Video of Ray Edwards Hit

On the replay it appears that there was helmet to helmet contact, or at least “facemask to facemask contact.”

First point of evidence is that Ray Edwards is flying through the air, and then is deflected off to the side The only thing he could have contacted would have been Stafford’s helmet, facemask, or shoulder pad.

Second point of evidence is at 1:21 in the video. Watch the back of Stafford’s head. It flinches back when Ray Edwards gets there.

It was an awesomely athletic play by our guy, Ray Edwards. (Re-sign him!) That said, the penalty was legitimate. You can’t contact anybody’s head like that in football. When it’s the quarterback, even inadvertent contact with the head will draw a 15-yard penalty. Earlier this year Kevin Williams had a great sack of a quarterback, but he accidentally hit the quarterback on the helmet. It was a 15-yard penalty. That’s the rule. We would want the same protection for our quarterback.

Next time, in a similar situation, I hope Ray Edwards leads with his hands. That way he can put his hands on the quarterback’s shoulder pads, shove the quarterback down, and not have head to head contact.

didn’t hit his helmet. He only hit his shoulderpad in a glancing blow because the other defender already had Stafford wrapped up and moving to the left away from Edwards hit. The refs only called it because when you look at the play in real time it is soo fast you can’t tell.

But upon further review, it looks as though he barley makes contact. Madieu makes the first and the brunt of the contact with Stafford, moving him out of the path of Edwards.

& I agree with all that it does not look like a penalty, but … am I really the only one who’s uncomfortable that ecuflips only options for rating this play are Ridiculously Awesome, Just Awesome, and Barely Awesome? that there should be a fourth pick something like “an impressive athletic play that had no ill intent behind it, but thank god it didn’t screw up the 21 year old kid inside that helmet, which it might have if he had not been pushed out of Ray Edward’s path just in time by Madieu”

The Mullet holds the title of “Ridiculously Awesome” on the defensive line, and if we start handing out the title to everyone, it’ll lose its meaning. :)

Anyone remember that hoax-pic from years ago that showed a scuba-diver being lifted out of the water by a helicopter, and this huge freaking shark leaping out of the water to grab some lunch?

That’s what Ray Edwards looked like in that play. Wow. Stafford’s going to be having nightmares about that for a long time to come.