Quote:
Originally Posted by Sun Tzu
Justin Smith was being shoved pretty harshy by a ref that is widely known to have a "tough guy" image. Smith basically pushed the refs arm off of him (he had been pushed a solid five yards by now) and then the ref looked at him wide-eyed like he was going to sock him in the mouth. Total classless move by the ref, and it's a shame that a nice guy like JS had to be the bear the brunt of it.
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You've got to be kidding me! Refs are allowed to, and are supposed to, separate players from one another. You see them getting physically in the middle of fights and pulling guys out of piles. That is permitted. That is part of their job, actually, as the on-field rules enforcers. The ref did nothing to Smith that was out of the ordinary in these situations, but Smith pushed the ref - and that's the end of the analysis right there. Enough with the violins for sucha nice guy. He may be nice, but for a split-second last night, he sure was dumb.
I agree the ref's reaction was a bit over the top, but he did nothing other than turn toward Smith, throw the flag (as he appeared to quickly regain his composure compared to what it looked like he wanted to do), and then discuss it with the other refs. It's not like he came at Smith and so much as even touched him again.