The New England Patriots whipped the Philadelphia Eagles 35-0 in their preseason game on Thursday night. New England won easily despite being called for eight penalties for 74 yards. None of the calls were worse than this one.
Patriots defensive end Henry Anderson was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for lowering his head to initiate contact on this play.
If you’re wondering where the penalty was on that play, you’re not alone. That penalty is supposed to be called according to the following rule: “It is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.”
It looked a lot to me like Anderson ran into Brett Toth, but not by lowering his head, and certainly not by any amount that should warrant a penalty. If officials are going to consistently call penalties for something so simple as that, it’s going to be a long season.
Between this and the taunting penalty we saw, there have been some bad preseason calls so far.
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