NFL rules Wes Welker’s hit on Aqib Talib legal; Sorry Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick was the most upset coach in the world after the hit that took out his star corner back Aqib Talib. Bill Belichick called Wes Welker’s block of Aqib Talib “deliberate” and “one of the worst plays (he’d) ever seen.” Well Bill the NFL has made their decision, and they think it is perfectly fine.
“It was a legal hit,” Dean Blandino, the NFL’s vice president of officiating, told NFL Network’s Dan Hellie on Wednesday’s edition of “NFL Total Access.”
“Let’s look at the video, and we’ll explain why,” Blandino went on, signature Xbox controller in hand. “Here’s Welker in the slot. And the first potential foul would be for offensive pass interference. The receiver can’t block downfield before the ball is touched. So the timing is important. You see Welker run the route, and he does appear to angle back towards Talib and come into his path, creating that contact.
“Now we have to look to see when was the ball touched in relation to the contact,” Blandino added. “You’ll see here, as the contact occurs, the ball is touched almost simultaneously. We don’t have a foul for pass interference.”
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