Lauren Kirschman
The News Tribune
Washington head coach Chris Petersen called it one of the most critical plays of the game.
Early in the fourth quarter of the Huskies’ 30-27 overtime loss to Oregon, the Ducks were facing a third-and-3 from their own 48-yard line.
UW brought pressure and Justin Herbert scrambled, searching for an open receiver. Johnson escaped one Husky defender but as soon as he turned, defensive lineman Jaylen Johnson came in to complete the sack for a 12-yard loss.
The only problem? Johnson’s helmet cracking against Herbert’s. The flags came in. The targeting call was confirmed. Johnson became the second player — Oregon defensive lineman Drayton Carlberg was also penalized — ejected for targeting during the game.
Instead of the series ending in Oregon’s territory, the drive continued to the Huskies’ 36-yard line before the Ducks were forced to punt. In a game where neither team seemed to grab momentum, a potential swing in UW’s favor was wiped out.
And Petersen didn’t have a problem with it.
“I do want that called,” he said during his press conference on Monday. “I think that’s good for the game of football. There’s no messing around in college football. And it’s painful. With Jaylen, there was no intent. We all know that. It was just bang-bang. It just happened.
“We’re trying to do the best we can for this game and these kids. There’s so much less gray area than it used to be when we started this and a lot of complaining and a lot of that. It’s just not. It is what it is. We’re trying to take the head out of the game.”
It’s not the first time Petersen has spoken about targeting calls this season. After Utah had two players ejected for targeting during the Huskies’ 21-7 victory on Sept. 15, Petersen said both were “great calls.”
A few days after that win, Petersen was asked if football had gone too far in the pursuit of protecting players.
“The rules are changing and the rules have changed for the better of the game,” he said then. “It’s still going to be the toughest, most violent team sport there is. To me, that’s all positive.”
Petersen and UW’s coaching staff have taken steps to help their players adjust. Before Johnson’s penalty UW only had one player ejected for targeting since the start of the 2016 season.
Against Utah, a shoulder-first shot from UW defensive back Byron Murphy had the Utes’ crowd demanding a targeting call. But the flags never came. Asked about it following the game, defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said the Huskies “teach the strike zone correctly.”
“If you lead with your shoulder and keep your head out of it,” he said, “you can still hit people and have some violent, big-time hits.”
The the key is playing “like you don’t have a helmet on,” Petersen said Monday.
“I don’t see guys doing that,” Petersen said. “There’s going to be a small percentage, those bang-bang plays where you’ll probably lose some teeth and those type of things if you didn’t have a helmet on. But it’s just going to be the thing now. It’s hard to do because you do have a helmet on and it’s not the same reaction of taking your head completely out of it.
“Those are hard ones. Jaylen turns around and the quarterback runs right back into him. We’ve seen that a few times this season. How do you coach that? You’re trying to think. That’s really all I can say is if your head’s involved there, it’s risky business.”
Petersen said the Huskies run some tackling drills without helmets.
“To get the real reps, at 100 percent, we don’t do that,” he said. “That’s probably not safe to practice like that, but I think all coaches are still trying to evolve and figure out the best way to take the step.”
Petersen supports players getting ejected for targeting — even if there was no intent — because he wants “the kids to be safe.”
He’s more skeptical of another side of the rule: If a player is ejected for targeting in the second half, he has to sit out the first half of the team’s next game. That means Johnson will miss the first two quarters of UW’s game against Colorado on Saturday.
“It feels different when a kid gets thrown out in the game and they can come back the next game as opposed to he has to sit the whole first half in the locker room,” Petersen said. “That doesn’t seem the same to me.”
