NFL: Dirty play rife in fight for football
As if NFL wasn’t physical enough as it is while high definition cameras and foul play hungry eyes of the officials are on the players, but when it becomes difficult to see what’s going on, the game just gets downright ugly.
The last place you would want to be in if you cherish your manhood or the ability to see would be in the middle of a football game pile up. Anything and everything goes in that pile of men. Kicking, scratching, eye gouging, crotch grabbing, punching, choke
holds and anything else one could get away with. Throw in steel chairs and have an official counting down from 3 and we might as well call it the National Football and Wrestling League.
When in a pile up the officials can’t really tell what’s going on, It’s just too messy and confusing. Recovering the fumbled football could make or break the game. So, if it takes a little dirty play to get it back, the players don’t hesitate. Just ask Jets’
defensive Trevor Pryce. He has been in those pile ups and knows firsthand what goes on in there. “Somebody bit me on the arm once”, Pryce has told. He said that the rules, including the prohibition on biting another player's arm, don’t apply in the pile up.
'What happens in a pile up, stays in a pile up'
It’s an unspoken rule of the game. Probably because every player gets dirty in the pile. ‘Mr. Official, that guy punched me when I was trying to gouge out his eye.’ No, that wouldn’t make sense. He, who is without sin, casts the first stone and so, until
now the league hasn’t seen any incidents of stoning and the mess of the pile ups has been ignored for the most part.
The league has launched an inquisition against dirty play on the field during normal play. A week ago, close to $300,000 worth of fines were placed on NFL players. But those were illegal hits that the league could actually see, in slow motion and replay
over and over again. The pile up is in everyone’s blind spot. The players would have to officiate it themselves. It can get pretty hairy in there. Players have told of how someone in the pile tried to break off their fingers, twist their limbs and more. Granted
that football players are tougher, but that also means they can hit harder. Getting punched repeatedly will do damage no matter how tough you are.
It’s not always intentional though. Bodies get twisted in those pile ups in ways that they shouldn’t. The players know what they are getting into when they lunge at the ball and accept the risks that come with it. They also accept that it would get dirty
in the mix. “What goes on in a pile is sacred. You're not supposed to talk about it”, said linebacker Bart Scott. Many players just accept it as a part of the game and among them is Brown’s safety, Nick Sorensen even though he got a taste of it for himself
this Sunday.
The Browns have complained that New Orleans Saints played dirty in the pile ups during their game. Sorensen’s eyes were gouged, someone grabbed Josh Cribbs in the crotch and there was some choking going on too.
Sorensen forced the ball out of New Orleans’ Pierson Prioleau after a fumble by Cleveland. Sorensen said that he almost let go of the ball when he was poked in the eye and so he understands why players resort to such tactics.
The Saints didn’t think there was anything wrong with how they played on Thursday. Safety Darren Sharper said that he had been on the receiving end of all those dirty plays. “I've had my eyes gouged. I had my neck grabbed. I've had all that happen.” Sharper
was still not bothered by it because he had never seen anyone really get hurt in the pile.
It’s not simply just a fight for the ball. Sometimes players would jump into the pile to protect their guys from the other team and support them. Sometimes they would just dive into it to get back at someone. You won’t get a better chance than that to land
a few good hits.
In the pile up, everything goes. If only you could slip a tazer on the field.
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