Sean Taylor Spitting Video (merged)

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

In my book, spitting is worse than throwing a punch because it's such a total lack of class and sportsmanship.

In the heat of the battle, punches will fly on occassion and to me that's much more understandable than someone resorting to the punk-ass action of spitting at someone.

I can still respect someone who gets heated and throws a punch. But someone who spits I just lose all respect for.

Now don't get me wrong, I still think ST is a heck of a player and I'd rather have him on our side, but in the end he's a punk with alot of growing up to do. He could have cost his team the game, and that's a very selfish and immature thing to do.

I respect your opinion but I see it pretty much the opposite.

Yes, spitting is disgusting - but it amounts to nothing more than an immature lack of respect in my book. Throwing punches, or worse, something like Marcus Vick stomping down on the calf of an opponent is far worse.

Just my opinion and I'm sure many disagree - I just feel that violence and a clear intent to inflict serious bodily injury on someone is far worse than hocking some spit which is just gross.

What further compounds the whole Taylor situation is that he lied about it. Somebody doing something like that in the heat of the moment is bad enough and shows a lack of control and discipline. Lying about it straight to both your coaches, your team and the entire country shows an utter lack of character.

[jordanz301]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I agree with FRPLG. Nobody on this site has been able to rationalize why spitting should be considered worse than throwing a punch. The reason for that is it can't be rationalized. One act is gross. The other act hurts.

Carey acted rashly in deciding to eject Taylor and not punish Pittman whatsoever. Carey saw the spit, was appalled, and reacted immediately by throwing the flag and ejecting Taylor on the spot. He did not discuss things with his crew, he did not take any time to think about how to punish both parties fairly, he just acted as soon as he saw the spit. The punishment didn't fit the crime because Carey's reaction was partially driven by his disgust.

i dunno if any of you have played football, but a hit like that doesnt really hurt nor affect u, i kno bottom line he "punched" him, it doesnt really affect u. i dnt even agree with the fact that he punched him it was more of a slap......bottom line is, that spitting on some1 is disgusting and uncalled for. maybe they should have penalized pittman too, but honestly if some1 spit on you what would u do...mike carey is definitley one of the better refs int he nfl. and we got a lot of calls going our way that game....

[offiss]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I think from the original angle you can't see the spit because it falls to the ground pretty quickly right in front of ST, so his body blocked out the view of the spit.

I don't understand why people are so hung up on Pittman not getting a penalty. Even if Pittman got a penalty, ST was still kicked out and that was the part of this whole thing that really could have hurt us.

The problem was we had just forced them to punt, our defense was on the field all day that could have been a back breaker, offsetting penalties there still gives us the ball and the D a much needed rest.

The ref was wrong in not enforcing that penalty, in fact if you take a swing at another players head I thought that was an automatic ejection as well?

The problem with the referee's reasoning is this, if someone hit's one of our players out of bounds does that then give the player in question the right to turn around and bury his cleet in the guy's face? No! Why? Because it's another penalty against us, how many times do you see another player retaliate only to negate a penalty in his teams favor? Taylor deserved what he got, Pittman should have been penalized as well, that is why the penalty is so stiff, to keep players from doing things of that nature especially when it's a meaningless time in the game and a 15 yd penalty doesn't matter, an ejection, suspension, and or fine, help's to keep player's in line.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I'm sure the coaches had a LOOOONG talk with him. I hope he keeps his mouth shut and let his play do the talking on Saturday.

[ST21]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

I'm sure the coaches had a LOOOONG talk with him. I hope he keeps his mouth shut and let his play do the talking on Saturday.

Its unfortunate that Sean did that, but....whats done is done....lets move on because we have some doubters to prove wrong.....when we unleash hell on the Seahawks....hes paid he fine, please move on.......spitting is very nasty and if he should do it again, then hes suspended.....but in this case the NFL made the right decesion....I'm willing to beat that Sean is a Hero in Saturdays game and we all will be spitting with laughs at the Victory...........

