Official Week 11 Thread

[Judge Jude]

"I hope the retort played out like you expected"

oh, it sure did. I didn't realize I was being graded on my offhand responses. I'm clearly not putting in the time and effort you desire, what with it being an anonymous sports message board and all.

"Relying on memory in this case I believe brings our biases into play. We saw the guy swing his helmet, so we fill in the details in retrospect to make them fit."

Whew. I watched the play live, and thought it was a late hit as it was happening. your extrapolations are, I don't know - interesting? sort of?

[Ken]

Whew. I watched the play live, and thought it was a late hit as it was happening. your extrapolations are, I don't know - interesting? sort of?

To clarify, when you watch this video you think it's a late hit?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WApAX7VDfkw

Garrett already has his arms out to wrap him up as the ball is leaving Rudolph's hand. You think that is late?

No reason to go with the "when I watched it live" business. Your mind will play tricks on you when watching live. Watching the replay removes those biases. Watch it now and let me know. The rules of roughing the passer are that the defender can take one step after the QB releases the ball. Your contention is that he took more than one?

[Judge Jude]

geesh, what part of "I'll accept your version of the details" do you not understand? you have me confused with someone who cares deeply - or at all, really, about this play.

now that I have been reminded I'm being graded on a passing opinion, maybe I'll skip it next time entirely. (that happens a lot around here these days.) you could have offered a mere modicum of evidence to support your position, but instead you used an elephant gun.

I don't care about the Steelers or the Browns. as for this message board, I'm just here so I don't get fined.

[madducks]

I am somewhere in the middle. It appeared he could have let Rudolph go after initial contact/grab, but perhaps he was not aware the ball was already released. And then Rudolph could have got mad because he felt the tackle went on long after he threw the ball. But Rudolph clearly escalated the situation.

I agree with this. The initial hit from Garret didn't bring down the 6'5" 235 lb Rudolph. Rudolph managed to complete the pass with Garret hanging onto his shoulder pads. But, Garret didn't let go of Rudolph after the pass. Perhaps words or slurs were exchanged at this point. I think Rudolph took issue with it being more of a prolonged hit than a late hit. Both players behaved poorly and escalated the situation.