San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh says option ruling ‘flawed and a bit biased’
By Brian Spaen
San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh has gotten a lot of criticism over the week as he’s continued to try and get information on when a quarterback should and shouldn’t be hit. He apparently didn’t like what he heard from the league after meeting with media on Friday.
"[On] Friday, [Harbaugh] got the final word on the interpretation of what is a legal hit on a quarterback in the read-option offense, saying a league ruling was “flawed and a bit biased.”“I believe that when a quarterback is handing a ball off or faking a ball — in the read-option case, he’s reading on an option play and he’s as defenseless as a quarterback who’s in the act of throwing,” Harbaugh said."
NFL vice president of officiating, Dean Blandino, explained in a rules video of when a quarterback can be hit while running a read-option play.
"“The quarterback can be hit like a runner until he’s clearly out of the play,” Blandino said in the video."
No matter what Harbaugh does, he’ll continue to be called “a bitch” for trying to defend his quarterback. But both sides have a good argument. A quarterback should be fair game to hit when they are part of the play, but there is a point where they shouldn’t be able to get hit when they are defenseless.
All of it doesn’t matter to quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who’s been dazzling since becoming the 49ers quarterback. On Wednesday, he said he wears a helmet and pads “for a reason” in a conference call.