Ravens Illegal Blocking

It should be no surprise to anyone that after an absolute beat down that teams will find things to complain about. That was my thoughts exactly when Steelers players and reporters started making a big deal about illegal chop blocks during the Ravens game. My initial thoughts were who really cares? and then went to that the team was trying to find excuses for the lack of a defense. So, after some digging around I found screen shots of some of the questionable plays, and wow.

For those not fully familiar with chop blocks its a pretty simple type of block. A chop block is when a lineman, in this case an offensive lineman, goes low to the legs of the defensive lineman, to slow him down or remove him from the play. That is if he is not engaged. If the defensive lineman is engaged with another offensive lineman, then you cannot have another lineman chop at his legs. This is extremely illegal and dangerous for the defensive lineman.

The screen shots we will refer to were from the first quarter of the week one blowout and both of these plays being shown resulted in big runs. The first screen shot is six seconds into the game. You can clearly see that Casey Hampton is engaged with Raven center Matt Birk. Casey is moving down the line to left side of the field as Marshal Yanda dives clearly and directly at his knees. There is no Steeler near Yanda, so it cannot be argued that he was pushed or forced into Hampton's knees.

This second screen shot is still in the first quarter, four minutes after our first example. This image really shows what the players were suggesting. Casey Hampton is engaged with both center Matt Birk and even right tackle Micheal Oher came over, so wheres the right guard Yanda? Look at Hampton's knees. Again, Marshal Yanda goes straight for the knees of the engaged Hampton. There again is no Steeler around him for the argument of being blocked or forced into the player. Hampton was out of this play with the double block, Yanda just went for the knees. This is an extremely dirty play.

Now, the game is over and is a loss either way. But this kind of blocking is extremely dirty and very dangerous to the health and career of the defensive player that is the target. The NFL has not ruled on this and I don't really expect them to jump in on the debate but the Steelers really need to keep and eye on this for future games.