By Will Vandervort.
When he was flagged for his late hit on South Carolina quarterback Dylan Thompson, Clemson linebacker Stephone Anthony was a little mad the referee called him for a late hit. When he heard the SEC official charged him with targeting Thompson and disqualified him from the game, Anthony was a little more fired up.
“I got angry about it of course, but the refs made the call and they made a judgment call and I can’t do anything about it now,” the senior said.
Because of that call Anthony will have to sit the out the first half of the Russell Athletic Bowl when the 17th-ranked Tigers face Oklahoma on Dec. 29, the second time a Clemson player has had to miss the first half of a following game because of the rule, which intent is to take cheap shots out of the game and protect defenseless players from serious injury.
But in Anthony’s case and in safety Robert Smith’s case from the Wake Forest game, there is supporting evidence suggesting the officials on the field and in the replay booth got both calls wrong.
During the last off-season, the targeting rule was amended to say that “No player should target and make forcible contact.”
It’s obvious from watching the replay of Smith’s hit on Wake Forest tight end Cam Serigne that he made a proper football play. Though he might be guilty of shoving Thompson a little late, it is pretty clear Anthony was not targeting the Gamecocks’ quarterback or making forcible contact.
“I think what we all want to take out of football with this rule was the obvious cheap shot, and that was not a cheap shot,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “At the very most, maybe you throw a flag and say it was a little late putting his hands on him, but there are whole lot worse hits than that.
“To call a 15-yard penalty, maybe? And I don’t really see that. But to call a targeting, that is just really, really poor and that is not what the intent of the rule is for. It’s not for that type of play. That is something we as coaches have to really go back and address and do a better job of defining what that play and that rule should look like.”
The rule, and the way it is being called, is taking the physicality out of the game. Twice in NFL games this past Sunday, a defensive player was called for a personal foul for roughing or targeting the quarterback when both appeared to be good football plays.
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Jason Worlds was called for roughing the passer which negated an 11-yard sack on Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan, when he plowed through the former Boston College standout. Later that day, San Francisco’s Nick Moody was called for roughing the passer on Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
Like Worlds’ sack, Moody’s looked clean and looked like a textbook play. The NFL later agreed, but that was no consolation considering it led to the game-clinching touchdown for the Seahawks.
“They are trying to protect players even more now with concussions and injuries in general so it is a little frustrating, but you just have to go out there and play,” Smith said. “They face a tough challenge too. They have to make a decision to throw a kid out of the game or not to throw a kid out, and now the other kid is suffering because you did not make the right call. There is a lot of pressure behind officiating.
“It is kind of subjective and opinion based, but you have to deal with it and go on and play.”
But is putting this kind of pressure on a subjective call taking away from the game and is it causing the officials to lean on the side of caution more than making sure they are getting the call right.
“Has the game got a little bit less violent? I believe it has, especially since I started playing football,” Smith said. “Things are put in place for a reason and they are trying to protect players even more and there is nothing you can really do.
“It is kind of harder on defensive players but it is something you have to live with. You can change it. There is nothing you can do about it. You just have to live with the rules.”
Knowing now what the consequence would be for hitting Thompson on that third-quarter play, Anthony said he would do it all over again because he still feels like he did nothing wrong in the first place, but he also understands this is just the way the game is played now.
“I think they are just trying to do their best to protect the quarterback and they are trying to have him stay in the game because a quarterback is so vital to a team and they are trying to do their best to protect him,” Anthony said.