When Sam Bradford got hit low by Baltimore’s Terrell Suggs this past weekend in an exhibition game in Philadelphia after handing off on a read-option play, Pete Carroll felt it across the country at Seahawks’ headquarters in Renton.
The referee flagged Suggs for roughing the passer Saturday night. Monday the league’s director of officiating Dean Blandino told its network Suggs should not have been penalized because “it’s not a foul by rule.”
That’s precisely what Carroll wants the NFL and Blandino to clarify in time for the regular season that begins in three weeks.
In fact, Carroll was coming off the practice field on his way into his office this afternoon to call the league to ensure it was doing something to address what Carroll sees as unnecessary hits on quarterbacks.
Carroll’s interest in the subject is obvious, given how much Seattle runs quarterback Russell Wilson on read-option handoff-or-keep plays so much during the regular season.
“I have seen a couple of them and I really thought they were worthy of being noted as penalty plays,” Carroll said of such hits on QBs, most recently by Suggs on Bradford. “Obviously we’re really tuned into that.