SmashMouth

Tony Corrente got the call right in New Orleans. With 3:18 left and San Francisco up by three in a crucial game between the Niners and Saints, linebacker Ahmad Brooks sacked Drew Brees and forced a fumble, which the Niners recovered. The problem was the sack, and the mechanics of it. Brooks clotheslined Brees on a hit that started above the sternum and finished with him forcibly sending Brees to the ground by contacting the neck with his forearm. Corrente called a personal foul on Brooks, gave the gall back to New Orleans, and the Saints went on to win with two Garrett Hartley field goals in the final three minutes. Emotional call, obviously, one that hurt the Niners grievously. But if you’ve seen nothing else in this league over the past three years, you’ve seen that officials are charged with protecting the quarterback above all others. And Corrente was protecting the quarterback. He did it wisely. Brees was tossed to the ground because of a forearm that finished on his neck. I thought the call was obvious.

Peyton Manning's protection; Ahmad Brooks penalty; more NFL Week 11 thoughts | The MMQB with Peter King

AlaskaSaints

What was BS was us NOT beating this team by 14 points.

Alaska in NOLA

Schmohams

The funny thing is that if Brooks had hit Brees legally then we would have probably lost that game.

Danno

Rule 12 Player Conduct Section 2 Article 9 It is a foul if a player initiates unnecessary contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture. ...(b) Prohibited contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture is: (1) Forcibly hitting the defenseless player’s head or neck area with the helmet, facemask, forearm, or shoulder, regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the defenseless player by encircling or grasping him.

Beastmode

He said he was going for the ball. BS. The ball was down so why hit that high and move your mass behind the player. I do think though if he hits mid section with all his force Brees gets hit much harder but I doubt he took any physics in college. Brees sheered a lot of the force . That doesn't happen if he gets hit in the mid section.

saintsfan1976

Niners play cheap and dirty.

They finally lost a game because of it.

Now they're crying like a child.

My hate for them continues to grow.

SmashMouth

Brees after the hit ...

SloMotion

Budsdrinker

That's just wrong! He looks like Merton Hanks now!

RailBoss

Frisco is a physical dirty team that gets away with a lot of cheap hits. Brooks was trying to rip Drew's head off replay the tape, good call by the Ref's. As said in an earlier thread we are lucky Drew got up.