What is face guarding?
By Josh Hill
What is face guarding in the NFL?
The NFL world is up in arms over a flag that was picked up in the NFC Wild Card game between the Lions and Cowboys, as everyone in the NFL is wondering just what the difference between pass interference and face guarding is.
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In fact, most people are probably wondering what face guarding even is.
All of this stems from a flag that was picked up in the NFC Wild Card game between the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. The incident in question saw Dallas Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens get int he face of Detroit Lions tight end Brandon Petigrew in a manner which appeared to be a pass interference penalty.
It looked that way to at least some of the officials on the field, as a flag was thrown and that very call was made. But after some deliberation, the flag was picked up and no foul at all was called — not even defensive holding, which is usually what happens when pass interference calls get changed.
Instead, the call was completely changed to a no call at all. After the game head official Pete Morelli said that face guarding is what happened, not pass interference.
Face guarding is defined almost exactly how it sounds. It happens when a defender deliberately gets impedes the line of vision of the player he’s defending but does not make contact with him. Pass interference is when a defender makes contact with a player that impedes a catch but does so in a manner where no play on the ball was made.
According to Pete Morelli, the latter is not what happened.
Fans in Detroit and across America will disagree, and the replay appears to show contact being made before the ball arrived. It’s a play that has gone from being a simple pass interference call to one of the most infamous moments in NFL history.
That’s not hyperbole either, as the call ended the Lions drive, stopped points from potentially being put up and changed the game in the most dramatic way possible. The Cowboys scored on the next drive and are headed to Green Bay as a result, while the Lions are heading home with yet another reason to wonder why the football gods hate them so much.
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