways, I don't think anyone knew about this rule until it became a big deal to the Pats yesterday. It's very possible the NFL front office tipped off the refs to it. I have little faith in the "mind of Rex" but I trust in his brother Rob.

Belichick should have been aware of this rule and made sure his assistants stopped coaching it. Their loss literally earned them an actual "L". I feel no sorrow or remorse for them.

WhoDat!656

The players asked for this rule to be included.

NonieT

Willie Colon: Officials warned Patriots not to push on field goals | ProFootballTalk

RockyMountainSaint

Imagine that you are the long-snapper. Your head is down. You are already defenseless and now the 300 pounder lined up over you is being pushed from behind by another 300 pounder.

The rule is a good one.
Belicheat coached them to do it figuring he can get away with it like he gets away with everything else.

Rob tells Rex who tells the refs. They kind of have to enforce it at that point.
It was sooooo blatant.

TheOak

In regards to the underlined statement this is how that works. I am paraphrasing Pat Kerwin who has outlined this procedure twice in the last two weeks on NFL Sirius.

Each team has designated personnel in the front office that start watching tape on Tuesday of the opponent they face that weekend. They look for tendencies of their opponent. EG Linemen that blatantly hold a lot, Roddy Whites push-off, etc. They take this list and submit it to the league which passes it onto that weeks officiating crew. That crew can either dismiss those tendencies or be on the look out in the game that weekend. This explains how sometimes it seems like the Referee has his hand on the flag before the rule is broken and the flag is in the air as soon as that penalty starts to happen.

The penalty on the Patriots push is a new rule as of this year and the players asked for it to be implemented. In theory pushing someone through a line seems like a good choice but in practice it puts the weight of 2 players on 1 man. Imagine the force of 700+ pounds of NFL player behind you pushing you into a pulling Guard weighing 300+ pounds... As Kerwin stated, someone is looking for a broken neck doing that.

It is not a Rex Ryan thing, it is standard practice for all 32 teams to notify the league to be on the look-out.


Now... If you want to have a chapped ass read this. Belichick accepts blame yada yada... Read the 6th/7th paragraph.

"The wire service photo from the Patriots' game against the Saints in Week 6 seems to show that New England had used the same play -- with the same two players (Jones looping behind Will Svitek) -- on the New Orleans Saints' 39-yard field goal on Oct. 13 with 2:24 remaining in the game. No penalty was called then.The Saints tried to make the score 27-23. But if the officials had called a penalty, the Saints could have extended the drive and possibly run out the clock so the Patriots wouldn't have had a chance to win the game late, which they did when Tom Brady connected with Kenbrell Thompkins on a 17-yard touchdown strike, giving New England a 30-27 victory."

Bill Belichick of New England Patriots admits he was wrong that play wasn't penalty - ESPN Boston