Roy Williams = dirty tackler

[sandtrapjack]

Originally Posted by 12thMan

Friend if you still think Marcus Washington laid a late hit on Witten then obviously we disagree on what a late hit actually is.

The guy was still in bounds, I repeat in bounds, and moving forward. The ball wasn't dead, and to the best of my recollection (sp) the whistle hadn't blown yet.

So please tell me again, how in the world does this qualify as a late hit??

Well we agree to disagree then, I have gone back to my DVR a few times and watched that hit and the whistle had clearly blown. I agree that forward progress had not been stopped, and I agree that Witten was still in bounds. I believe that the whistle was pre-mature. And when the ref made the call over his stadium microphone he said that the penalty was for a hit AFTER THE WHISTLE, he did NOT say it was for a hit out of bounds. If the whistle had not blown, it would have been a good clean hit. But the fact is, the whistle had blown and the hit was clearly after the fact.

But even though the whistle was pre-mature, it was still blown and the play is dead, regardless if it was "ref error" or not. Even if Witten was in bounds and progress had not been stopped, once the whistle blows the ball cannot be advanced and the official would have marked him down at the spot where the whistle was blown.

I cannot say that Washington did this on purpose. That would be purely out of context for the situation. It was the Cowboys second possesion of the game, it was the 1st quarter, the addreniline for all players had to be on overdrive, two biggest rivals in the game with play-off implications for each team. Anybody, Cowboy or Redskin could have done the same thing it that scenario.