Most choke holds are legal — even considered desirable — in mixed martial arts.
Unfortunately for Harrison Smith, he is not an MMA fighter. He is a strong safety for the Minnesota Vikings.
Approaching the two-minute mark in the third quarter of what turned out to be a 20-16 victory by the Cowboys over the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 8's Sunday night game, Dallas wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, under center in an obvious gadget play (in place of Cooper Rush, who was in turn deputizing for Dak Prescott, who was out with a hamstring injury) threw a sideline pass to fellow wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, who was ridden out of bounds by Smith with a rear naked choke that would have made any Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor proud.
Yet no flag on the play — and at this writing, not even a fine, let alone a suspension.
Had Lamb waved the ball in Smith's face instead, a flag would certainly have been thrown, and a 15-yard penalty for "taunting" would have been marked off — and maybe even a five-figure fine bundled with the proverbial software.
What happened to the NFL's alleged obsession with "player safety?"
Do fans carrying cell phone cameras have to do what should be the NFL's job for them?
And what made Harrison Smith think that he could get away with what he did, in this era when cameras of one sort or another are everywhere?
If nothing else, this non-penalty adds to the already incontrovertible case for the hiring of full-time, year-round officials — not only in the NFL, but in MLB, the NBA, and the NHL as well.
During the offseason in their respective sports, the officials can view films, etc., to sharpen their craft.
Besides potentially affecting the outcome of games, as this case hammers home, calls — or non-calls — can put players' health, or even their lives, in jeopardy.
It's time to make officiating a year-round occupation. Insurance salesmen moonlighting as referees or umpires have been rendered obsolete by the fact that the stakes in sports today have become so much higher than before — and the additional expense that the owners would be forced to incur is no excuse for not doing so, especially in the NFL, whose owners will become even richer if they succeed in extending the regular season to 18 games (and the NBA can extend their regular season to the same 84 games that the ABA observed, without complaints from anyone).
This needs to be done internally. Otherwise, virtue-signaling politicians will take matters into their own hands — and no one wants to see that happen.
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