Willis fined for hit on Collaros

[gbill2004]

@scratchingpost: #Esks DE Odell Willis fined by #CFL for hit on #Ticats QB @ZCollaros7 "evidence of contact to the neck area."

@scratchingpost: #CFL also says that #Esks Willis should have been flagged for the hit on #Ticats QB @ZCollaros7

[Mr. Perfect]

Flag football

[gbill2004]

Gotta protect the QBs.

[Valderan_CA]

Gotta say I don't particularly like this fine... It really looked like Willis made a conscious effort to turn his shoulder and lower it into Collaros when he was making the hit.

[Mike]

Garbage.

[gbill2004]

@CFL_News: By the way, the #CFL has changed their criteria from head shots being soley to the head to being above the shoulder. Thus the Willis fine.

[Valderan_CA]

Really hope this was a league minimum fine at least...

[17to85]

Willis led with his helmet I knew there would be some type of fine after seeing it.

[JuranBoldenRules]

Initial contact with shoulder is fine, the follow through with the crown of helmet to facemask needs to be penalized with flags and fines.  That's garbage, the upward motion and leaving his feet was completely unnecessary, and makes one wonder about intent.  You can't hit people in the head, and that especially goes for QB's.  Ramming the crown of your helmet into people is a good way to shorten your own spine too.

 

If Willy got hit like that everyone would be crying.

[kelownabomberfan]

Initial contact with shoulder is fine, the follow through with the crown of helmet to facemask needs to be penalized with flags and fines.  That's garbage, the upward motion and leaving his feet was completely unnecessary, and makes one wonder about intent.  You can't hit people in the head, and that especially goes for QB's.  Ramming the crown of your helmet into people is a good way to shorten your own spine too.

 

If Willy got hit like that everyone would be crying.

I agree. There was no reason for Willis to smoke Collaros like that. With good QB's at a premium in this league that kind of bullshit just can't be tolerated. Look at the other extreme - Vega could have KO'd Burris the same way with the free shot he had but instead he held up to avoid a fine/penalty and ended up with Burris tossing it into the stands. I think that in the future, where the QB is in the grasp, the play should be dead immediately. Burris got away with two of those last week where our guys tried to stay in the bounds of legality and lost two sacks because of it. Good on our guys for keeping a quality QB alive, but on the other hand, they deserved those sacks because of it.

[MOBomberFan]

I agree that Willis didn't deliberately aim for the head/neck, and the contact with Collaros' mask was unintentional. However, incidental or accidental head-shots are no less dangerous than intentional ones. Gotta protect those QBs! Pretty sure this site is littered with remarks about how competent QB's make the league stronger; the league can't let them get killed out there. Flags would be better than fines imo.

[Mr Dee]

Initial contact with shoulder is fine, the follow through with the crown of helmet to facemask needs to be penalized with flags and fines.  That's garbage, the upward motion and leaving his feet was completely unnecessary, and makes one wonder about intent.  You can't hit people in the head, and that especially goes for QB's.  Ramming the crown of your helmet into people is a good way to shorten your own spine too.

 

If Willy got hit like that everyone would be crying.

 

Except that he didn't leave his feet to throw the hit.

Willis ran through Collaros throwing his shoulder. The resulting follow through is where Willis left his feet and contacted Collaros's helmet.

He did not lead with his helmet.

 

And if there is a resulting fine, well so be it, but to say that play should have been flagged is questionable as it happened so fast and Willis was shown and said to have led with his shoulder.

[Goalie]

Kind of like a body check in hockey really ,willis being bigger, collaros not as big... sometimes thats what happens. Don't really think he deserved to be fined as he did seemingly make an effort to lower his shoulder. Looked shoulder first to me, but.. guess since collaros is a qb, he gets the benefit of the doubt. Gotta protect the Qb's i guess but... at the same time, seemed pretty clean to me. 

[TBURGESS]

I don't agree that "QB's should get special treatment".  I don't like the only hit them above the knees and below the shoulders.  I don't like the "In the grasp still allows the QB to throw".  You can't take the violence out of football and all players should be treated the same IMHO.  

 

All to head to head hits aren't the same.  If player "A" aims at Player "B's" head then it should be a penalty and a fine.  If Player "B" ducks or changes direction at the last second, what is Player "A" supposed to do?  Not take the hit?  Never going to happen.

 

Willis didn't go after the QB's head.  He tucked his head and aimed with the shoulder.  Sure, he was trying to make Collaros pay.  That's part of his job and it's part of playing football.

