League office is dropping the ball on ejections
Twice this week, high-profile players in high-profile games should have been ejected. On both occasions, the NFL blew it.
And it wasn't just the officials on the scene failing to see in real time the very real infractions that should have gotten a player disqualified. The procedures have changed to involve the league office directly in such decisions — and to give 345 Park Avenue the power to pull the plug on a player who has crossed the line.
On Monday night, Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson shoved an official who was pushing Watson away from a confrontation with one or more people on the Steelers' sideline. The league justified the decision to let Deshaun stay in the game by saying, "In the judgment of the officials, the contact did not rise to the level of a foul. The officials are called upon to maintain order on the field, and sometimes while performing those duties, there is inadvertent contact between players and officials."
The video does not mesh with the explanation; Watson was being pushed away from the fray by an official, and Watson put his hands on the official and shoved him away. That should ALWAYS trigger an ejection.
On Thursday night, it happened again. 49ers left tackle Trent Williams punched Giants defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson in the facemask. While not as sudden as violent as the blow Williams once delivered to Richard Sherman, that one happened after a game. This one happened during a game, and it should have resulted in an immediate ejection.
The NFL offered up another word salad in explaining the decision not to eject Williams, culminating with this: "We couldn’t confirm that 100 percent from the standpoint of was it truly a closed fist with a strike, we just couldn’t determine that."
What more did they need to see? Did Robinson's head have to dislodge from his shoulders, like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots? Again, the video does not mesh with the explanation. Williams punched Robinson with a closed fist. He should have been ejected.
It's all gaslighting, plain and simple. The league is telling us our eyes our deceiving us. That these are not the droids we're looking for. It makes no sense.
Unless it does. Watson wasn't ejected because the league wants to keep the best quarterbacks on the field in standalone games. Williams wasn't ejected as an extension of that mindset. He's a key piece in keeping 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy healthy, so Williams gets a pass — in order to help ensure the 49ers won't be without their passer.
There has to be an explanation for it, because both Watson and Williams should have been ejected for the things they did. And it can;t be incompetence, because the video evidence in both cases is too obvious.
It's about the firewall — or lack thereof — between the NFL's business interests and the rulebook. The league wants and needs maximum TV audiences, in order to generate maximum revenues. Certain players are deemed to be too important to that effort.
Specifically, quarterbacks and those most responsible for keeping quarterbacks in one piece.
