I suppose maybe I have seen it before and just did not think about it deeply or maybe I never really did see it before (after all I don't go to games nor do I have Game Pass, so all-22 action is not normally something I see). Apparently, it is okay for a defender to violently push a receiver down while he is trying to run a pass route and get open. Heaven forbid, though, a defender have his hand touch a receiver's hip or stomach or leg and cause cooties to be transmitted.
Josh Norman, in London a couple weeks ago, made contact with a receiver at the line of scrimmage right when a play started. Flag.
3rd down and 7. Joe Blow puts his hand on a receiver's hip 12 yards down the field on the right sideline. The quarterback throws an incomplete pass to a receiver on the other side of the field. Flag due to what happened on the right sideline. Automatic first down. This penalty becomes even more frustrating when replays show the quarterback was locked in on the receiver on the left side of the field.
Richard Sherman purposefully knocks down Walter Powell outside the 5-yard chuck zone. No problem.
Can somebody please try to explain the logic to me?
I do understand the idea that, according to the rule book, Sherman could drop Powell because Tyrod Taylor was scrambling or something. Sorry, I still don't get the logic why that has been made okay. How did the official in the back of the end zone know that Taylor was out of the pocket? That official's line of vision could not have been great. Seriously, do the officials all have buzzers? The umpire buzzes them as soon as Taylor scrambles outside of the pocket? The buzzer goes off and it means, "Okay, the defenders can put the receivers on the ground now."
I actually think this stuff should be the other way around. I wish there was more hand-fighting between receiver and defender. I don't see why knocking down a receiver should be allowed unless it is to tackle that receiver or to block that receiver because your teammate just intercepted a pass or recovered a fumble or if it is about getting that receiver out of your face because you are looking to tackle a ball carrier. None of those three scenarios applied to the Powell-Sherman incident.