Nineteen years ago, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Dale Carter lined up opposite of Broncos cornerback Lionel Washington at Mile High Stadium. Carter, a cornerback by nature, took aim at Washington’s legs. On a running play to the opposite side of the field, with the Chiefs trailing badly, Carter hit Washington low. Washington suffered a partially torn ligament in his left knee.
Carter sprinkled kerosene on the incident by taunting Washington as he clutched in pain on the turf. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan called Carter’s actions “unethical,” even though Carter was not penalized. Chiefs boss Marty Schottenheimer went ballistic, pounding his fist and declaring, “Our players are not doing anything illegal.”
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Welcome to the NFL’s gray zone — the sometimes logical, sometimes confusing world of unwritten rules. This isn’t Major League Baseball, where stealing signs, flipping bats and stealing bases (in routs) provide grounds for retaliation. MLB’s unwritten canons remain thicker than a phone book. The NFL, by comparison, is a pamphlet. However, they exist.
“Football is a brutal sport,” said Broncos guard Evan Mathis. “So some people get in that zone and emotions run wild and your moral compass might not be active at that point. It’s tough. But there are lines you definitely try not to cross.”
Pro Bowl cornerback Aqib Talib went too far last Sunday during the Broncos’ 27-24 loss at Indianapolis. Seeing teammate Von Miller jawing with Colts tight end Dwayne Allen after a play, Talib walked up to Allen and gouged two fingers into his right eye. The NFL suspended Talib for Sunday’s home game against the Chiefs, costing him $323,529 in salary.
Talib admitted his mistake. He violated an existing rule and a long-standing unwritten rule. Most players don’t attempt to hurt each other. It seems like a contradiction when the goal is to smash into a running back or light up a receiver like the Las Vegas strip. Yet, respect is a common vein running through the game.
“I think everybody understands in the league. There’s a couple of guys who don’t give a (darn), but this is a profession,” said Broncos running back Ronnie Hillman. “You don’t want to take away from somebody’s family by doing some dumb stuff to somebody.”
The unwritten rules aren’t etched in a tablet next to a leather helmet in Canton. But players have a good feel for what classifies as aggressive play and what is just plain dirty or stupid.
Let’s start with the obvious: No blitzing in victory formation. When a team kneels down, the outcome is over. There’s no need to attack the line of scrimmage. In these scant seconds, football becomes a gentleman’s sport. Former Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano disagreed, and instructed his players to go after the New York Giants in 2012. New York coach Tom Coughlin blasted Schiano orally in the postgame handshake. That didn’t stop Schiano or the Buccaneers. Later in the season, they did the same thing at the end of the Denver game.
Broncos tight end Owen Daniels can relate. While with Baltimore, he said a Cleveland linebacker shoved him to the ground last season in the final seconds when the Ravens were taking a knee.
Not cool? Just not right, he explained.
“No. 51 (Barkevious) Mingo,” Daniels said. “We snapped it and I took a step back, and he blasted me. I tripped over the tackle. I was like, ‘What’s your problem?’ That’s a pretty well-known unwritten rule. He could have played hard the previous 59 minutes. Now he wants to go?”
Respect exists even if it’s hard to see as bodies stage car collisions each game. Going all out is emphasized and appreciated. Blatantly targeting a player with desire to hurt him is not, especially if you are aiming for the knees.
“If someone is down, you don’t want to step on them. You want to show good sportsmanship,” said Broncos tight end Vernon Davis. “You know when a guy’s being cheap. And some guys, that’s just who they are. They have a track record of committing bonehead mistakes. But you don’t want to retaliate. You can be the bigger man. It has to do with leadership. Guys will follow you, so you want to make sure you compete and do things the right way.”
In the dog pile on a fumble, the code of conduct vanishes. No one can see what happens, so let your imagination run wild when wondering what occurs in the darkness. However, by any means necessary doesn’t apply to those standing above the scrum. Good guys won’t push a player into a pile just because they can.
“You never try to hurt someone,” said Denver linebacker Brandon Marshall.
When trying to establish unwritten rules in football, one word applies: unnecessary. This is where most players draw lines in the turf. It’s acceptable to drive through an opponent with the force of a Ford F-350. Room exists for common sense.
“I am always going to play hard. But I am not trying to get a cheap shot on anyone,” Mathis said. “If I am nowhere near the play and it’s 20 yards downfield and ending, I am not going to turn around and try to take somebody’s head off. There’s just no need for that.”
Hall of Famer Warren Sapp’s block on Green Bay Packers offensive tackle Chad Clifton in 2002 falls into this category. During an interception return, when Clifton had no chance of making a tackle, Sapp blindsided Clifton. He went down. And stayed down for 15 minutes. Sapp’s celebration of the hit sent Packers coach Mike Sherman over the edge.
“I just don’t think there’s any place in the game for that. Maybe I overreacted to the hit, but what I saw looked kind of cheap,” said Sherman, who confronted Sapp on the field after the game.
Sapp never apologized for the hit. He countered years later that he made Clifton famous.
Contradictions exist in the phone booth that is the line of scrimmage. A gaggle of 300-pound men are angling for position, trying to impose their will. This is no place for the weak of heart or anything else for that matter. In this combative environment, can any unwritten rules be followed?
Yes. And no.
“A throat hit is a no-no,” said Broncos offensive tackle Ryan Harris. “Any sort of extra stuff whether you just won your particular play and just kind of physically established dominance over the person underneath you and taunt them, that’s frowned upon.”
Broncos defensive end Malik Jackson recognizes the loose decorum. This season, Oakland Raiders offensive tackle Donald Penn provided Jackson with a courtesy warning to be careful when leaving the ground to bat passes because, you know, he needs to protect his knees.
“I met him in the offseason. We are cool. He was giving me a warning. I appreciated it,” Jackson said. “It’s hard though. We have jobs to do. If you are an offensive lineman, I can’t do anything for you. You try to show respect, but we don’t get paid to be nice guys. You have to be nasty.”
The NFL eliminated some unwritten rules by putting pen to paper and making them official, which explains why crack-back blocks and chop blocks have nose dived, given the fines levied.
Still, many unwritten rules remain debatable and fluid, depending on the opponent or moment in the game. Therein lies the problem with unwritten rules.
“Certain guys are going to take their shots anytime, anywhere. They don’t care,” Daniels said. “What you might think is wrong, another guy might not. You have to keep your head because if you retaliate he’s probably sneakier and you will end up penalized. You know certain guys will bait you to go outside the rules. You see how they play on film. That’s football. You have to have your head on a swivel because you just never know.”