[FRPLG]

And to add quickly. Lets say the coaches do have a long talk with him. And they tell him to tighten up and not get in situations that could result in the same punishments. We all know that guys like Taylor (and half the rest of the league) aren't going to simply stop trash talking and stuff like that so it is unreasonable to expect Taylor to simply put his head down and do nothing from now on. So with that in mind they try to help him understand what is acceptable and what isn't. Not calling the penalty on Pittman says "You can punch a guy if he provoked you enough". Do we really want Taylor or anyone else out there trying to figure what he can do and what he can't. It should be black and white. Spitting = penalty and ejection apparently. Punching = penalty maybe if the ref feels like it. One is balck and white while the other clearly isn't. Now we got guys trying to decide when it is ok to retaliate and when it isn't. This is more of a fundamental tenant that retalation should not be allowed for any reason and not just in this situation.
I just don't like our guy getting stomped on by everyone like he tried to murder the guy and I think the main reason it is happeneing is that the NFL has done nothing to diffuse this illusion that Taylor did the "worse that could ever be done". Hell they didn't even enforce their own rules. That's crappy.

[MTK]

Personally I thought an ejection for spitting at another player was appropriate.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Personally I thought an ejection for spitting at another player was appropriate.

And that's cool. I think we should all be able to respect basic fundamental opinions like this. I can totally see why some think it should be ejectable but I happen to disagree. No biggie.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Personally I thought an ejection for spitting at another player was appropriate.

To be perfectly honest, if that was Roy Williams spitting on Clinton Portis I'd say he deserved to be suspended for 2 games so the same should go for Taylor. Absolutely disgusting. That is NOT a Gibbs-type player. I don't care how talented he is, that is just absolutely classless. To boot, he lied to Gibbs, Williams and his teammates about it.

[Longtimefan]

Originally Posted by Ramseyfan

To be perfectly honest, if that was Roy Williams spitting on Clinton Portis I'd say he deserved to be suspended for 2 games so the same should go for Taylor. Absolutely disgusting. That is NOT a Gibbs-type player. I don't care how talented he is, that is just absolutely classless. To boot, he lied to Gibbs, Williams and his teammates about it.

Furthermore, JG also felt he should be ejected and was not at all happy about that kind of behavior. Regardless of what action the Ref. took in response to Pittman's action, there's absolutely no excuse for any player spitting in the face of another. I wouldn't consider a player throwing a punch at me the same as spitting in my face. I would have done the same thing Pittman did regardless of the consequences, and I can understand why he wasn't falgged or ejected. This is a prime example of what happens when you have a reputation for doing that type thiong.

[celts32]

NFL Network had some good footage of this incident and the rest of the game last night on "Sounds of the Game". They had the audio of the officials talking to one another and the skins players afterwards. One of the other officials asked him after he ejected Taylor if he was going to penalize Pittman for hitting ST. He said no and basically said what would you do if you got spit on.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by celts32

NFL Network had some good footage of this incident and the rest of the game last night on "Sounds of the Game". They had the audio of the officials talking to one another and the skins players afterwards. One of the other officials asked him after he ejected Taylor if he was going to penalize Pittman for hitting ST. He said no and basically said what would you do if you got spit on.

This is exactly my point. Carey essentially felt the act was so disgusting that Taylor deserved to be smacked. That's BS, refs should not have power to interpret the rulebook based on their emotions. Carey experienced the emotion of disgust and levied a ruling partially based on that emotion; that's not rational judgment.

It probably explains why the NFL didn't hit ST with much of a fine.

[offiss]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

This is exactly my point. Carey essentially felt the act was so disgusting that Taylor deserved to be smacked. That's BS, refs should not have power to interpret the rulebook based on their emotions. Carey experienced the emotion of disgust and levied a ruling partially based on that emotion; that's not rational judgment.

It probably explains why the NFL didn't hit ST with much of a fine.

Much of a fine? I believe Romanowski who hacked a series luggar on Ty Streets only recieved I believe a 5000.00 fine.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by offiss

Much of a fine? I believe Romanowski who hacked a series luggar on Ty Streets only recieved I believe a 5000.00 fine.

Fines have escalated these days, that Romanowski fine happened a few years ago. The landscape has changed since then and those past years don't make for very good comparisons to today. Portis got hit with $20,000 for wearing goofy socks this year. I think that puts the Taylor fine in perspective a bit better.

[celts32]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

This is exactly my point. Carey essentially felt the act was so disgusting that Taylor deserved to be smacked. That's BS, refs should not have power to interpret the rulebook based on their emotions. Carey experienced the emotion of disgust and levied a ruling partially based on that emotion; that's not rational judgment.

It probably explains why the NFL didn't hit ST with much of a fine.

I tend to agree. I thought that there should have been offsetting 15 yard penalties and an ejection for ST. That would have been the proper way to officiate the play in my opinion. It is not up to the official to determine whether ilegal actions by one party excuse the ilegal actions of another. Basicaly, the ref here applied the "two wrongs make a right" rule. Absurd...