[CTcard]

RULES

Targeting and Initiating Contact With the Crown of the Helmet  (Rule 9-1-3)

No player shall target and initiate contact against an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet. When in question, it is a foul.

Targeting and Initiating Contact to Head or Neck Area of a Defenseless Player  (Rule 9-1-4)

No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, fist, elbow or shoulder. When in question, it is a foul.  (Rule 2-27-14)

KEY ELEMENTS
Crown of the Helmet—the top portion of the helmet.
Defenseless player—a player not in position to defend himself.

In my opinion, Owusu would not be ruled a defenseless player, because he had the ball and he had run a few steps after catching the ball. ...
The only thing I can think of is that the replay officials thought that a launch was a necessary part of targeting.
...
Further the replay officials should document why they ruled that it was not targeting, so this could be reviewed separately to avoid future errors by officials. 

The annoucement of the replay review covered the replay official's interpretation.

First he specifically mentioned that Owusu had "completed the catch and became a runner", so he was not by definition of defenseless player. That part of the call appears to be entirely correct.

Secondly, they stated that "there was no targeting with the crown of the helmet". While I guess technically there is some room to quibble about just what that covers, it seems to me pretty clear that what was meant was that Goodman didn't make contact with the crown of his helmet.

Now technically, there is some grey there because there is no useful definition anywhere in the rulebook about what is the crown of the helmet; i.e. the statement "the top portion of the helmet" is not a useful definition.
Goodman didn't initiate contact with the very top 1 inch circle or so of his helmet, but it would seem to me that anything above the facemask is reasonably the crown. Particularly given the extreme, and extremely dangerous, nature of the hit and the fact that the rule says "when in question it is a foul", I am rather shocked that this wasn't called targeting on the field and even moreso upon review. But, we don't have to guess about just exactly what the refs ruled, they told us.

[CTcard]

RULES

Targeting and Initiating Contact With the Crown of the Helmet  (Rule 9-1-3)

No player shall target and initiate contact against an opponent with the crown (top) of his helmet. When in question, it is a foul.

Targeting and Initiating Contact to Head or Neck Area of a Defenseless Player  (Rule 9-1-4)

No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, fist, elbow or shoulder. When in question, it is a foul.  (Rule 2-27-14)

KEY ELEMENTS
Crown of the Helmet—the top portion of the helmet.
Defenseless player—a player not in position to defend himself.

In my opinion, Owusu would not be ruled a defenseless player, because he had the ball and he had run a few steps after catching the ball. ...
The only thing I can think of is that the replay officials thought that a launch was a necessary part of targeting.
...
Further the replay officials should document why they ruled that it was not targeting, so this could be reviewed separately to avoid future errors by officials. 

The annoucement of the replay review covered the replay official's interpretation.

First he specifically mentioned that Owusu had "completed the catch and became a runner", so he was not by definition of defenseless player. That part of the call appears to be entirely correct.

Secondly, they stated that "there was no targeting with the crown of the helmet". While I guess technically there is some room to quibble about just what that covers, it seems to me pretty clear that what was meant was that Goodman didn't make contact with the crown of his helmet.

Now technically, there is some grey there because there is no useful definition anywhere in the rulebook about what is the crown of the helmet; i.e. the statement "the top portion of the helmet" is not a useful definition.
Goodman didn't initiate contact with the very top 1 inch circle or so of his helmet, but it would seem to me that anything above the facemask is reasonably the crown. Particularly given the extreme, and extremely dangerous, nature of the hit and the fact that the rule says "when in question it is a foul", I am rather shocked that this wasn't called targeting on the field and even moreso upon review. But, we don't have to guess about just exactly what the refs ruled, they told us.