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The quarterback hit that forced the NFL to consider safety | Weird Rules



Think the NFL rules about hitting quarterbacks are dumb? Well, at least they have rules now.

In 1970, Ben Davidson hit Len Dawson after the QB had given himself up. The Raiders and Chiefs got into a fight, received offsetting penalties, and then the Chiefs had to replay the down. No penalty was called for the hit itself, and it ended up changing the course of the game, as well as who won the division.

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39 Comments

  1. Get rid of all these baby diaper rules because it makes NFL games more BORING.
    If you wanna play in the NFL and make $Millions then you should have to take this risk. Go back to the safety rules of 1959 only. Cry baby Millionaires and Fans.

  2. for Ben Davidson a hit after the game in the parking lot is still fair play…also till maybe mid 80s they used their head a lot in take downs… now its illegal because well you can break your neck and all… but watch those old raiders games for the good hits…

  3. I'm not defending Ben Davidson at all, just that incident is over-hyped. It looks much worse than it is, because there's no momentum in the impact. Davidson rolls over the QB. It's still bad, though.

  4. Ben did his job, as the Raiders went on to win. Ben was later traded by the Raiders to Thulsa Doom and was eventually killed in battle by Conan The Barbarian aka Arnold Schwarzenegger..

  5. I only heard about Roughing the Passer via this video pretty much (I don't follow sports really, love this channel) and I thought it was "rough in the pasture" before someone corrected me…

  6. Why isn't this 4 eyed queefs fan talking about what buck Buchanan, curly Culp and Willie Lanier did to lamonica or what Emmitt Thomas did to Wells? Keep it real and in context you wimpy kc flunky.

  7. A few rules have changed since then.. the tackle rule has changed. this rule added but also where now if that happens, the yardage gained would have stayed and the penalty would have been after the play… AKA spot of the foul.

  8. This game was nationally televised back in 1970, and I remember seeing this at the ripe old age of 12.
    I also watched the Heidi game at 10 years old.
    I also saw the Ice Bowl game in 1967 at 9 years old.
    Saw the first Monday Night football game in 1971 at 13.
    My earliest recollection of the NFL is watching Y.A. Title QB the Giants around 63 or 64?

  9. Raiders a dirty batch of guys back then, Tatum, and Davidson bunch of cheap shot artists. That era was better than what we've got now, though.

  10. I still don't understand why offsetting penalties that are called AFTER A PLAY IS OVER result in the down needing to be replayed.

  11. Holy s*** how many times does cross colors guy say the word like? Maybe like like like 70 or 80 like times in these like few minutes? Like like

  12. I met Ben in San Diego back in 2003
    I was wearing a Tooz jersey
    I got a nod, a handshake, and a Ben and Tooz story

  13. I've read that Davidson admitted that this hit was 100% intentionally done with the intent of causing a brawl.

  14. Otis Taylor, at 6' 3" tall, manhandled the 6' 8" Ben Davidson and threw him to the ground after Davidson speared his quarterback well after the play was over …… that alone should get him into the Hall-of-Fame.

  15. It didnā€™t look that bad on video but then I looked the guy up and he was 6ā€™8ā€ 275. You would definitely feel that one for a while.

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