Sanders' 'cramp'

I may be in a very small minority with the opinion I'm about to express. I truly mean no disrespect to anyone who feels differently than I do, as I share this. The reason I have decided to share is because I thought there might be a chance (however dismal) that a voice from a sincere fan might have an impact upon his lifelong favorite NFL organization (one can hope, heh).

So, what's my beef?

I am really bothered by the fake cramp (fine acting job, I'll add--even down to the mimicking of pain on the sideline bench). I think it showed a lack of integrity and class by an organization that I have come to have a great deal of respect for. To fake an injury to keep from spending a timeout is nothing short of cheating. I realize that other teams, if not all teams, do the same thing. But I'm not a fan of other teams--I'm a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I would like to think that my team is above this type of underhanded tactic.

Honestly, I would rather see the Steelers burn a timeout and lose as a result than save it by such actions and win. I think there are more important things than winning, and playing and coaching with integrity are among them.

Please know that I express this opinion from an honest desire to see my team be the best it can be.

 

not me I friggin loved it

 

Just made C'MON MAN on ESPN!! Great stuff!!

 

Can anybody here prove he faked it?

 

It was bush league all the way and I wouldn't be surprised if Gooddell tries to fine the Steelers organization.It's basically playing outside the rules and shouldn't be tolerated. It they just let it pass then it will continue.

Chck Noll and Bill Cowher teams wouldn't play that type game.

As a true fan of this team I can't defend that garbage.

If he had a cramp it's one thing but it was so blantantly obvious faking an injury. Worse than any punters I've seen flopping like a fish out of water.

 

That's the real thing here. Punters are kind of expected to do it, most of the time the refs just roll thier eyes and move on. I was pissed when Sanders did it. Really get someone that can act!

 

It's Goodells world, doesn't need proof, he's judge jury and executioner [/quote:g36yiu0t]
Yeah I get the Goodell part, but the question was can anybody here prove he faked it

 

I don't know. The league can decide what to do.

I'm not sure you can impune the integrity of the organization for something like this. I mean the Steelers have employed drug users, steroid users, convicted criminals of various sorts, I still think they are an organization with more than a little integrity. If being Mother Theresa is that standard, most organizations and people will fall short.

I guess it depends on what point we cross the line on gamesmanship? I suppose it depends.

Suppose Mike Wallace knew for a fact he 'trapped' that last catch last night? Would you have admired him, if he fessed up to it? I would bet not.
Ike Taylor sometimes willfully tugs on WRs, and sometimes he doesn't get flagged.
Willie Colon sometimes holds a guy, and sometimes he doesn't get flagged. They're both violating the rules, and the integrity of the game to some degree, but no one really things that they got away with cheating.

Not sure where you draw the line;

There was a story of a High School game where the center of team handed the ball to the QB, who looked at the refs and said "Hey, shouldn't there be a 15yd penalty on this?" and proceeded to mark it off as the opposition looked on in amusement. But at the 15-yr mark, he took off running!! Cheating?

A play Chuck Noll loved to run was a tackle eligible play. The OT would back up in motion that made it look like there was a snap, and try to get the DL to incroach, as normally the OL doesn't move. In part because of this they made a rule, where the refs announce that a tackle is eligble. Cheating?

- Is letting your grass grow long to slow down a fast team - cheating?
- Is picking up a recently released guy, to pick his brain on his old team cheating?
- Is filming the other teams signals..... well, I won't go there.

Cheating, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And depends on whether you are doing it or whether it is being done to you.

 

Boy are you naive...

 

If I'm not mistaken the reason you have to come out for a play after being "injured" is because Marv Levy used to tell the Bills to do it all the time and when they were playing a team that had a good no huddle and momentous offensive drive going they would have a guy get "hurt" and it would sorta suck all the air out of the offense they were playing against. So the league put in the rule about having to come out a play to try and deter that. Also there was a game in the 70s where Lynn Swann DID get hurt by George Atkinson and had a concussion and Joe Greene came out and literally carried him off the field. Lynn told the story later and talked about what a hero that Joe Greene was and then Mean Joe said the ACTUAL reason he went out there and carried him off like that was because he wanted to save a timeout! LOL. But can you imagine that happening in today's game?

