Raheem Brock was fined by the NFL for hitting Ben Roethlisberger in the knee on Sunday. He has decided to appeal the fine. This post is about Raheem Brock not understanding what is going on.
This past Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger completed a long pass to Heath Miller down the sideline. It was, however, a negative play because Seahawks defensive lineman Raheem Brock came off a block as Ben threw his pass, and dove into the side of the quarterback’s right knee. Brock was flagged for roughing the passer, but Steeler Nation’s attention was immediately focused on Ben’s knee. We all know why, but go ahead and read on after the jump.
We all remember how satisfying the 2005 wild card game was, getting the chance to stomp the Bengals out of the playoffs after they humiliated us at home. What made that game so seemingly easy? Carson Palmer tore his ACL on the second play from scrimmage, a 66-yard completion to Chris Henry. Kimo von Oelhoffen rolled off a block and fell into Palmer’s leg. He was done until next season.
In 2008, Bernard Pollard was a safety for the Kansas City Chiefs. He blitzed Tom Brady in Week 1. Like von Oelhoffen, Pollard went low into Brady’s leg. Another torn ACL, and the juggernaut that was the New England Patriots was without its leader. The AFC was suddenly wide open and the Steelers claimed a title that season.
We’ve been on the lucky end of these injuries. But on Sunday, Raheem Brock repeated the same play against Ben Roethlisberger. These are indisputable facts:
- Raheem Brock was rushing against Marcus Gilbert.
- Brock used a spin move to get around Gilbert.
- Brock hit Ben Roethlisberger in the side of his right knee.
- The ball was far away enough to have already been caught by Heath Miller.
Ben didn’t tear his ACL, thankfully, but it was a dangerous play that put a player (a quarterback, no less) at serious risk of injury. As such, the NFL informed Brock that he would receive a fine. Brock took exception to this, somehow trying to blame Marcus Gilbert:
Watch the video.
It’s hard to actually imagine a player making less of an effort to stop himself from making a dangerous play. So you got tripped, all right, fine, you were going to fall. I can accept falling. What I can’t accept, and what I imagine the league won’t accept, is taking another step and diving into a QB’s knee. It would have been awfully easy to just go down right there, or to maybe fall to the side, because it’s illegal to drive your shoulder into a quarterback’s legs.
Brock is going to meet with the commissioner to appeal this and the two of them are going to watch this video. The Fuhrer is going to say “if you just got tripped, how come you took that extra step and drove yourself into his legs? Did you know you’re actually never allowed to do that to a quarterback?” And Raheem Brock is going to stand there, stunned, because he has no case when you watch this on film.
Sorry, Raheem. You’re losing this battle. And your Twitter avatar looks stupid.
