Question about Roughing the Snapper call

CullmanTide said:

It's a good rule and it was correctly enforced. We just need to work on it a bit.

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Relayer said:

Or, maybe some see that particular call differently than you.

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B1GTide said:

First - it was not a hands to the face penalty. That is a different penalty, and a different call. That is not what was called. It might have happened, but it was not the call.

As for the call - it was incorrect. The NG and DT both tried to shoot the gaps between the center and guard on each side of the center. The center took the man to his right and was stood up and driven back - bent over backwards and he fell to the ground. In short - he was beat - badly. Because he was beaten so badly it looked terrible at real speed, but when slowed down you can see that the call was wrong.

You are allowed to shoot the gap. The long snapper on kicks does not have standard blocking responsibilities. He should not have tried to take on the man to his right in that way. It was his mistake. He could have been badly injured with that terrible technique. He should not have been rewarded for doing that with a bogus penalty. It will only encourage other long snappers to try something similar in desperate circumstances.

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CullmanTide said:

My guess is when tables are turned, fans see things differently.

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B1GTide said:

First - it was not a hands to the face penalty. That is a different penalty, and a different call. That is not what was called. It might have happened, but it was not the call.

As for the call - it was incorrect. The NG and DT both tried to shoot the gaps between the center and guard on each side of the center. The center took the man to his right and was stood up and driven back - bent over backwards and he fell to the ground. In short - he was beat - badly. Because he was beaten so badly it looked terrible at real speed, but when slowed down you can see that the call was wrong.

You are allowed to shoot the gap. The long snapper on kicks does not have standard blocking responsibilities. He should not have tried to take on the man to his right in that way. It was his mistake. He could have been badly injured with that terrible technique. He should not have been rewarded for doing that with a bogus penalty. It will only encourage other long snappers to try something similar in desperate circumstances.

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"What happened on the play is we really didn't rough the center," Saban said. "We did what we call 'beach,' which we blocked several field goals doing this by putting A'Shawn Robinson and a couple other big guys like Jarran Reed and maybe Darren Lake or whatever. They get shoulder to shoulder and they try to get in the center-guard gap, on the guard and then on the guard-tackle gap and they push three guys on one to penetrate."

It worked last year as Jonathan Allen blocked an extra point in the 14-13 win over Arkansas, Alabama's opponent at 6 p.m. Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

"Well, people have a tough time with those guys, so what they start doing is they snap the ball and the center tries to lean over to the beach side to try to give the guards some help. Well these guys are pushing and then their hands go up to block the kick. Well, when Jarran Reed or one of the guys' hand went up, it hit the center in the face and that's hands to the face.

"Again, it's a good rule for player safety and all that type of stuff. So it wasn't like somebody just hauled off and run over the center, it was kinda almost accidental contact. He was raising his hands up to block the kick as he was pushing in the gap and the guy leaned his way. It was just one of those things. I don't think it was a malicious thing on the part of our players. It's not something that gets called a lot but I think people respect the rule and try not to hit the center."

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tidefan23 said:

Hands to the face like I said above.

BTW - I think Saban incorrectly said it was on the way up...he nailed him on the way down.

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gman4tide said:

Agree about protecting he snapper for a second or so, but after that, it becomes a contact sport! And that's coming from the dad of a high school long snapper. Just another really grey speculative rule...kinda like the targeting. Anyone see the USCw de launch into the chin of the uw qb last night. No flag flew...but let a ua dlineman graze someone and see the flags fly.

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dvldog said:

Well SEC refs are way more proficient than their PAC 10 counterparts. [emoji6]

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Jon said:

I have a buddy who was a long snapper on D1 team a few years back. He texted me during the game "If that was a penalty it was missed on every kick of my career"

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