I’ve watched Dannell Ellerbe’s crushing blow on Josh Cribbs over and over again and still can’t decide if it’s a clean hit. When seen live at full speed, I thought for sure that Ellerbe went helmet-to-helmet, which is a big no-no.
But when it’s slowed down, it appears the Baltimore Ravens linebacker may have hit Cribbs with either his shoulder or upper arm.
Either way, it was a scary play and one that knocked out Cribbs for the remainder of the game. You never want to see something like that.
Cribbs may have been more injured on the play after the big hit was put on. His helmet-less head bounced off the turf and then a replay showed that he was kicked in the face by a defender while he laid motionless at the 40 yard line.
It seemed like it took Cribbs a while to get into the locker room after he walked off the field. I’m not sure if that says anything about the severity of the injury.
You just hope he’s okay after a chilling, scary moment of full speed NFL football.
It was a clean tough hit,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,pay the man………………
Play-by-play guy, Mike Mayock, claimed the NFL rule states that when a ball carrier’s helmet is knocked off by the hit, a dead-ball situation is in effect as soon as the hat comes off. If he is correct, the replay clearly shows that the play should not have resulted in a turn0ver. The rule was not mentioned again during the game, so I wonder if Mayock was wrong about that, or if the talking heads just wanted to avoid ragging on the just-returned officials.
I’m pretty sure that Cribbs was already a “runner” by the time the Ellerbe hit took place. Helmet to helmet is ok on a runner, just not qbs and defenseless receivers.
Steve, Mayocks right about the play being dead as soon as a hats off. I think the ref stated that the call on the field was confirmed as opposed to just standing, so they must have seen something we didn’t. Or real refs blow calls, too. It could be that.