NFLVideo

Should The Seahawks’ Golden Tate Have Been Fined $21,000 For This Crushing Block?

by Glenn Davis | 10:07 am, September 20th, 2012

Perhaps you saw the block Seahawks receiver Golden Tate threw on Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee over the weekend. Depending on whether you’re a Cowboys or Seahawks fan, you probably had different reactions to the block. If you’re a Seahawks fan, you probably thought something along the lines of, “OHHHHHHHH YOU JUST GOT LIT UP SON BIG BOY FOOTBALL ALL DAY BABY SEAHAWK PRIDE [VARIOUS IN-THE-MOMENT FOOTBALL EXCITEMENT NONSENSE]!!!!!!” If you’re a Cowboys fan, you might have thought something more like, “OH COME ON HE CAN’T DO THAT.” For the uninitiated, here is the block:

As a relatively impartial observer, allow me to just say: Damn.

Unfortunately for Tate, a different observer – the NFL – decided yesterday the hit was illegal enough that they were entitled to collect $21,000 from him. There’s probably going to be some disagreement among fans over this. There was certainly a difference in interpretation of the hit between the Cowboys and Seahawks camps. Here’s Jerry Jones:

“I’m sure they will [fine Tate],” Jones said in Dallas’ locker room after the game. “We saw the same thing you saw. That’s certainly something we know or expect penalties and fines about.”

Pete Carroll, on the other hand:

“I don’t think he could have done it any cleaner,” Carroll said. “It was very physical, but he didn’t hit the guy in the head and he didn’t hit him with his helmet, and he tried to not.”

Of course, this photo puts a sizable dent in the “didn’t hit him with his helmet” defense (indeed, the helmet contact seems to be the basis of the fine). So what say you, dear readers? Did Tate dangerously launch himself into a defenseless player and deserve to get punished, or is this just a futile attempt to legislate the danger out of football? Let us know – after, we assume, you watch a replay of that block about 20 more times.

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Trakar

Initial contact was shoulder and into the chest of Lee. Any helmet-helmet contact was incidental. Other than this it is a textbook block as players are trained to make them from grade school on. This was not a QB, nor even a ball carrier there was no penalty nor impropriety in this hit, though it does support the coaching maxim that every player on the field should always keep their head on a swivel and keep track of all aspects of the game and players in the field of play.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1126555197 Jeff Moose Donahue

I think it was a clean hit. Tate did not go after Lee’s head. He hit him clean in the chest. Maybe we should take the next step and wrap all players in bubble wrap? Football is not a “contact” sport, it is a “collision” sport.
Tony_Rocks

That look on his face. . . http://i.imgur.com/yunsI.png
pro43

I thought it looked like a good old fashion “slobber knocker” Its football not ballet, Would have gotta an attaboy from my coach
Rick from Honolulu

Looked to me like a clean block. He should not have been fined by the league but had his as_ kicked for the taunt afterwards.
Anonymous

Whether that was leading with the helmet or not doesn’t matter. That is the kind of hit the NFL needs to crack down on. It was an unnecessary hit. He didn’t need to upend the guy, all he needed to do was block him. Football is violent and always will be but it doesn’t need to be vicious.
Honest LSD integrity

For sure. If you blow someone up like that then play out the play help the guy up if you’re by him and give him a pat on the helmet. Don’t do what it seems like every black guy in the nfl wants to do after the most pedestrian of plays. Scream and yell and all that in the moment nfl nonsense he was talking about. Watch the beginning of BASEketball and it is an informative essay on what happened to pro sports.
Anonymous

it was a clean hit, but Lee had no idea he was coming.. Lee wouldn’t have made the play on Wilson he’d all but turned the corner. Tate is celebrating something of no consequence. What legit guy thinks that kind of play makes you a boss? Any punter in the league could’ve produced the same exact result given the position he was in… delta bravo all the way.
Anonymous

precisely.. If I’m Lee’s teammate I’m looking for a shot at Tate’s knees for the next 5 times I play him.
bigdfan77

How can you say this was a clean hit? Tate saw that Lee wasn’t looking and yes his hands touched Lee first but it’s clearly helmet to helmet. Joe May got suspended for a game for the hit on Schaub. Yes Shaub is a QB but he atleast could see it coming. Cheap that’s what this block was.
Raven For Life

Wat do u mean every black guy, white guys celebrate after a good play too, i think wat u mean is you see more black players doing it because there are more skilled black players than there are white.