jmog;506782 wrote:1. Defenseless receiver rule has ZERO to do with whether or not the receiver has caught the ball. Look up the rule. FYI, I think in a contact sport like football, neither of them should have been called, they weren't helmet/helmet and weren't really going after the head.
2. You can tell that the CIN defender had "no ill will" but the CLE defender did? Wow, really? You are a mind reader?
3. The CIN defender's didn't look "as bad" because you had a DB who was smaller than Watson, in Ward's case he was much bigger than Shipley, so the hit looked more "vicious". The CIN DB semi bounced off Watson.
jmog, I respect your opinion and know you're a very intelligent guy, but I just don't see how they compare at all. Ndukwe could have done a lot worse to Watson(IMO), so the fact he bounced off should help the case that he had no ill will. TJ Ward intentionally hammered Shipley while rising up to his head/upper shoulder region and had a clear helmet to helmet hit(I know that's not necessarily the rule and he wasn't leading with his helmet). I know he wanted to make a tough hit, he just went too far IMO. It's all subjective so there's no point in going back and forth though, so I'll just end with good luck to the Browns.