 

The hit on Willy late and low should have been flagged.  That was a cheap shot IMHO.

[17to85]

Kind of like a body check in hockey really ,willis being bigger, collaros not as big... sometimes thats what happens. Don't really think he deserved to be fined as he did seemingly make an effort to lower his shoulder. Looked shoulder first to me, but.. guess since collaros is a qb, he gets the benefit of the doubt. Gotta protect the Qb's i guess but... at the same time, seemed pretty clean to me. 

Pronger physics!

[Atomic]

Of course QBs deserve special protection. They are the most vulnerable player on the field on any given play. They need to have protection from head hits, even accidental ones like Willis'.

[Floyd]

CFL teams go to **** when their starting QB is hurt...  gotta protect those guys even if its unfair.

[Mr Dee]

Speaking of fines…why isn't there a fine to Watkins for outright theft when he stole the ball right out of the arms of Masoli when he was being tackled? 

[Noeller]

Based on the speed of the play, there was no way for Willis to do any more than he did to avoid a bad play. The legal area to hit a guy is getting so small, there's almost nowhere to hit the guy that doesn't result in a penalty...

[JuranBoldenRules]

Based on the speed of the play, there was no way for Willis to do any more than he did to avoid a bad play. The legal area to hit a guy is getting so small, there's almost nowhere to hit the guy that doesn't result in a penalty...

 

You can always form tackle someone who has the ball.  

 

It's not that hard, can't hit anyone above the shoulders, can't hit a QB standing prone in the pocket in the knees and below.  Somehow not being able to hit above the nipples works for rugby, problem in football is that the helmet has become a weapon and a tool for tackling, some guys like Willis have terrible habits and barely even use their arms to tackle, which is why RB's are usually flying by him into the 2nd level.

[Mr Dee]

Part of me questions Collaro's decision to hang onto the ball as long as he did.

Clearly he had a front view of Willis bearing down on him…very quickly, and he chose to 'one-one thousand' the throw.

 

And is it ever clear his wind up doesn't help him out at all when he needs to throw quickly.

 

To be clear, I'm not blaming Collaros, but he does have to get rid of that ball.

[James]

Flag football

 

Might as well just implement the two hand touch rule on QB's already

[James]

Delete... double post

 

[Fatty Liver]

 

Initial contact with shoulder is fine, the follow through with the crown of helmet to facemask needs to be penalized with flags and fines.  That's garbage, the upward motion and leaving his feet was completely unnecessary, and makes one wonder about intent.  You can't hit people in the head, and that especially goes for QB's.  Ramming the crown of your helmet into people is a good way to shorten your own spine too.

 

If Willy got hit like that everyone would be crying.

I agree. There was no reason for Willis to smoke Collaros like that. With good QB's at a premium in this league that kind of bullshit just can't be tolerated. Look at the other extreme - Vega could have KO'd Burris the same way with the free shot he had but instead he held up to avoid a fine/penalty and ended up with Burris tossing it into the stands. I think that in the future, where the QB is in the grasp, the play should be dead immediately. Burris got away with two of those last week where our guys tried to stay in the bounds of legality and lost two sacks because of it. Good on our guys for keeping a quality QB alive, but on the other hand, they deserved those sacks because of it.

 

I'm in total agreement.  If the last 10 years of Bomber incompetence has proven anything it's that a good QB is a very valuable asset worthy of protection.  Bomber fans would be out of their minds with rage if Willis took out Willy in this fashion. 

 

In the era of concussion awareness that we're entering I can see the day when it will be illegal for a defender to launch himself into another player.  Football will change because the courts will force it to and tackling may need to revert to it's roots in rugby.  It is only the protection of the helmet and shoulder pads that gives the tackler the false confidence that they will not be injured in a collision of that scale.  I believe there is a growing body of research in hockey that shows that the development of protective equipment and body armor has crossed the line from defencive protection to offencive weaponry.

[SPuDS]

The big dogs gotta hunt.. Dlineman and LBs are doing everything they can to hit a QB fairly without hurting me too seriously.. But catering to the QBs like this is pushing it.. Soon the stomach and chest pad will be the only fair spots to hit and they will have impact meters that tell the ref the defender was being too mean with his tackle..

I get it, I do.. QB driven league and we need to keep the QBs protected but at what cost? Making it impossible to sack them or hit them hard and clean? Defenders have been taught, ingrained into their psyche to get at the QB as fairly as possible but to out him down. HARD. that is football folks..

QBs need to protect themselves and offences need to protect QBs better.. We can't simply mold the game to protect QBs without ripping out some of the heart of our game..