There were five fines issued for last weekend’s Seattle Seahawks vs. Miami Dolphins game. A couple of those fines were for infractions that went uncalled in an otherwise penalty-filled contest.
On the Seahawks side, cornerback Devon Witherspoon was docked $11,255 for his unnecessary roughness penalty in the opening quarter. Rookie linebacker Tyrice Knight was fined $5,490 for what should’ve been a horse-collar tackle on Dolphins rookie running back Jaylen Wright. No flag was thrown on the play, even though it looked like a penalty at the time.
On the Dolphins side: Miami safety Kader Kohou’s fourth quarter face mask of Jaxon Smith-Njigba cost him $5,528, linebacker Duke Riley’s unnecessary roughness penalty for blindside hitting Drake Thomas on a second quarter punt will lighten his wallet by $16,883, and then there’s fullback Alec Ingold and what got him a $11,817 fine.
With Boye Mafe ruled out for Week 4 against the Detroit Lions, this uncalled illegal low block penalty is very relevant. While Tyrel Dodson was busy sacking Skylar Thompson on the opening possession of the second half, Mafe was being chopped down by Ingold on his right knee, the same one he suffered a contusion on after an inadvertent collision against the New England Patriots.
This is the second time a Seahawks pass rusher has been the victim of an illegal low block over the past several weeks. Uchenna Nwosu was chop blocked by Cleveland Browns guard Wyatt Teller in the preseason finale, costing him the first four games of the regular season (and potentially more). What makes the low block by Ingold different is the relatively recent rule change that now penalizes players for blocks below the waist outside of the “tight end box.”
The tight end box is defined in the NFL Rulebook as, “a rectangle that is enclosed by imaginary lines two yards outside the normal tackle positions and five yards on either side of the line of scrimmage. The tight end box continues to exist after the ball leaves the area.”
In 2021, the NFL forbade blocks below the waist outside of the “tight end box.”
Players are prohibited from initiating contact below the waist of an opponent outside the tight end box (See 3-33), except against a runner or a player who is attempting to catch a forward or backward pass.
The video indicates that Mafe was outside of the imaginary box when he took a direct hit on his already compromised knee. Mafe did play 12 more snaps following this play, but the Ingold low block is still worth highlighting given he’s now sidelined for the Detroit Lions game for the second season in a row.