 

Very well said. You make some excellent points here.

 

You are mistaken, slightly. The 1988-89 Sam Wyche Bengals started to run a no-huddle offense, but the did it by doing things like sending 15 people on to the field and having 4 run off before the snap, and before the defense could change. I think the Oilers of that same time frame were the ones that used to fake DL injuries to slow to stop the Bengals. They also did this to the Bills in the playoffs back then.

But once they changed the rules, (that you couldn't just flood the field w/ offensive players and have them run off) Levy devised a true no huddle. He had the QB (Jim Kelly), he had an athletic TE that could block or be a wide out, he had Thurman Thomas who could also line up wide. The unveiled the no-huddle against the Buddy Ryan coached Phi Eagles and scored 28 points in 1st Q before Buddy knew what hit him. The Bills of the early '90s sometime ran hurry up the entire game.

 

Oh for crying out loud...

 

I understand your point. But I can't agree that cheating is in the eye of the beholder. When a player or team intentionally transgresses a written rule of the game in order to gain an advantage over an opponent, it is cheating. Many of the scenarios that you list do not have (or didn't have) rules written against them and wouldn't, therefore, qualify as cheating.

Mike Wallace scenario: Yes, I would have admired him for it. I've never liked when players pretend to have caught a ball, when it's obvious that they didn't. Perhaps sometimes they actually think they did catch a trapped ball. But I think a lot of the time they know they trapped it and yet act as if they didn't.

Ike Taylor: PI is a call that is inconsistently enforced, even within the same game at times. This fact leaves players to "discover" on their own what will and won't be called. Let's face it, it is against the written rules to even touch a receiver beyond 5 yards, but referees allow this to happen consistently without throwing flags. So db's attempt to be as physical as possible without drawing a flag--and I think that includes Ike. Not sure I can blame a db for doing this.

Willie Colon: When Willie intentionally holds in order to gain an advantage, it is cheating.

Letting your grass grow long--no rule against it, so it's not cheating.
Signing a player to pick his brain--no rule against it, so it's not cheating. Not really aboveboard and I don't like it, but it's not cheating.
Filming another team's signals--written rule against it, so it's cheating.

I think faking an injury has a written rule against it, so that's why I called it cheating.

 

As said...prove it.....could have been a cramp....he hopped off like it was a cramp...and continued to stretch it on the sideline like it was a cramp.


If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck...Im going with duck...until he takes his duck suit off...and its really just Jon Lovitz....ACTING! THANK YOU!

HACK

 

There is a rule against it now. They've put time limits on it and if it's within the timeframe, they have to add him to the 53 man and keep them there for a set number of games.

 

Recievers fake pass interference on them often, and sometimes get the call.

 

any of you guys here ever run track? I have finished races at times and a few minutes later cramped up. If you cramp while rinning too bad. After the race it doesn't hurt you, cept the pain. As fast as Sanders is, way faster than I ever was 2:12 half mile was my best time at that time the 2:00 Minute half wasn't broken anywhere around Pittsburgh. I went to a big track meet in Mt. Lebenon and came in dead last with that time Haha. But my point is. Sanders could have had a cramp. Don't think they can prove he didn't

 

Holmes still does it. He'll get hit in the air and fake throw the flag at the ref three times before his butt hits the ground

 

I see. It's been a while since I heard that and it was kinda vague in my mind but I was thinking that I had heard somewhere that the Bills would do it so I just thought that they must've been the guys that came up with the idea. Also a few weeks ago in the Philly game I think it was Ben knew that AB had committed a false start and then Ben acted like he tried to tell AB to "shift" but the ref didn't fall for it and called it correctly as a false start. I think any way they can get an advantage in a league that is so fiercely competitive they are gonna do it.

 

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