That happened last night in the Colts game too, a player on the return team was pushed into guy calling for a fair catch and it resulted in a fumble. This really needs to be a penalty IMHO. Otherwise it seems to be a smart special play team play right now.
Yeah but...if a fair catch is signalled everyone on the kicking team should steer clear of the receiver. Westbrook shouldn't have been in the vicinity to get blocked into Randle-El. I don't know but that was one screwed up play that really turned the game over to Carolina. Too bad the defense couldn't have stopped the TD and held them to a Field Goal.
I can't believe it wasn't a penalty. The Redskin player wasn't "blocked" into the punt returner, he was held and driven backwards for 8 yards and then pushed into the punter. The Panthers certainly didn't give the punt returner ANY room to catch that punt. It was complete BS.
In the colts game, the guy wasn’t PUSHED into the receiver, he just ran into him following the guy he was trying to block, because he wasn’t paying attention.
But pushing a player into the guy making a fair catch should be a penalty, and I thought it actually WAS a penalty, and am surprised to find it isn’t.