[b]Hamilton Tiger-Cat Adrian Tracy has been fined for lowering his head and leading with the crown of his helmet, making it the main point of contact as he hit an opponent.
As per league policy, the amount of the player fines was not disclosed.
CFL Commissioner Jeffrey L. Orridge issued the following statement on the Tracy fine: “There has been significant interest in this play as it resulted in an injury to Winnipeg Blue Bomber quarterback Drew Willy, which forced him out of the game. As Adrian Tracy was closing in to hit Willy, the quarterback was already in the process of being tackled by another Tiger-Cat, which changed Willy’s body position and put his head in Tracy’s path. However, Tracy had a responsibility to avoid lowering his head and hitting his opponent with it. Leading with your head,and using it as the main point of contact, is illegal. It is a dangerous and unnecessary maneuver that puts both the tackler and his opponent at serious risk of injury. It is standard we must uphold as we strive to protect player health and safety.?[/b]
Glen Johnson, Vice-President of Officiating, added: “ Player safety is an important priority and there should have been a penalty on the play for unnecessary roughness.?
If Tracy was attempting to hit with his shoulder, and Willy fell into the path of Tracy's helmet, please tell me how Tracy was supposed to not hit with his helmet. Unless human physiology has changed since I was in school, it is impossible to attempt to hit with a shoulder without your head being out in front. In that full speed play with a fraction of time to see, interpret and respond, was Tracy to go full Matrix and bend out of the way of Willy's helmet? Was he to break the laws of human physics and bend his neck in a way it was not intended to bend thereby "doing enough" to ensure that the contact was not helmet to helmet?
Rubbish. The fines must be fairly insignificant. If not, players are going to think twice about playing in the seemingly unreasonable CFL.
Agree that it should have been a penalty, as the rules don't say anything about intent.
Fines, on the other hand, should be about intent or reckless play. Not ever helmet collision deserves a fine; however, if Tracy did drop his helmet to the point of leading with the crown, as the CFL statement says, then there may not have been intent but it would have been reckless, and therefore deserving of a fine.
I totally disagree with the fine. The level of Tracy's helmet, when it hit Willy, and the fact that the helmet was leading Tracy's way into the WPG QB was determined by the push, from behind, on Tracy's shoulder by a WPG OL who I believe was #59 Jace Daniels. Or, it may have been #69 Sukh Chungh. Whoever is it was, he was trying to push Tracy down to the ground, from behind, to prevent Tracy from reaching Willy, That action was an illegal block. It looked, to me, that without being pushed, Tracy was at a level that would have seen him lead with a shoulder. But, Willy was already going down at the moment of impact and Tracy, if not pushed downward, would likely have made contact on top of, rathe than into, the falling QB. Regardless of that clear evidence, I also don't agree with fining a player for a rule infraction which was not flagged during the game and is not reviewable, during the game, by a coach's challenge.
This whole process is bush league. Why would the commissioner point out publicly that the refs should have called a penalty on Tracy but no comment about the refs calling a TD by Winnipeg that should have been a play stopped short of the goal line.
Call the referees out in public on all their mistakes or shut up commish. Do not pick and choose what to highlight.
He didn't even hit him that hard cause apparently Willy is starting this week for the Peg. I personally am very surprised that Tracy was fined by the league. Put me down for a "disagree" on this subject. The poor guy plays his first game in the league and probably lost half his game cheque because of that fine. Personally I thought that the Willis hit last year on Collaros was way worse and blatant than Tracy's hit on Willy and unlike Collaros last season who was concussed and IL'ed , Willy is apparently fine and good to go this week vs Montreal.
Like Tracy himself said, he plays hard to the ball carrier on every play, just like everyone else on D.
In my opinion, this play was just a freak accident. There was no intent to injure (think Hebert's clothesline on Cornish last year). Therefore this is a BS fine.
Tracy is one of my favorite new players. I hope he continues playing the exact same way, despite this fine.
willy is probably not so fine. I think no way he should be playing. If Matt had waited a lot more time after concussions, he night still be playing today. Ok, so maybe not today, but......
So then you would have been OK with Willis not being fined after his hit on Zach last year in week 2 which also was not flagged?
Personally I'm not surprised that the fine was imposed although I don't fault Tracy for playing to the whistle and playing aggressively as they have no doubt been coached. Missed the first 1 1/2 quarters of the game in week 1 so have no idea why Langa was fined (if it was later in the game then obviously I missed the play).
Just because the officials miss a flagrant violation doesn't mean it didn't happen. So I don't see a problem with players being fined for actions that didn't result in penalties during games. That said, I still haven't seen evidence that Tracy actually lowered his helmet, although as I have said, the league may have access to additional camera angles that show it better.
Langa was penalized for a very late hit from behind on a player who had already let up after seeing Banks tackled to the ground and hearing the whistle. Definitely deserved the penalty and the fine.
:cowboy: